How the Sfoglini Factory Makes Cascatelli, a New Shape of Pasta - Clocking In

[@al-lr3yv]

Stephen Pelletteri, it amazes me that you and your excellent team at Eater, don't have your own award winning national television food channel. The content of your channel always keeps me fired up to get back out with my camera and share more of the 808 food community. Mahalo! (thanx)

[@sonyalang407]

I wish they had shown when the actual formed pasta was coming out, and not just the scrap at the start and the cutting process. ANd when he was holding it in his hand, they showed his hand and not the pasta. A lot of loose camera work happening there.

[@jaimybenjamin]

I love how everything is so clean

[@TS-eo9uf]

The FDA is pretty strict with food production environments!

[@Lyiad]

This actually looks and sounds like a great place to work at. I know that factory jobs have earned a rep for being hard, dirty and miserable places, but this looks neat, clean and engaging. I wonder how ones comes to work in a place like this?

[@joebaldenweg]

Apply.

[@BlinkPopShift]

These guys were so down to experiment on a new thing. We buy all our pasta from them now.

[@TheLoneRayven]

I've worked on and calibrated about a dozen of those 14 head weigher / scales... Did it freelance for a few companies. It's not a fun time but damn is it satisfying once you get it working.

[@tbrowniscool]

I mean how do you even diagnose an issue? is it just from experience? I can imagine a hundred things all have to work in perfect harmony for it to work!

[@joebaldenweg]

@@tbrowniscool They aren't as complex as they seem, load cells and basic electrical. I do agree they can be frustrating based on product being run, but a smooth running line is music to the ears.

[@tselanirichmond8865]

Cascatelli is phenomenal! We have four cases right now!

[@Dancingontgesun1942]

Calm down

[@brianl4767]

I ordered one case, easily one of the best pastas ever.

[@Dancingontgesun1942]

@@brianl4767 Thank you for eating pasta like a decent person.

[@Krishilbun]

Him parking in the visitor spot was priceless.. lol

[@kellywhite9299]

With the addition of another machine, the leftover dough could be broken down and tumbled into couscous, which would give them another product to sell.

[@adrianpaulochoa9825]

That requires another market research, but could be a possibility

[@21cup]

Or sheets of lasagna (assuming the dough is the same)

[@kellywhite9299]

@@21cup It sounded like the dough was densely worked and low hydration at that point, so any pasta type that requires heavily worked, low hydration dough might be possible.

[@lifuranph.d.9440]

@@kellywhite9299 Correct.

[@freyafoxmusic]

Cascatelli truly is the superior pasta shape wow

[@kerus567]

It's like a small workshop, so it's not full automatic line. You still need to carry the uncut pasta up the stair and put it into the cutting machine to make it small pieces, its final shape. It's a way to save your budge.

[@bex550]

Sporkful fans know what’s up. I bought 4 boxes.

[@itzel1735]

I gave them for Christmas to podcast lovers.

[@abercrombie4lyfe]

LoL. I bought 6.

[@t4squared]

Their pasta is so good. People really don’t know

[@starrychloe]

Big deal. I always buy 5 boxes/bags of whatever pasta.

[@trevors.5998]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3yQp2d5r6dlfK8 🔥🔥

[@aubreyjean532]

I'm studying food science and i always get só excited when I see vídeos like this! I'm stoked to work in the industry!! Thanks for the amazing content!

[@verb5006]

Pasta is one of the few ingredients that chefs would agree store-bought can be just as good fresh! Btw there are also over 300 kinds of pasta shapes out there.

[@jpaxonreyes]

You can't get fresh pasta to be al dente. That's a deal breaker right there!

[@69elchupacabra69]

@@jpaxonreyes I didn't know that. If that's the case why do many chefs make their own pasta from scratch?

[@jpaxonreyes]

@@69elchupacabra69 - I don't know. Fresh is also made with different ingredients than dry pasta. They're practically completely different foods.

[@TheSyntheticSnake]

@@69elchupacabra69 Some dishes work great with fresh pasta, some dont

[@tnk4me4]

It's because fresh pasta and dried pasta are as different to each other as orzo and rice. They might be the same shape but they're different foods.

[@jared5811]

Hey! I remember hearing about this on NPR. Best 5 lbs of pasta I've ever bought online. I hope to see it in stores soon!

