Black pasta?

[Robin Garr]

Dunno from French black pasta, but the Italian version is generally colored with squid ink. Like green spinach or red tomato pasta, it's more about color and appearance than flavor.

[Jenise]

Randy's probably in a dead faint upon getting that news.

Have to admit, I find the color/idea of squid ink a bit offputting. Not so bad in the pasta, but the first time I saw it, at Harry's Bar in Venice, the ink was used to color a risotto. It was hideously unattractive, particularly once it got moved around in the white bowl a bit. Ugh.

[Cynthia Wenslow]

I'm not sure I could do squid ink in my pasta or risotto. 'Course, I don't eat squid in any form or any parts thereof, so.....

[Mike Filigenzi]

I'm not sure I could do squid ink in my pasta or risotto. 'Course, I don't eat squid in any form or any parts thereof, so.....

I bought some a couple of months ago and cooked it up for the kids. The squid ink seemed to contribute no flavor whatsoever, but the black noodles looked kinda cool on the white bowls.

I've thought about trying to make my own, but have never been quite ambitious enough to do it.

Mike

[Peter May]

I think black pasta looks unattractive, and I've been disappointed with the coloured pastas - red & green.

Seems to detract from the colour of the sauce. I prefer plain, unflavoured pasta to act as a background and platform for the sauce.

[Jenise]

What is the ink part anyway? I presume it's a defense-mechanism and not a fluid otherwise integral to the life of the squid, right? I mean, it's not blood or anything.

[Peter May]

What is the ink part anyway? I presume it's a defense-mechanism and not a fluid otherwise integral to the life of the squid, right? I mean, it's not blood or anything.

No - itsthe ink they squirt when attacked.

However, I don't think that means that there are ink-maids with three legged stools that 'milk' the squid of its ink.

The ink is taken from dead 'uns.

[Leslie D.]

Randy's probably in a dead faint upon getting that news.

Have to admit, I find the color/idea of squid ink a bit offputting. Not so bad in the pasta, but the first time I saw it, at Harry's Bar in Venice, the ink was used to color a risotto. It was hideously unattractive, particularly once it got moved around in the white bowl a bit. Ugh.

I have to admit I also find it off putting. I had a recipe that called for black linguine, it was to be sauced with a champagne cream and scallop mixture. I boiled the linguine, drained it, looked at it, poured it down the drain.

I'm not squeamish about much, but black pasta is just not appealing.

[John Tomasso]

Somewhat off topic....I was once sitting in a restaurant, across from a table at which a guy was eating cuttlefish. Apparently, cuttlefish use a similar "ink defense mechanism" as do the squid.
Anyway, somehow or other, the guy cuts into the fish, and black ink shoots out, all over his expensive silk shirt. He threw a fit, which, for some reason, I found very funny.

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of ink in my pasta, either.

[Jenise]

"wheaty/brownish" pasta

Randy, indeed it exists. Strong in flavor though, and it need of strong, heavy sauces. Think more toward bacon than tomato.

[Paul Winalski]

Somewhat off topic....I was once sitting in a restaurant, across from a table at which a guy was eating cuttlefish. Apparently, cuttlefish use a similar "ink defense mechanism" as do the squid.

Yep, all the cephalopods of the squid/octopus/cuttlefish family squirt ink as a defensive mechanism. Some snails, such as nudibranchs (sea slugs) and the murex snail do this, too. Cuttlefish ink is the famous dye, sepia. The ink of the Mediterranean murex snail is Tyrean Purple, a dye so rare in Roman times that it was reserved for the Emperor's robes.

As a food dye, it's not any different (other than being a tad more exotic) than using saffron or turmeric to dye food yellow, or spinach in pasta to color it green.

-Paul W. (who'd rather his pasta stay whitish-yellow)