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Had to pick between fresh pasta and dried for a new menu item | Chefs - Opinions Matter

Had to pick between fresh pasta and dried for a new menu item

I was putting together a new gnocchi dish for the dinner menu at my spot in Denver. Fresh gnocchi takes forever to make by hand and I only have two guys on the line during service. Dried gnocchi from the distributor is way faster but the texture is never as good. I went with fresh after testing both side by side for the staff. We pre-make a big batch every other morning and freeze portions. It held up better than I thought and customers are actually ordering it more than the regular pasta. Anyone else deal with this choice and settle on a system that works?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_miller243mo ago

Stick with the dried gnocchi honestly. Your customers will still order it if the sauce and toppings are good and your line will thank you for not bogging them down with extra prep. Fresh is nice but consistency is way harder to keep up day after day with a small crew.

lindamartin3mo ago

Last summer we went through THREE different line cooks in five weeks because the fresh gnocchi was always coming out gummy or falling apart during service. Dried gnocchi holds up to a little neglect which is a HUGE advantage when your fryer oil is screaming and you got tickets piling up. Plus dried stores for months so you aren't stressing about ordering perfect amounts every week or tossing expensive spoiled dough. Honestly the texture difference is minimal once it's swimming in a good brown butter sage sauce anyway.

julia_miller243mo ago

Honestly feels like you're making this way bigger than it is. It's just gnocchi, not some huge life or death menu decision. Dried gnocchi works fine in plenty of restaurants without anyone losing sleep over it. If your sauce is good and your customers are happy, why stress about what kind of pasta you're using? Let the line do their job without overthinking every single ingredient. It's really not that serious.