Lumaconi substitute

Substitutes for Lumaconi with ratios

1. 2Pipe Rigate

   Close match

   Use the same amount by weight

   Curved ridged tubes with one end pinched closed, essentially a smaller cousin of the same snail idea, and sometimes sold under the name lumache.

   What changes

   Best for

   chunky sauces, baked pasta, cheese sauces, vegetable ragu

   The mechanism is identical, a hollow curve with ridges that catches sauce inside, so a sauced dish comes out right. The size is the catch: pipe rigate is typically half to two thirds the size of lumaconi, which means it is too small to stuff by hand. Use it for sauces, not for filling. Because the pieces are smaller, a forkful has more of them and the sauce is spread more evenly rather than pooling in a few big pockets.

2. 3Paccheri

   Close match

   Use the same amount by weight

   Very wide smooth pasta tubes from Naples, about an inch across.

   What changes

   The best pick if your recipe stuffs the pasta and no jumbo shells are available.

   Best for

   stuffed and baked pasta, chunky meat sauces, seafood sauces

   Wide enough to pipe a filling into, which almost nothing else in the shop is, and sturdy enough to survive a bake. The differences are that a tube is open at both ends, so filling can push out the far side and needs a snug fit, and that paccheri is usually smooth rather than ridged, so a thin sauce slides off it. Use a sauce with body. Boil three minutes short of al dente and cool the tubes in a single layer before filling.

3. 4Manicotti or Cannelloni Tubes, Cut in Half

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight, each tube cut crosswise into two

   The workaround when nothing large and cupped is on the shelf.

   What changes

   Halving a long stuffing tube gives you pieces close to lumaconi in width and length.

   Best for

   stuffed and baked pasta, ricotta fillings, large trays for a crowd

   The best available diameter, but the walls are thinner than lumaconi, so the pieces slump when you pipe filling in and can split in the oven. Boil them a full three minutes short, lay them flat on a tray to cool so they do not fuse, and pipe the filling from a bag rather than spooning it. The finished bite is softer and more lasagna-like than lumaconi's dense chew.

4. 5Large Rigatoni or Tortiglioni

   Close match

   Use the same amount by weight

   Thick-walled ridged tubes.

   What changes

   Not stuffable, but the most reliable everyday substitute for any lumaconi dish that is simply sauced.

   Best for

   chunky meat sauce, baked pasta, vegetable sauces, sausage ragu

   The ridges grip sauce well and the thick walls hold their chew through a long bake, which is exactly what lumaconi is good at. The change is scale: sauce clings to the outside and only a little collects inside, so instead of a few big mouthfuls of loaded pasta you get an even coating throughout. Chunky solids in the sauce also stop lodging inside the pasta and settle at the bottom of the dish, so chop them smaller.

5. 6Medium Shells or Orecchiette

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight

   The cupboard fallback for a sauced dish, and the honest position is that neither can be stuffed.

   What changes

   Best for

   chunky vegetable sauces, sausage and greens, baked pasta, pasta salad

   Both cup a chunky sauce and catch small solids, so the dish tastes right, but they are a third of lumaconi's size and the character changes completely: a plate of big loaded shells becomes a plate of small evenly sauced pieces. Orecchiette is thicker and chewier than medium shells and holds up better in a bake, where thin shells can go soft and split. If your recipe is a stuffed one, do not use either; halve some manicotti tubes instead.