Little Menger Sponges or other fractal polyhedra having large surface areas, which is desirable because it provides space for sauce adsorption.-- iamanangelchaser, Nov 21 2006 It is not the surface area as it is the starch content that matters for sauce adhesion. When you cook pasta it is important not to rinse it in water as many people do to "unstick" the pasta. Properly cooked pasta leaves starch on the outer surface of the pasta wich inturns acts as a cohesion/absorbtion agent.
Now some might say surface area is the problem, I don't think this is true. Take a 1' sqare piece of rubber and pour sauce on the surface, also take a 1' square piece of cloth and do the same. Tip them both over and you will see that surface area is not the issue. The rubber won't hold sauce for shit but the cloth will. Duh right? Same goes for your pasta, cook it wrong and you alter the intended texture of the pasta.
Also the sauce consistancy is equally important.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 21 2006 Ha, I am no expert. It is just my job. I do try to understand food as best I can to serve my customers with the best product I can produce.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 21 2006 I'm not an expert by any means, and your point about starch content is well taken, but given two pieces of pasta having equivalent starch content, it seems like a no-brainer that the one with greater surface area will hold more sauce. This is, in fact, I think, at least part of the explanation for all the intricate pasta shapes that exist.-- iamanangelchaser, Nov 26 2006 I can't argue with that imanagelchaser, if they were equal in starch then size would matter.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 26 2006 [Chefboyrbored], you are forgetting that your 1' piece of cloth has a much larger surface area than your 1' rubber, because of it's rough, woven ruface, which absorbs the sauce.
Anyway, even if it doesn't really work, it's cool for geeks like me.-- 5th Earth, Nov 26 2006 5th earth, my point was that the texture of the two (cloth and rubber) are different. Cloth being properly cooked pasta and rubber being poorly cooked pasta. But thanks for making my point twice.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 26 2006 random, halfbakery