Tips to Cooking Pasta Properly

Cooking with Rich

2020-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

There are dozens, if not hundreds of pages that offer tips on cooking pasta, and I'm shamelessly adding one extra.

There may be a reasonable discussion over a bottle of red whether these are the most important tips for cooking pasta, but for the average person trying to cook a meal for the family at home a few well placed tips can go a long way. You will see lists of up to 20 tips, but I suggest many of those lists are only trying to look special. Seriously, pasta is pasta, there are of course some rules, but whether store bought or home made here are a few basics I think will help, certainly help me, even today.

Tips to cooking pasta properly - Cooking with Rich

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Tips to Cooking Pasta Properly

Tips to cooking pasta properly.

Use the biggest pot you have, a 6 litre pot for 500g-750g of pasta is about right. What you don't want is starchy pasta.
The water should be boiling before adding your pasta. Whether it is store bought spaghetti or home made duck ravioli, hot, hot water always!
Salt the water, about 1 tbs for every 500g of pasta, ignore the sh*t about using only "kosher salt", it makes little difference and only costs more. Salt your water with table salt and don't waste good money on expensive salt that you mostly end up pouring down the drain.
Do NOT add oil, butter or anything else greasy to the water, this coats the pasta and prevents your sauce from melding to the pasta when serving. Salt and salt only in the water.
Stir the pasta as soon as you have added it to the water. The pasta will release a lot of starch very quickly and this will cause the pasta to stick together, so stir for the first few minutes.
Taste your pasta while cooking. Al dente is the measure of properly cooked pasta, and the average person asks 'what the f**k is al dente'? So the clue I can provide is when you bite in to the pasta there is a slight catch on your tooth/teeth, you might almost think it is slightly under done.
The pasta will also continue to cook a little once you remove it from the water - but do not run it under cold water. If you are throwing into a sauce before serving then you may wish to under cook slightly to allow that touch of final cooking once combined with the sauce.
For most of us mere mortals, whatever is on the packet of the pasta start tasting 2-3 mins before. And please don't throw pasta against a wall, apart from being super unhygienic in your kitchen, it does not indicate when pasta is done.
Have your sauce ready before you cook your pasta. Some argue adding your pasta to your sauce and combining before serving is the best, rather than the other way around. This will partially depend on the sauce and how you wish to serve. Experiment with both on your favourites and do what works best for you.

More quick tips to cooking pasta:

Save a little of the water to mix in to your sauce.
Strain your pasta immediately it is cooked, don't let it sit in the water as it will continue to cook.
Don't rinse your pasta.
Stuffed pasta and gnocchi (even frozen) will float once it is cooked.

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