Opinions on how to Cook Pasta

tricky D

From my long gone days of being a pasta chef...

For à point pasta.

The fresher the pasta, the better (after it has been hung to dry).

Large pot, around half full, with a bit of salt, boiling, not simmering.

Pasta goes in.

After about a minute the pasta gets lifted using a pasta spoon to separate the pasta.



Boil until al dente (still a bit uncooked, ie. a bit dry texture in the centre when nipped/bitten).

Drain and mix/serve.

No oil, boil, no simmering, with salt, no rinse. They all do actually make a difference, slight or otherwise.

However, if you like over cooked, simmered, no salt, oiled, buttered, whatever your preference, that's fine. Your desired taste and texture is more important than any right or wrong or perfect method.

Brian?

kaki wrote: »

If you chuck in the salt before the water has already boiled, you lower the boiling point of the water will be cooking your pasta at circa 90 degrees. Although I do this often for convenience, technically it will result in a pasta with a slightly gloopier texture, and over time will ruin the bottom of your pots.

If you chuck the salt in after the water has boiled, the temperature momentarily rises to about 130 degrees, then goes back to 100

Im fairly sure that's wrong. Saltwater boils higher than 100, the more salt the higher the boiling point.

Bannasidhe

Bannasidhe wrote: »

I was a professional chef and a head chef - I've worked all over the world in top class restaurants. It is not vital to put salt in the water when cooking pasta, that is a matter of taste. It is important to use a large saucepan and have the water boiling (as an Italian chef once said to me - put the pasta in when there are big bubbles in the water). It's important to keep that water at boiling point- not simmering - as the action of the water helps prevent the pasta from sticking together.
Never had a complaint about my unsalted pasta - even from Italians

Important point I forgot to mention -only occured to me when I was cooking pasta for dinner :rolleyes: - pasta continues to cook even when drained. So either serve immediately or stop the cooking process by putting the pasta in a colander, unless one has a pasta pot of course, and rinse it off with cold water. It's a simple process to reheat - use the sauce to reheat it or rinse with boiling water. Try at all costs to avoid having to do this with with stuffed pastas like tortellini or ravioli which are best served at once, for plain pasta such as penne, spaghetti, fusilli, Fettuccine etc its perfectly ok.

kaki

briankeating wrote: »

Im fairly sure that's wrong. Saltwater boils higher than 100, the more salt the higher the boiling point.

It's what I heard from my pseudo mother-in-law, must try it out tonight with a cooking thermometer in the name of science!

Dr.Silly

kaki wrote: »

It's what I heard from my pseudo mother-in-law, must try it out tonight with a cooking thermometer in the name of science!

http://chemistry.about.com/od/solutionsmixtures/a/boilingpointele.-NxZ.htm

greenbicycle

I'm not a chef and far from an expert cook or anything so I can't comment on whether you should add ingredients to pasta when boiling or not however I do experience a pot boiling over like most people when I don't use a large enough pot. I found a little gadget in meadows and Byrne about a month ago and it works wonders, it's like a little disk made of pottery or something, feels like terracotta but white. Basically you put that in the pot while boiling pasta and it doesn't boil over, surprisingly it works!

As for other merits of salt/oil etc I dunno, I like mine without any extras....

Park Royal

Glad somebody mentioned a knob of butter....:P

BillyBoy

Hi guys, just started reading on the cooking forum and loving all the ideas and help on it at the moment. I'm not much of a cook but am starting to try things and getting better (I think anyway)! I was just wondering about the Youtube recipe in the first link - could this be added to mince for a spag bol sauce or would this just be wrong? I love my spag bol and want to try make my own if its not too difficult. If anyone has a video on how to make a tasty one please link it (I am more of a visual person when it comes to cooking, sometimes struggle with what certain terms mean etc when people are describing how to cook things on here and on the net.)

Hope my questions are not too stupid!

