I was once served a pasta course that was two ravioli sitting naked on a plate. They were filled with lentils, sausage mince and broth, and were so slippery I thought they’d slide uninhibited down my throat. They were part of an expensive degustation. Before then, most of the ravioli I’d eaten were more like chewy dumplings with fillings barely distinguishable from their wrappings, usually served in sauces made with tinned tomatoes and carrots. I can’t tell you which I enjoyed more.
I think of ravioli like jazz songs, sweet potatoes and the underwear I own – I’ve never stopped to consider what makes a good one, I’m just happy they exist. But presumably, some ravioli are far better than others.
For this taste test, I recruited six Sydney pasta makers: Daniel Johnston (head chef and co-owner of Fontana), Harry Levy (chef and co-owner of Porcine), Enrico Tomelleri (head chef at Paski Vineria Popolare), Monica Luppi (owner of Lulu’s), Elizabeth Hewson (author of Saturday Night Pasta) and Stefano De Caro (head chef and co-owner of Cicerone Cucina Romana).
We blind-tasted 11 supermarket brands from the fridge and frozen aisles, all of them pastas – ravioli, tortellini, agnolotti or cappellacci – filled with spinach and cheese. They were prepared according to the packet recipe, with fresh water and the same salt-to-water ratio each time. We tasted each brand plain, and with a bit of olive oil, and scored on appearance, texture and taste.
What I learned is that while, predictably, not all ravioli are equally enjoyable, I don’t care that much. Unlike most supermarket products, the worst version of this product is not only edible, it’s entirely appropriate for a midweek meal.
Best overall
Rana Ricotta and Spinach Tortellini, 565g, $10 ($1.77 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 8.5/10
Rana was the last brand to arrive at the table. Although some of us had already eaten more than 40 individual ravioli, the serving of Rana was devoured in minutes – the only round not to produce leftovers. Considering the ingredients, it was no surprise. Rana had by far the most ricotta and spinach (39% and 20% respectively). And unlike most of the other brands, the filling wasn’t stuck together like a log of wet meatloaf. The pasta, meanwhile, looked and tasted handmade. On her scorecard, Luppi drew a love heart on her scorecard and wrote: “feels like home.”
Best value
World Kitchen Ricotta and Spinach Agnolotti, 625g, $4.99 (80c per 100g), available at Aldi
Score: 4/10
While the reviewers praised the strong spinach taste, most hated the overall product. Hewson said it was like eating dough filled with dough, De Caro thought it might be vegan, and Levy wrote: “shocker, filled with water. Filling overworked, quite hard. Pissed me off. Next.” But at half the price of any of its competitors, I still think it has a place, and that place is in a truckload of sauce.
The rest
Specially Selected Ricotta and Spinach Cappellacci, 250g, $4.99 ($2 per 100g), available at Aldi
Score: 8/10
I imagine everyone making ravioli for a large group has to decide what they value more – silkiness or structural integrity. Specially Selected chose the latter. The cappellacci have a great mouthfeel (Luppi described them as sexy) but some of the filling spilled out of the pasta and into the cooking water. Despite losing a lot of flavour due to structural faults, they were still very close to getting the highest taste score of the day. The reviewers described them as creamy (a good pick up: they have both butter and cream) and three correctly guessed the filling contained a hard cheese (Grana Padano), giving more depth of flavour. Tomelleri and Hewson said the savoury flavour was a bit wonton-like but, considering the thin rims and slightly translucent centre, they might have been distracted by the look.
25 Degrees South Baby Spinach and Victorian Fetta Ravioli, 325g, $9 ($2.77 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 8/10
The most confusing product of the day – a few reviewers were convinced this smelled and tasted like mortadella. Maybe because, like mortadella, it’s quite salty and there’s an extraordinary amount of pepper. There was also garlic, subtle but enough to make it stand out. Some reviewers liked the intensity of the flavours; others thought it was overpowering. If you season every meal with a monsoonal amount of salt and pepper, this should be your top pick.
Antica Pasteria Buffalo Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli, 350g, $10 ($2.86 per 100g), available at some major supermarkets
Score: 8/10
Like 25 Degrees and Specially Selected, these were one of the three “sexy” pastas. But while the other two brands had quite distinct flavour profiles, these were a more classic if subtle spinach and ricotta experience. The reviewers described them as “elegant”, “silky”, “a little underseasoned” and “a little sour”. Like the seventh cathedral you saw on your trip to Europe, beautiful but ultimately not memorable. “Tastes like (almost) an artisan product,” Tomelleri wrote.
