Cooking Pasta

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How do I cook pasta?

Cooking Pasta

How to cook perfect al dente pasta:

1. Use a big pot with lots of water.
If you use too small a pot the pasta will stick to the bottom of the pot. Also, pasta absorbs a lot of water. The better the pasta, the more water absorption.

2. Bring to a rolling boil before adding pasta.
Don`t rush this part. Putting the pasta in too quickly will make the pasta mushy.

3. Add the pasta all at once and stir until all pasta is submerged.

4. Don`t leave the room while the pasta is cooking.
This is important. One or two minutes can really ruin your pasta.

5. Stir every two minutes so that it doesn`t stick to bottom of pot. Stirring also keeps the pasta from sticking to itself.

6. Test for doneness by tasting and checking the "bite".
Lots of people have amazing techniques for testing when pasta is cooked to perfection. There is only one definitive method - pull out a noodle and take a bite.

7. Don`t throw pasta on the ceiling.
Too messy.

8. Drain in a colander.
Don`t use the lid of the pot to drain the pasta. You can seriously scald yourself and it does a lousy job.

9. Do not rinse unless you are making a cold pasta salad.
Don`t believe the old story about needing to rinse the starch off. You just gave it a bath in boiling water. Trust me it`s clean enough.

10.Serve with a smile.
This is a critical component.

....and one more things....

1. Should you add salt to the water?

The debate in pasta aficionado circles rages on with no clear winner. We feel that taste and personal sodium level preferences should be the deciding factors. Your taste, your body, you decide.

A good idea is to TEST two batches simultaneously. Same pasta, two pots, one salted one without. Get someone to mix them up and take a blind taste test. If you notice a clear preference, your decision has been made. If not, re-read the first paragraph.

FYI, The Big Parmesan doesn`t normally add salt, but may sneak in a few morsels when salty friends are visiting.

   

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