Chef In The Making,
Bill

BailMeOut

BillyBoy wrote: »

Hi guys, just started reading on the cooking forum and loving all the ideas and help on it at the moment. I'm not much of a cook but am starting to try things and getting better (I think anyway)! I was just wondering about the Youtube recipe in the first link - could this be added to mince for a spag bol sauce or would this just be wrong? I love my spag bol and want to try make my own if its not too difficult. If anyone has a video on how to make a tasty one please link it (I am more of a visual person when it comes to cooking, sometimes struggle with what certain terms mean etc when people are describing how to cook things on here and on the net.)

Hope my questions are not too stupid!

Chef In The Making,
Bill

Bill - I do Bolognese all the time and Delia's method is fool proof however it is a 5 hour cooking process and you need a proper Dutch oven. It is is however worth the wait as so so tasty!

Cool Mo D

Dr.Silly wrote: »

http://chemistry.about.com/od/solutionsmixtures/a/boilingpointele.-NxZ.htm

Adding salt to boiling water for pasta will not change the boiling temperature of the water. You would have to add a massive amount of salt to make any kind of noticeable difference, and your pasta would then be inedible. It takes 58 grams of salt to raise the boiling temp of a litre water by half a degree!

The Hill Billy

@BailMeOut - You don't need a "proper Dutch oven" for that recipe. Just a casserole dish.

SBWife

The Hill Billy wrote: »

@BailMeOut - You don't need a "proper Dutch oven" for that recipe. Just a casserole dish.

They are the same thing, Dutch oven is just the US term for your run of the mill enamelled lidded casserole dish.

BailMeOut

SBWife wrote: »

They are the same thing, Dutch oven is just the US term for your run of the mill enamelled lidded casserole dish.

I have always called the cast iron enameled pot a "Dutch oven" and the pottery or glass equivalent "casserole dishes"! Regardless that bologenese dish is superb.

The Hill Billy

The poster clearly stated that they were new to the whole cooking lark & it was over-complicating matters by referring to something as a necessity when it wasn't mentioned in those terms in a straight forward recipe. Simples.

BillyBoy

Thanks guys, that looks amazing. I presume that I'd get the minced pork and chicken livers at the butchers rather than the local dunnes?

When I saw the Dutch oven bit I was going to reply that I live in an apartment and couldn't afford a new oven just for this dish! Lol

Think I am going to give this a go, will let you know how I get on!

unkel

This thread has made me rethink the way I cook pasta and I will be trying out a few changes

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Adding salt to boiling water for pasta will not change the boiling temperature of the water. You would have to add a massive amount of salt to make any kind of noticeable difference, and your pasta would then be inedible. It takes 58 grams of salt to raise the boiling temp of a litre water by half a degree!

Indeed! In 5 litres of water (typical amount I use for boiling pasta), you'd need 300g of table salt (50 teaspoons ) to elevate the temperature by 1 degree centigrade

Darkginger

I've been cooking the Delia bolognese for years, and it truly is tremendous, and freezes well, too. If you can't get minced pork (buy a mincer and some pork chops?) or chicken livers (Supervalu and Centra often have the livers, next to the frozen pastry, for some odd reason, in a plain white tub), don't worry too much - it's the long slow cooking, and the basil and nutmeg (oh, the nutmeg!) that really make the dish. Well worth the effort, make loads of it and freeze portions in ziplock bags - then you have more-or-less instant bolognese sauce to hand, if you have a microwave to defrost it.

GastroBoy

SBWife wrote: »

Looks like the OP is not the only one who can't cook pasta.

Salt should be always be used.

The pot should be very large, and once pasta is added to the boiling water it should be left uncovered.

Pasta should be cooked in boiling (not simmering) water.

Cook for the time indicated on the package, test it before draining. It should not be soggy soft but have a bit of a bite.

Check out what Harold Mcgee says about that theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keGCgWOceqU

SBWife

GastroBoy wrote: »

Check out what Harold Mcgee says about that theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keGCgWOceqU

He gives a method which he claims, and I quote, "is just as good as when it's done the old fashioned way."

GastroBoy

SBWife wrote: »

He gives a method which he claims, and I quote, "is just as good as when it's done the old fashioned way."

Exactly

reallyrose

This is another interesting view on the pasta/salt/water thing.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab.html

It's quite interesting and for once the comments are helpful instead of being the usual internet rabble rabble!