Cavatappi

Cavatappi is a young shape with a good origin story: it was born at the Barilla works in Parma in the mid-twentieth century, when a set of pasta dies was cut with a spiral instead of straight lines by mistake, and the accident produced a springy, hollow corkscrew nobody had made before. Barilla named it cellentani, after the pop singer Adriano Celentano, nicknamed il Molleggiato, "the springy one," for his limber dancing. Because that name was trademarked, other makers reached for cavatappi, literally "cork extractor," the everyday Italian word for a corkscrew. The name is pure description: the pasta looks exactly like the tool.

A short, hollow tube of durum semolina, ridged along its surface and twisted into a tight corkscrew of one to three turns. It should not be confused with fusilli, which is often called "corkscrew pasta" but is a solid twist rather than a hollow tube; cavatappi's open bore is what sets it apart. The ridges and the spiral together, plus that hollow center, make it one of the more sauce-hungry short shapes.

Cavatappi is a workhorse for sauces with body. The ridges grip on the outside, the spiral holds sauce in its curves, and the hollow tube traps more inside, so it carries creamy and cheesy sauces beautifully and stands up to chunky tomato and meat ragùs. It makes a superb mac and cheese, bakes well, and keeps its shape and bite in a cold salad. Like other sturdy tubes, it shrugs off thin, oily dressings that a rougher, more absorbent shape would suit better.

1. 01Mac and cheeseThe hollow ridged spiral holds cheese sauce better than most.
2. 02Alla vodkaTomato, cream, and a splash of vodka clinging to the coils.
3. 03Al ragùA chunky meat sauce caught in and around the twist.
4. 04Insalata di pastaCold with vegetables and a sturdy dressing.