Macaroni

Macaroni (), known in Italian as maccheroni, is a pasta shaped like narrow tubes. Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as "elbow macaroni". Some home machines can make macaroni shapes but, like most pasta, macaroni is usually made commercially by large-scale extrusion. The common curved shape is created by different speeds of extrusion on opposite sides of the pasta tube as it comes out of the machine. The word macaroni is often used synonymously with elbow-shaped macaroni, as it is the variety most often used in macaroni and cheese recipes. In Italy and other countries, the noun maccheroni can refer to straight, tubular, square-ended pasta corta (lit. 'short pasta') or to long pasta dishes, as in maccheroni alla chitarra, which is prepared with long pasta such as spaghetti. In the United States, federal regulations define three shapes of dried pasta (macaroni, spaghetti, and vermicelli) as falling under the label of "macaroni product".