First things first: pasta with different structure will give you different results. If you use smooth pasta it will cook uniformly, non smooth pasta like rigatoni, don't have that quality, but they make the sauce stick.
Pasta goes into boiling water, everybody knows that. But not many know that there has to be plenty of water, because pasta likes space. Every 100g of pasta require one liter of water. 300g means 3 liters.
What about salt? Is there a rule for that too? Yes, actually there's two: salt has to be added after water has reached boiling temperature, or boiling will be delayed. If you have one liter of water add 10g of salt, for 2 liters add 20g and so on.
You're probably thinking this is the part where you add oil to the water. Wrong and useless: if in the end the pasta comes out of the water all stuck together in one piece, next time use more water and buy some, at least decent quality of pasta.
Wait for 30 seconds for the salt to dissolve and pour the pasta. If you're using spaghetti, use your hands to push them down instead of breaking them. Make sure you don't touch the boiling water!
When you add the pasta, the water will stop boiling, so try to make it boil back as quick as possible by turning up the flame and covering the pan. When it's boiling again, turn down the heat a little bit and uncover the pan. In general, the level of heat should be the highest you can get without making the water boil out of the pan.
Stir the pasta a couple of times while it's cooking so it won't stick to the bottom of the pan. For how long should it cook? A great underestimated reference is the packet itself: there you'll find the number of minutes necessary to get pasta al dente (dente means tooth). Al dente means not too soft nor too raw.
Not to leave pasta overcook is the essence, and for a threefold reason: it won't take long to digest, it will keep cooking on your dish without turning into jelly, and most of all: Italians cook it this way.
Drain the pasta completely. Keep some cooking water if you need it (it would depend on the recipe). Put it back in the sauce pan with the sauce, and stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes at low heat.
However, if you're preparing a pasta salad, or your lunchbox for tomorrow, you'll need to stop the cooking process by pouring cold water on the colander after the pasta is drained.
Pasta goes into boiling water, everybody knows that. But not many know that there has to be plenty of water, because pasta likes space. Every 100g of pasta require one liter of water. 300g means 3 liters.
What about salt? Is there a rule for that too? Yes, actually there's two: salt has to be added after water has reached boiling temperature, or boiling will be delayed. If you have one liter of water add 10g of salt, for 2 liters add 20g and so on.
You're probably thinking this is the part where you add oil to the water. Wrong and useless: if in the end the pasta comes out of the water all stuck together in one piece, next time use more water and buy some, at least decent quality of pasta.
Wait for 30 seconds for the salt to dissolve and pour the pasta. If you're using spaghetti, use your hands to push them down instead of breaking them. Make sure you don't touch the boiling water!
When you add the pasta, the water will stop boiling, so try to make it boil back as quick as possible by turning up the flame and covering the pan. When it's boiling again, turn down the heat a little bit and uncover the pan. In general, the level of heat should be the highest you can get without making the water boil out of the pan.
Stir the pasta a couple of times while it's cooking so it won't stick to the bottom of the pan. For how long should it cook? A great underestimated reference is the packet itself: there you'll find the number of minutes necessary to get pasta al dente (dente means tooth). Al dente means not too soft nor too raw.
Not to leave pasta overcook is the essence, and for a threefold reason: it won't take long to digest, it will keep cooking on your dish without turning into jelly, and most of all: Italians cook it this way.
Drain the pasta completely. Keep some cooking water if you need it (it would depend on the recipe). Put it back in the sauce pan with the sauce, and stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes at low heat.
However, if you're preparing a pasta salad, or your lunchbox for tomorrow, you'll need to stop the cooking process by pouring cold water on the colander after the pasta is drained.
About the Author:
Andrea is keen on cooking. Cheese and Pears is his blog about authentic Italian recipes. If you think you know more about pasta after reading this article, start with an easy pasta recipe.
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