The Flavor of Fresh
When building a pasta menu and choosing products, there
are many decisions to be made and options to be weighed. How
many dishes will you feature? What flavors and fillings will compliment your menu best? However, unless you plan on preparing your
ravioli dishes from scratch, the first decision one must make when
choosing pasta products begins with preparation itself: should you
use pre-cooked ravioli or fresh ravioli?
Pre-cooked products can be attractive for a few reasons –
they are convenient, quick to prepare, and can be less costly than
fresh products. However, in cutting these corners, you may actually
sacrifice value for both you and your customers. Fresh pasta and
fresh frozen ravioli can save you money while providing superior
taste, ultimately making them a more valuable option.
Product Yield
By nature, pasta expands when it is cooked as it absorbs the
boiling water. Pre-cooked ravioli have already been boiled and thus
have already taken on this water weight before being packaged and
sent to you. Though the price per pound of some pre-cooked ravioli
may be lower than a fresh product, this extra water weight can
account for up to 30-40% of the product’s total weight. So, when
you use a pre-cooked product, you are essentially paying for water!
With a fresh-frozen ravioli, the opposite occurs. Fresh
products actually increase in size 30-40% when cooked, so your actual
yield per pound ends up being significantly greater than if you
prepared the same amount of pre-cooked ravioli. Thus, your
actual yield per pound when using a fresh-frozen product is
actually larger than when using a pre-cooked product.
Cost Per Serving
So now you know that the actual yield per pound is significantly
greater for fresh-frozen ravioli than pre-cooked – but how does this
translate into value? Well, a greater actual yield per pound means an overall lower
cost per cooked pound of product. For example, while a pound of
pre-cooked frozen ravioli may initially cost the same or even slightly
Fast Fresh Facts
Pre-cooked pasta
products take on extra
water weight before
being frozen and
shipped.
•
Fresh and fresh frozen
pasta products increase
in size when they are
cooked.
•
Fresh and fresh
frozen ravioli yield
30-40% more
product per pound
than pre-cooked
ravioli when
prepared.
•
less than a pound of frozen raw ravioli, this is only the price of the
unprepared products. When cooked, the pound of pre-cooked ravioli
will yield about a pound of prepared ravioli, while the fresh-frozen
will yield up to a half of a pound more. This means your overall cost
per pound of cooked product is actually lower for the fresh-frozen
ravioli than the pre-cooked product.
This becomes a perfect opportunity to pass this value along
to your customers. By yielding more when cooked, it follows that
fresh-frozen products yield more servings. A lower cost per cooked
pound translates into an overall lower cost per serving. Thus, with a
fresh-frozen ravioli, your customers can enjoy more food for the same
or lower cost than if you had used a pre-cooked ravioli. And enjoy they
will – as you will read in the next section, the flavor of fresh is one that
is unparalleled.
Taste
Now you understand the financial value of choosing fresh
over pre-cooked – but, when it comes to fine food, taste must always be the number one priority. Fresh frozen ravioli are far superior
in taste to pre-cooked ravioli for a multitude of reasons; for one,
fresh frozen ravioli are as close to homemade ravioli as you can get
without having to cook your own from scratch. Pre-cooked ravioli,
which must be processed and frozen after they have already been
cooked, cannot compare taste-wise to the freshness of raw frozen
ravioli.
Fresh frozen pasta products are also better to highlight a
chef’s culinary creativity. When ravioli are frozen raw, they are
considered a “live” product – since they are not pre-cooked and
have not absorbed water, they remain porous. This allows them to
better soak up the flavors of the recipes in which they are prepared.
Pre-cooked ravioli, in contrast, have no open pores since
they have already been cooked. Also, because they are frozen after
cooking, they must be coated with a solution in order to avoid them
sticking to one another. For these reasons, pre-cooked products
cannot absorb flavors as well.
Fast Fresh Facts
Fresh pasta products
have a lower cost per
serving than pre-cooked
products.
•
Fresh ravioli have a
closer to homemade
taste than pre-cooked
ravioli.
•
Fresh pasta is better
at absorbing flavors
than pre-cooked pasta
because it is a porous
“live” product.
•
More Filling, Less Dough
Any pasta lover knows that any ravioli are only as good as
the filling inside. Whether they are stuffed with mushrooms, fresh
cheeses or savory meats, the flavors of the filling in ravioli should be
the figurative and literal center of attention.
Too many pre-cooked pasta products take attention away
from their gourmet fillings by wrapping them in excess dough. This
is because the already-softened pasta comprising pre-cooked ravioli
is more delicate and must be wrapped in a thicker layer to keep the
ravioli from bursting or breaking during handling and cooking. So,
when you purchase pre-cooked ravioli, you are paying for a lot more
dough and a lot less of what should really be the essence of the dish,
the filling.
Besides tasting fresher and having a better texture, raw
pasta dough is stronger and yet more pliable than pre-cooked pasta.
With fresh and fresh frozen ravioli, less dough can be packed with
much more delicious filling – and yet, they are still much less likely
to break or burst than pre-cooked ravioli. The best pre-cooked ravioli
may contain up to a 50/50 ratio of filling to pasta, whereas fresh
frozen ravioli can have closer to an 80/20 ratio of filling to pasta while
still remaining intact.
Cooking and Plating
Many chefs choose pre-cooked pasta products because they
seem to be more convenient. Indeed, pre-cooked ravioli do cook on
the faster side and are very convenient since they require minimum
preparation, other than plating and the addition of sauce. However,
though preparation of pre-cooked products is simple, it requires
careful attention – if pre-cooked ravioli are left so much as a minute
or two too long in boiling water, they become soggy and bloated.
They quickly lose their “bite,” and can even burst open.
Fresh frozen ravioli are similarly simple to prepare, as they
can be cooked right from a frozen state. Because they are a raw
product, they can take a few minutes longer to cook than precooked ravioli – however, they can greatly benefit a chef for other
reasons. Unlike pre-cooked ravioli, fresh frozen ravioli can boil for
longer without losing any product integrity or compromising taste
and texture, allowing a chef to plate other items and focus on the
creation of a whole dish.
Fast Fresh Facts
Pre-cooked ravioli
must be wrapped in
more dough for safe
handling and cooking.
•
Since raw pasta is
more pliable, fresh
ravioli can be stuffed
with more filling than
pre-cooked ravioli
without breaking or
bursting.
•
Fresh pasta products
can boil past their cook
time and still retain
their integrity and taste,
allowing for stress-free
plating.
•
Conclusion
As you’ve read in this Ebook, there are fundamental differences to consider when
choosing between fresh frozen and pre-cooked pasta products. While pre-cooked products can
be enticing in terms of initial cost and convenience, fresh frozen products are better-tasting,
more cost efficient, easier to cook and transport, and ultimately a far superior value. Hopefully,
the information provided in this book will help you in making future purchasing decisions as
you build your pasta menu. Keep in mind the flavor of fresh, and remember that you and your
customers deserve the best.
For more information about fresh frozen pasta products, please visit www.lillysfreshpasta.com.
Or, contact us directly by email at [email protected] or by phone at 617-651-0411.