To cut pasta into shapes, most dough is passed through the holes of a die. All dies were originally made with bronze blocks, which give the noodles’ surface a rough-hewn, almost dusty appearance that some manufacturers still prefer; they claim that sauce clings better to the coarse, craggy exterior. Meanwhile, other pasta producers, including both American brands in our lineup, have switched to Teflon-coated dies, mostly for cosmetic reasons. Because it’s nonstick, Teflon reduces the surface tension of the dough extrusion and, as a result, produces smoother, shinier noodles. We found that sauce clung equally well to noodles made by both types of dies—but could bronze dies be responsible for producing the firmer texture we noticed in some of the spaghettis? As it turned out, no. While our favorite pasta was produced by bronze dies, so were our two least favorite brands, assailed for having “mushy,” “soft” texture “with no spring in the bite.”

According to Tulbek, the more important distinction is not the material of the die; it’s a question of how well the extruder and the die have been maintained. Whether bronze or Teflon, dies don’t last forever; the heat, friction, and pressure applied to the dough wear down and loosen the extruder parts over time. When this happens, the machine is no longer able to press the dough with enough force to make perfectly compact strands of spaghetti, and the texture of the noodles suffers. Based on our results, we could only assume that some extruders were in better shape than others.