Part of rice vermicelli’s charm is its bouncy, fluffy, ultra-thin texture, qualities that angel hair can never achieve. I love them equally when tucked inside Vietnamese rice paper rolls, in brothy noodle soups and stir-fries, and even when they’re deep-fried. Rice vermicelli! Rice vermicelli (bun) are common in Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, and Signaporean dishes. Simply put: Angel hair is the devil.īefore you fire off a volley of horrified tweets at me, know this: There is love in my heart for a spindly little noodle after all. Angel hair just lands on your chin like the strands of a wet mop. With spaghetti, you can pinch your lips together and vacuum up a long strand till it recoils and smacks you on the underside of your nose on the way to your mouth. Angel hair, being spineless, clumps up in a disappointing tangle. The joy of a long pasta–eating is in the twirling. Angel hair, being too thin, is never al dente. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over heat thats a touch above medium then add shallots and saute until tender, 3-4 minutes. The joy of pasta-eating is in the al dente texture. Bring a large pot of water to a boil then add angel hair pasta and cook until its just shy of al dente (pasta will continue to cook slightly in the skillet with the herb butter) - DO NOT DRAIN.

To cook them, heat your oil until it reaches between 350 and 375 degrees. When you're ready to go, gather portions of the angel hair pasta into little bundled piles they should look like small bird nests. There are many wonderful pasta shapes in the world, but angel hair isn’t one of them. Begin with angel hair pasta that's already al dente. It gets better: If you sign up for our newsletter, you'll get this letter before everyone else. Every Wednesday night, Bon Appétit food director Carla Lalli Music takes over our newsletter with a sleeper-hit recipe from the Test Kitchen vault.

Angel hair pasta aldente