[@laurabaltatzis1281]

It's in Fresh Market already!

[@wbocaj]

I think Trader Joe's is renting or paid for rights to the shape, as well, so store brand Cascatelli will be available at TJ's. NPR did an update at the end of 2021 and talked about availability.

[@TheHonestPeanut]

I was going to say! I just heard him on planet money talking about this.

[@xuaxace]

Same!

[@cotwold]

It's available in Trader Joe's now.

[@headerahelix]

I'd love to have this shape over here in Finland. I agree it's perfect. I like fusilli a lot for the same reason.

[@rebeccacartier153]

I loved listening to the pasta episodes on the sporkful.. listening to this guy over the phone on a podcast and seeing him is pretty cool

[@chefpizza4677]

The latern pasta with the deep rigged is the best, im obsessed with that shape

[@soulcleaner3578]

This pasta was really good. Now I'm in the mood for some.

[@arman6954]

Eater is doing fantastic work lately.

[@jimbobsportsworld9815]

It's cool to see all these works to produce pasta.

[@robertlee4172]

When I was 14, I worked in a noodle factory, cracking eggs. All day. Lo mein, egg roll covers(skins), and wonton covers. The clouds of flour was toxic to the lungs. But who knew? That was in 1974. No safety inspectors back then.

[@KevinCollects]

So much work goes into making pasta.

[@KH-vi9tu]

Picked some up at Trader Joe’s and was hoping it was the same stuff I saw in this video a while back! It was, yay! Can’t wait to try it.

[@richieAnimation]

surprised they dont run the factory 24h a day!

[@Zantides]

He talked about running shifts but they ran the factory for less than 8 hours O.o

[@starrychloe]

Yeah a 60lb dough ball at the end is like 40 extra boxes of pasta they could sell. Talk about food waste.

[@daveklein2826]

STFU, you do not know that it's thrown away.... Stop talking stupid

[@davidbowman5105]

@@starrychloe probably to dense to be made into edible pasta. I am sure if it was that easy they would do it.

[@leftblank]

Maybe they don’t want to make other humans work nightshifts which ruin lives

[@josephebacon]

That's really fascinating. I'm going to check out the Whole Foods here to see if they sell Sfoglini pasta!

[@farragutspikes1]

God bless these heroes.

[@IntegraDIY]

I know what I’m having for dinner now, thanks 🍝

[@cwg73160]

You’re right. Tacos sound pretty good.

[@LightoftheMoon]

Pasta lover here and I can't hardly wait to try Cascatelli shape pasta! In fact I just ordered some from their website. Dismayed that I am late to this pastaparty, tho very glad to see this episode that informed me about this this morning! Plus it's a bonus to see a food production site that treats their workers well! Major incentive behind my decision to purchase. Thank you Chef Steve ‼️

[@secretscarlet8249]

What do they do with the leftover dough at the end of the day?

[@daveklein2826]

I am very sure they use it

[@saiyaspring]

Throw it away or bring it home I guess

[@sfoglinipasta7617]

We actually feed it to farm animals when possible. We look for farmers near by that want to pick it up each day.

[@alexfairclough4110]

@@sfoglinipasta7617 yes! This is fantastic and exactly the kind of thing I wanted to see 😁 thank you

[@nigeldean1813]

I live about 10 minutes from this place. Cool to see places from a little town get some press

[@angelastiebinger6825]

Happy to see this. I listened to this on the Sporkful.

[@AmandaAparicio-f2g]

We pulled out a box of our favorite, whole grain reginetti by sfoglini, tonight and my son said "how do they get this pasta into the box?" One quick search and BAM! Awesome, thanks!

[@Nokenify]

I usually buy a medium-expensive Penne pasta. It's really good. But spent twice the price for a "premium" Penne produced through this Bronze-bearings and got very disappointed. Haven't tried the Sfoglini one yet.

[@TomLeg]

Love the way he gets his hands all over the flour and the pasta

[@ericcarabetta1161]

"Vertical partner with a 14-head combination scale"; I love learning the technical name for all these machines.

[@trrmbath97]

Bought a box at Walmart then googled it. So is it considered slow dried heard them say it is dried in a drying room. It is good stuff.

