The New Complete Book of Food
One serving (two ounces, dry) enriched spaghetti has 1.8 g dietary fiber, 7.9 g protein,
0.9 g total fat, no cholesterol, and 1.9 mg iron (11 percent of the RDA for a woman, 23 percent
of the RDA for a man).
One serving (two ounces, dry) enriched egg noodles has two grams dietary fiber, eight
grams protein, 2.5 g total fat, 48 mg cholesterol, and 2.3 mg iron (13 percent of the RDA for
a woman, 29 percent of the RDA for a man).The Most Nutritious Way to Serve This Food
With meat, eggs, or milk products (cheese), which supply lysine and isoleucine to “comple-
ment” the proteins in the pasta.
With beans or peas. Grains are deficient in the essential amino acids lysine and isoleu-
cine but contain sufficient amounts of tryptophan, methionine, and cystine. Beans and peas
are just the opposite. Together, their proteins are complementary.
With a food rich in iron (meat) or a food rich in vitamin C (tomatoes). Both enhance
your body’s ability to absorb the iron in pasta. The meat makes your stomach produce more
acid (which favors the absorption of iron); the vitamin C converts the iron from ferric iron
(which is hard to absorb) to ferrous iron (which is more available to your body).Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food
Gluten-restricted, gliadin-free diet (all pastas made with wheat flour)Buying This Food
Look for: Tightly sealed packages. If you can see into the box, pick the pasta that looks
smooth and shiny. Dry or dusty pasta is stale; so is pasta that is crumbling. The yellower the
pasta, the more durum wheat it contains. (Egg noodles get their yellow from eggs.) Whole
wheat pasta is brown.Storing This Food
Store pasta in air- and moistureproof glass or plastic containers. Pasta will stay fresh for
about a year, egg noodles for six months.Preparing This Food
To cook pasta most efficiently, start with salted water. At sea level, water boils at 212°F
(100°C), the temperature at which its molecules have enough energy to escape from the sur-
face as steam. If you add salt, the water molecules will need to pick up more energy to push