[delta_p_delta_x]

Don't know why this was downvoted.

My best pasta comes from when I start testing it roughly 9 minutes in. Pasta softness depends on water softness, salinity, even ambient air pressure (though I am decidedly a low-lying person). Also pasta shape, and even quantity of pasta in the container (unless you have one of those huge boilers used in restaurants).

The instructions on the box tend to overcook my pasta well beyond al-dente.

Also, to all pasta lovers: please try trafilata al bronzo pasta from places like La Molisana, De Cecco, Garofalo, Rummo, and more.

[octo888]

Isn't De Cecco pretty mid? It's found in every supermarket in the UK for example

[bpicolo]

It’s a high quality mass market brand. I have tried a large number of more expensive brands, but none have beat De Cecco for me in terms of consistency and quality.

[asimpletune]

De Cecco is great for a big brand. The best way to know if a dry pasta is good is by the color. The more pale (i.e. less yellow) the better. This is because a more costly, slower drying method preserves the original color better.

[dfxm12]

Yeah, there's more to good (extruded and dried) pasta than bronze dies. The ingredients of the pasta, quality of the flour and drying technique are important too.

That said, taste is subjective.

[delta_p_delta_x]

Fair point. Ergo the other brands. I am partial to La Molisana and Garofalo, the latter mainly because I can get 1 kg packets of penne and spaghetti.

[Hikikomori]

Rummo is my favourite grocery store pasta.