[@drskelebone]

I have never heard of this shape, but I now will spend tomorrow searching out where I can get some. Cavatappi has been my go-to shape, but I see how this would give the same feel (ridges + trench/tube) with higher benefits (higher sauce/pasta ratio).

[@cameronroszkowski8309]

5.5 Million in annual revenue. Biggest expense is semolina at we'll say 800k. Considering the only other ingredient is water, they are PRINTING money. Obviously, that machinery is well over 3-5 million all in, and labor and packaging and all - but this is a SOLID investment.

[@mrpotato4441]

Satisfying. I’m going to order a box.

[@GomuGama]

What do they do with the big leftover pastas? Throw it out or put it back in the machine?

[@luxtempestas]

It's an offering to the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a thank you for all the noodles in the world!

[@2π-θ]

@@luxtempestas R'amen

[@mattybaby1116]

seems like they throw it out because he was sweeping the ground and putting the stuff in there. I would like to think he wouldn't put dirty dough with clean dough if he was gonna reuse it.

[@karinaserah]

After that kind of pressure, it become a pretty dense, thick, and hard pasta dough. I'm not sure if it can be used for anything anymore.

[@W3lol1]

@@2π-θ you should become a pastor

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed the video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@JohnHausser]

Pasta lover here ! Never tried this but excellent dried pasta are made in the 🇺🇸 ! Try this shape of pasta for the cacio e pepe recipe

[@kevintravis5123]

wow just wow !!

[@hyperbaroque]

I like how campanelle gets showcased.

[@bigb7965]

and then they bastardize it by calling it "trumpets" 🙄

[@ctxgodsarmy]

Ordered some to try out

[@Liz_678]

Very interesting 🤔. I love that new shape. Where can we buy it?

[@shadowblade145]

Having tried Cascatelli I was very disappointed. It cooked weirdly unevenly (which has never happened to me with any other kind of pasta) so the little ribbons along the edge were much softer than the middle which was still undercooked. The texture was super unpleasant and the box of pasta was absurdly expensive compared to any other box of even "fancy" bronze cut pasta. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[@micheleruggiero5349]

Hello, it's a matter of thicknesses. You can check my comment below for more details.

[@annie4strings]

I have cooked the sporkful pasta and found that you need a very large water to pasta ratio. And starting with rapidly boiling salty like the sea water. That way the pasta is moving constantly throughout the cooking and the water doesn't get overly starched. Hope this helps.

[@itzel1735]

Not unpleasantly so personally. So many pasta shapes, it’s ok to stick with what you like. If you have more of cascatelli, I’ve had best luck not cooking it too long in water, and letting it finish cooking in a good quantity of a loose sauce, on medium - medium low heat.

[@johnmark7777]

I've had it and liked it. texture was fine for me, but my wife didn't like the taste. Tasted like pretty good pasta to me. Not as good as the hard duram expensive pasta I like to buy but as good as Cecci or the other well known brand.

[@ginger_nosoul]

After working in the microchip industry they say we lose x if this machine goes down i just laugh 🤣

[@karinaserah]

I can see why it's a lost opportunity.

[@saiyaspring]

I wonder if you can buy directly from the factory. Like undried pasta

[@FFSboise]

What do they do with end of day "birthing" of 50# of pasta dough? Does that get reused, packaged and sold as fresh, or can they gift it to local food banks/charity kitchens?

[@cameronroszkowski8309]

Its typically waste. Any leftover dough like that usually runs extremely hot (granted they have INDUSTRIAL machinery that cools it throughout the process) but a lot of pressure/heat/etc. has negative effects on that remaining dough. And the screen can easily be clogged by older/drier dough, which causes MASSIVE issues at the point of extruding through the die. The old dough won't properly mix into the new, and a hunk that big can make the machine paddles work too hard (damaging a million dollar machine) because it has to be mixed before it goes into the "screw". The screw forces dough into the die, and the tube the screw slides into causes a ton of pressure, which compacts the dough into that shape. Essentially, it isn't worth it to save that "birth", not saying they don't, but they are probably buying 50# bags of semolina at probably $20/bag, plus its diluted (at a 28 percent hydration level), so it costs them about $15 to throw it out, where as if they tried to extrude it, it would cost them $2500/hr or more of downtime if they ran into an issue I listed above.

