Chioccioloni Bronze-Drawn Pasta

Chioccioloni — literally "big snails" — are generous curled shells with a hollow built for trapping sauce. Think of them as the pasta equivalent of a good sofa: roomy, comforting and very hard to leave.

Egisto Grilli makes them in Italy from durum wheat semolina, extruded through bronze dies and slow-dried at low temperature. The bronze gives a rough, matt surface that sauce clings to, while the slow drying keeps the shells strong enough to hold their shape in the pan and in the oven.

The bite is firm and springy, and each shell arrives at the plate carrying a little pocket of whatever it was cooked with. The flavour is honest and wheaty, never floury.

Bake them with béchamel and a slow-cooked ragù, or toss them through a rich Amatriciana so every curl collects a nugget of guanciale.