KITCHEN NOTES
What is it?
A chitarra (“key-tahr-rah”) is a wooden pasta cutter that was invented in Chieti, a city in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Though its name translates as “guitar,” it bears more resemblance to a harp, featuring a rectangular wooden box with metal strings set close to one another on two sides. To use it, you lay a sheet of pasta on the strings and then use a rolling pin to press the dough through the wires. To dislodge the pasta, you gently strum the strings. The vibration shakes the noodles loose onto a slanted board in the center of the device, allowing them to be easily gathered. The two sides of the pasta cutter produce different thicknesses of noodles—our model made spaghetti and fettuccine, in each case cutting the dough neatly and cleanly into perfect strands.
Pasta cut on the chitarra is square rather than round, which gives the strands a rustic look and feel and makes them ideal for