[@social3ngin33rin]

omg, I would love to make some fresh pasta :)

[@rebeccacartier153]

I would totally buy sfoglini fresh pasta.. like vac sealed

[@andypants95]

new pasta shape just dropped

[@TheDuckofLaw]

great video! very informative!

[@retroelectrical]

Steven Gonzalez was fired later day for ignoring repeated warnings of not parking in the visitors only parking spot. :)

[@coolamber8]

I wonder how they remove all the partially extruded dough from the die itself. I can see it soaking in something but how do they remove the remnants?

[@acidset]

Water and scraping it off

[@XxShOeEaTeRxX]

How does one end up working in a factory like this?

[@russellzauner]

Q: what's the secret of bargaining? A: actually buy an insane amount of materials. Me: *nods knowingly*

[@SkyboxMonster]

a very clean working environment. Daily deep cleaning. a 24/7 seasonal Factory cleans only twice a year. startup and shutdown. Startup has very dry encrusted material that needs removed. and Shutdown has the largest patches of mold just out of sight. to the point normally solid product has long singe turned into a sludge. I'd give everyone in the pasta factory a fist bump for taking their job seriously.

[@Jaedon340]

How can you have a circular pasta die without the center of the die falling out? If there was a fastener holding the center the pasta wouldn’t be a closed circle and circular pasta doesn’t have any seams. Maybe there is fasteners or something not shown that hold it together and the pressure of the dough is enough to force it through seamless? My smooth brain is confused about the topography of circular pasta dies. (@ 2:31)

[@bobbymoss6160]

Mmmmm pasta. Yum.

[@joymae]

I love rigatoni

[@naqeebullahzazai3121]

Can anybody give guidance about commercial pasta dough ingredients plz?

[@cauxzieruffhausen9547]

I bought four boxes myself, but ended up giving them away. The pasta was too thick and toothy. The little waterfalls fell off the edges before the rest of the pasta was cooked. I just didn't like the texture.

[@Exo594-b5v]

BRO LONG CASCATELLI GIVE ME THE LONG BOIS

[@mintcake2668]

Wait so they just throw away the extra dough in the end?

[@frankstan3926]

despite the economic crisis i still think this is a right time to start up an investment

[@Ekene0223]

I wanna Invest too, how do I get to Steven Hatzakis

[@Ekene0223]

Thanks , placing my trade with expert Steven Hatzakis ASAP

[@jeffreybrad8505]

lots of story about him, he must be honest and for people to talk this good about him

[@TheFigureofspeech]

God the fact they lose like 50 lbs of pasta dough every day per machine is just nuts. Like c'mon there's gotta be a way to reuse that for a new batch, or do something with it right?

[@piitii8141]

losing less than 1% of total dough per pasta making session is probably a lot more efficient than a home chef.

[@Ptitnain2]

It's 50lbs out of 5000. He doesn't care.

[@battery781]

@@Ptitnain2 he should care. At $4 a box that’s $73,000 a year…… per machine

[@danielantoniozd26]

The urge to bite into that huge pasta dinglebop

[@Syron96]

Are you hiring? I work in a plant that makes protein bars. Been here 6 years and I need a change of pace.

[@crazywarriorscatfan9061]

Cool

[@elluisito000]

Nice 😀

[@DERK13]

Nice

[@kelvpoon]

Hard to get in australia though

[@erikadowdy686]

Very interesting Love these Especially if they are in English

[@jpaxonreyes]

What do you mean by "these"? Do you mean the pasta packaging or the videos?

[@michaelhall7546]

@@jpaxonreyes he means videos. A lot of eater stuff is subtitled

[@jpaxonreyes]

@@michaelhall7546 - Ahhh

[@1941KiK3YiD]

You telling me pasta just water and flour 🤯

[@cameronroszkowski8309]

Most stuff you see in stores is, "fresh dough" is made with eggs, sometimes olive oil, and a completely different type of flour

[@eneroramirez69]

didnt know ash's father works here @6:41

[@diamondefrancis7602]

Hi sir . Can I get a contact for you please?

[@joebaldenweg]

The issue with the scale is you went cheap, knock off scale. If you spent the money on a quality Ishida it would not be down anywhere near as much as that machine from China.

