The song is an insult. It’s not just any insult, either. With “Yankee Doodle,” the Redcoats were delivering the most puerile, schoolyard insult in the schoolyard insult book. They were suggesting that American soldiers were gay.

Antebellum: This term refers to the time period before a war ? in America it refers to the time (early 1800? s to 1860) before the American Civil War. These were added as a statement and guarantee of the individual rights and freedoms of the American citizens.

: a Canadian and especially a French Canadian.

In the twenty-first century, the word dandy is a jocular, often sarcastic adjective meaning “fine” or “great”; when used in the form of a noun, it refers to a well-groomed and well-dressed man, but often to one who is also self-absorbed.

To be “macaroni” was to be sophisticated, upper class, and worldly. In “Yankee Doodle,” then, the British were mocking what they perceived as the Americans’ lack of class. The first verse is satirical because a doodle—a simpleton—thinks that he can be macaroni—fashionable—simply by sticking a feather in his cap.

1. Fill a large saucepan with water, put the lid on and bring to the boil over a high heat.
2. Add a good pinch of sea salt.
3. Once the water is boiling, stir in the pasta.
4. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
5. Scoop out a mugful of the starchy cooking water and set aside.

Strand pasta

What are the most popular pasta shapes?

• Pappardelle.
• Orecchiette.
• Macaroni.
• Linguine.
• Farfalle.
• Fusilli.
• Fettuccine.
• Capellini. Capellini, or more commonly known as angel hair pasta, is one of the thinnest types of pasta with a diameter ranging between 0.85 and 0.92 millimeters.

Tagliatelle

Spaghettoni

Angel hair pasta is a variety of spaghetti with very fine strands. Use with the same sauces as you would spaghetti. This pasta cooks very quickly, 8 minutes, maximum. Angel hair pasta is a good choice for making Pasta Primavera.

• Angel Hair Pasta. The long, delicate strands of angel hair pasta (aka capellini) are best served in light or creamy sauces.
• Bow Tie Pasta (Farfalle) Use bow tie pasta to dress up any dish that calls for small pasta shapes, such as penne or shells.
• Bucatini Pasta.
• Ditalini Pasta.

“With an oil- or butter-based sauce, you’re able to get a nice coating of flavor to glaze what’s inside the pasta.” Fusilli, cavatappi, and rotini are good options. The curves and grooves in each “hold pesto sauces well and allow for the herb-based oil to stick to the pasta,” Tonkinson says.

Long- and medium-length pasta

As a general rule, pair the heartier sauces with the wider noodles: Wide ribbons like pappardelle pair well with rich, meaty sauces while the thinner flat noodles, like fettuccine or linguine, are best paired with simple cream sauces like Alfredo or delicate proteins like seafood.

The five French mother sauces are béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato. Developed in the 19th century by French chef Auguste Escoffier, mother sauces serve as a starting point for a variety of delicious sauces used to complement countless dishes, including veggies, fish, meat, casseroles, and pastas.

If your vegetable sauce is oil-based with smaller ingredients or in a thicker creamy sauce, stick to pasta that will best capture those chunkier sauces—scoop-shaped pasta and hollow tubes like Orecchiette, Shells, Rigatoni, Penne, etc.

Fettuccine

The Bad News: Fat and Calorie Overload A typical portion of this decadent dish has 1200 calories, 75 grams of fat, 47 grams of saturated fat and gives you more than half a day’s worth of sodium. Yikes!