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The best way to make pasta taste like it does in a restaurant is to use the Whole Grain Pasta Test.

When you were a kid, which pasta style did you prefer: shells or elbows?Many people have very strong opinions about which noodle is number one, and heated debates on the Internet prove that.

If cooked correctly, pasta in different shapes should taste the same.An off-the-shelf dry pasta can taste different than a fresh restaurant-made pasta, but that's not due to the cut.

It's the ingredients that matter more than the shape.The senior editor of Cook's Country Magazine in Boston concurs.

Eggs can make fresh pasta taste a bit different.Different flavors can be seen with egg noodles, soba noodles or rice noodles.The taste sensation is more about how they absorb the sauce they're cooked in or topped with.

It doesn't really matter which type of pasta you use, as it's more about the sauce you choose to pair it with that makes the pasta taste different.Isn't that the end of a big debate?

When using lighter sauces and ingredients, it's a good idea to use thinner and smoother pastas.For a more robust and heartier preparation, thicker and ridged pastas are appropriate.

The average American slurps up about 20 pounds of pasta each year.The pros have tips on how to make the most of every shape.The experts say that store-bought noodles are the best.

The Italian word for "little tongues" is linguine.It's flatter than spaghetti, but not as wide as fettuccine, so it absorbs lighter sauces well and can hold mix-ins in place.It can be tossed with a white wine and olive oil clam sauce.

Schwandt prefers sticking to the classic combination of spaghetti Bolognese and slow-cooked sauces, but Bolling thinks its uses stretch far beyond that.I think this is the most versatile pasta.It is thin enough that it can be used with a quick olive oil sauce.I like the rich tomato flavor of marinara with spaghetti.She loves aglio e olio, which is just extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes.

Ragus and vegetable-based sauces are great with tubular noodles.Match the pasta hollow to the size of the components in the sauce so that it captures them and provides a burst of full flavor." Meaty ragus with large shreds of beef or pork, or a pasta salad dressed with a vinaigrette, but packed with peas and feta" is what Bolling loves.

Everyone knows elbow pasta is for mac and cheese.Schwandt says it works well in baked pastas.Mitchell finds the nostalgic connection difficult.I avoid elbows because of their association with macaroni and cheese.He says it's hard to take a sophisticated sauce seriously when you pair it with elbow pasta.I prefer to use other varieties since there are over 300 pasta shapes.

Chunks of vegetables and other sturdy mix-ins can stand up to the thick and wide bowtie pasta.I like matching it with other ingredients."For example, an oil-based pasta sauce with big chunks of asparagus or a lightly creamy Sauce with Mushrooms."Mitchell likes the creamy sauces at the pinched center of the bowtie.

Mitchell says the pasta is great with cream sauces and spring vegetables.You can put them in soups and stew to get smaller ingredients like peas and carrots.

These long, wide noodles can be hard to find at the grocery store, but they hold on to sauce really well.The thicker the pasta, the more it can hold up to a creamy sauce.A rich partner would be a tomato-vodka cream sauce.

It's not rice.The short, grain-shaped pasta is a nice subtle addition to other recipes.Small cuts like orzo and ditalini are delicious in soup and give bulk without taking over.

The best way to make pasta taste like it does in a restaurant is to use the Whole Grain Pasta Test.

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