[@reecerodrigues1127]

I'd love to know what they do with that 50 pound monster

[@SP-cp3qu]

cool guy

[@AulicinoConstruction]

Didn’t know jack black makes pasta

[@user-uu9nl9gi6o]

This is not pasta! Semolina, but you've gone crazy! Pasta is made with durum wheat semola! I'm Italian from Naples!

[@李祥-d6b]

👍👍👍

[@Eraz2409]

I'm a machine operator. His machine is messing up cuz he is constantly cleaning it everyday. While yes it's nice and should be cleaned. It always messes up the bolts and everything he is using. The only thing he needs to clean is the shape disk. When we cleaned are machine everyday, it messed up. We ended up only cleaning it on Saturday and Sunday.

[@ajsparx4133]

The dough already inside would likely harden overnight and cause clogs, it's basically wheat glue. If they ran 24h it would make sense to not clean

[@NoCheeseNoMercy]

Liking and commenting so they see this…

[@kellywhite9299]

It was the weighing and packaging machine that was breaking down. He didn't say anything about breaking it down, as opposed to the extruder, which is broken down and cleaned.

[@MrLokilis]

They complained about the scale machine breaking, not the extruder which has the shape disk in it. But maybe they clean that one every day too, who knows

[@MrSthomas423]

He doesn't look like someone who makes pasta in a factory

[@GakkiSai]

It's high end radiatori. Not exactly new.

[@samuelhodir]

I know this has nothing to do with the content, but I wish my last name was Ketchum

[@jhammylive]

Offices look like the backrooms

[@ma.luletteantonino2294]

Yey

[@testdasi]

Wait a sec - they throw away 50lbs worth of pasta dough EVERY DAY? 😳 Am I missing something here?

[@MrJaybeezy123]

Yep, missing where it said they throw it out. That's what you're missing.

[@caminojohn3240]

Too bad he did not mention how they utilize the scraps? Seems to me that some hungry farm animals could use some fattening up.

[@supernova622]

They replied in another comment that they try to find nearby farms to take it for feed

[@naqeebullahzazai3121]

Hello

[@ItsYoYoHo]

Motley crew.

[@Gr3kiZon3]

I'm not quite sure where you can work as a chef and earn enough money for all of this machinery...

[@Dimaz42]

by having a good idea + business plan to attract investors

[@robertcotrell9810]

Who knows what that other guy does. He might be money bags

[@jpaxonreyes]

@@rob6850 - Looks like the standard amount of machinery for dry pasta.

[@davidbowman5105]

what are you suggesting

[@sebastianflynn1746]

Covid was nothing for this mustache man, he's been wearing masks for years.

[@etherdog]

As an early adopter of cascatelli, this was interesting, but I found that the amount of waste was off-putting.. The 20 kg ball of dough at the end should surely be incorporated into the next day's batch. Also, why can I not get organic cascatelli???

[@KR-hg8be]

By the next day that ball of dough would be hard as a rock. Ever have play dough turn dry as a kid if you left it open? Pasta isn't much different. If you mix it back in its going to ruin the next days batch with inconsistent texture and hard dry bits that plug the machine. Never mind the bacterial or fungal growth that would start in it. There's also going to be a limit to how much can be pressed out of the machine before the machine is out of travel on the press. If they are getting 50lbs out of 6000lbs of wastage that's not bad, less than 1%. If they did much of anything with it they would be putting out a sub par product, which can ruin a business if they are known for having consistent quality stuff.

[@sachk00]

I think you'll find that waste like this is the norm in most food production. It's generally less than a percent of the overall product anyway, not significant compared to how much is thrown out by supermarkets or at home.

[@tonysoprano6099]

Make the thing into a large revolver aye?

[@MrWizard65]

Shouldn't be throwing words like "artisinal" around when large heavy automation is involved.

[@daveklein2826]

Says you?

[@MrWizard65]

@@daveklein2826 Says the dictionary. "Made in a traditional or non-mechanized way."

[@daveklein2826]

@@MrWizard65 LMAO

[@cu7695]

As someone who've worked with people designing food machinery, I'm pretty sure that you're not supposed to break down and clean machine everyday. You do it once in a while

[@daveklein2826]

You using the term "I'm pretty sure" means you know nothing

[@supernova622]

What do you think would happen to pasta dough left behind on an augur overnight?