Pasta Italia Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli, 400g, $7 ($1.75 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 7/10
There was a lot of talk about which products had “boosters”, a catch-all term some of the reviewers used to describe MSG, yeast extract and other flavour additives. Thanks to an odd but flat taste, a few reviewers thought this was a candidate, but they were wrong. There was nothing extraordinary in these ravioli, other than quite a high ricotta percentage (33%, the second-highest of the day) and the presence of “spices”, which some reviewers guessed was nutmeg. Its good score is thanks to the pasta texture, which had a good bite (a few of the reviewers incorrectly guessed it was an egg pasta). Interestingly, there was almost as much protein in this (16.1g per 100g) as the protein-boosted Grand Italian brand, but nothing in the ingredients indicates why.
Latina Fresh Ricotta and Spinach Agnolotti, 375g, $8 ($2.13 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 5.5/10
Latina Fresh, Leggo’s and World Kitchen were so similar, some reviewers were convinced they were made in the same factory. When we compared them side by side after the taste test, the theory was even more believable. Despite complaints of being “gluggy”, “sticky”, “salty”, “cheap”, “fragile” and “somehow wet and dry”, these were still the best of the trio. The positives: the creamy, cheesy filling. As Luppi said, “menu peggio” – less worse.
Mario’s Ricotta Cheese and Spinach Ravioli, 500g, $7.99 ($1.60 per 100g), available from Harris Farm
Score: 4.5/10
I expect frozen products to produce the consistency of Lego blocks at the price of peanuts. This was neither. If anything it felt like one of the more homemade products, though sadly for Mario the ravioli seemed less like a nonna’s handmade pasta and more like mine. A few ravioli were broken and it looked like any extra time on the boil or in a sauce would tear a few more. There was a good ricotta flavour but it came with a grainy texture. Unusually for frozen food, it was also underseasoned. Tomelleri wrote: “I had one and I don’t want a second.”
Grand Italian Increased Protein Pasta Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli, 325g, $6 ($1.85 per 100g), available at Woolworths
Score: 4/10
I think there’s a great irony that the protein-enhanced ravioli were among the thickest, chewiest and stodgiest pastas of the day, as if the pasta itself had been hitting the gym. As with a lot of the low scorers, the dough-to-filling ratio was way off, like those pranks where you take an age to unwrap a gigantic present only to find there’s a single tiny lolly inside. It’s extremely unsatisfying, even irritating, particularly when the filling tastes like spinach and chicken salt. The ingredients also – unusually – list “bamboo fibre”. It did have a nice wholemeal, handmade look though.
Bacci’s Fresh Pasta Spinach and Ricotta Agnolotti, 500g, $8.99 ($1.80 per 100g), available from Harris Farm
Score: 4/10
This was the first product we tasted and it was instantly trashed. Several reviewers said it was sour like it had been fermented, and criticised the inconsistent filling and doughy texture. Levy described it as “aggressively al dente”; Johnston wrote “aroma of wet cardboard, filling tastes like bread”. I nodded along but by the time the plate had been cleared, I’d eaten five of them. I felt like I was looking at the Rotten Tomatoes page of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film, where critics and the general audience seem to care about such different things.
Leggo’s Fresh Ricotta and Spinach Agnolotti with Parmesan, 630g, $11 ($1.75 per 100g), available from Woolworths
Score: 4/10
One reviewer said the filling reminded him of the stuffing in a supermarket roast chicken. I took a piece, sliced it open, and dug out the filling. It came out grey, unblemished and solid, like the severed end of a mummified finger. The description was right. I’ve never loved chicken stuffing – to me it’s just a stodgy ball of breadcrumbs and oil, which, looking at this product’s ingredients, is mostly what’s inside, plus a tokenistic amount of ricotta (10%, the least of the day) and spinach (at 2.5%, only Latina Fresh contained less). De Caro said, “this is not a ravioli, it’s a new product”. I agree but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I looked over at Tomelleri and saw, like me, he’d eaten quite a few. His scorecard read: “It doesn’t taste like pasta … but I can’t stop eating them.”