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5 Simple Tips For Cooking Perfect Pasta
I admit I’m a bit of an elitist when it comes to pasta. It has to be cooked “just right” and if it isn’t, no matter how great the sauce or other ingredients are–I find the dish just isn’t that great.
If you love pasta but when you cook it the results are disappointing, it’s probably an error in preparation. The good news is, this problem’s an easy fix!
Here’s the way I make pasta, the two most important things you want to pay attention to are the amount of water you cook with and the cooking time…mess those up and the gig is up.
Tips For Cooking Perfect Pasta
- Use a large pot with lots of water, way bigger than you think you need. Rule of thumb is about 1 to 1 1/2 quarts water per 1/4 lb of pasta. You want the pasta to cook with lots of room and lots of water. This one’s a biggy!
- Bring water to a full boil then add a splash of oil and a few shakes of salt. Oil is debatable with some, but I find it does add something to the pasta. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt per pound of pasta (Kosher salt is great). Once everything’s boiling hard, add your pasta and make sure it’s all covered with water. This one’s an important step too, if you add the pasta before the water is at a full rolling boil–you’re not going to get great pasta.
- When you first add your pasta to the boiling water, stir well to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Stir again after about 2 or 3 minutes. Do not cover with a lid, keep the pasta boiling in an open pot.
- Check the instructions on the pasta package for cooking time. Start checking the pasta at the minimum suggested time: take a piece of pasta out and bite into it. If it’s cooked just right, you’ll know it by biting into it–it will be slightly firm but tender (al dente), no crunchy or hard center. Once it’s cooked, remove the pasta from heat immediately. If it isn’t, check every minute or so until it’s ready. Seconds do make a difference and overcooked pasta is why it turns out soggy, mushy and tasteless.
- Once the pasta is done cooking, remove from heat and immediately drain in a colander. Shake the colander to get rid of excess water, no need to rinse.
That’s it! Top with your favorite pasta sauce or recipe ingredients and enjoy 
.
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You can also tell if its cooked by looking at the center of it after taking a bite. If there is any white left in the center, then it needs a more time.
The oil is to keep the pasta from sticking together.
Also important to remember is that pasta (like eggs, cookies, and many other foods) keeps cooking with it’s own residual heat even after it’s out of the water. You need to pull it out when it’s al dente or it will cook itself into mush. In an emergency you can rinse the pasta in cool water to stop the cooking. But this will wash of the salt and oil (if you use it) and it also washes off the starch. Cooked and drained pasta is coated with a thin laywer of starch which is produced when it cooks. This starch helps sauce stick to the noodles, and I find it really makes a difference!
My Mom was from Italy and the entire family, including an aunt with a resturant, always left a wooden spoon in the pan with the boiling pasta. They said it kept it from sticking together. I leave the wooden spoon in and never have sticky pasta.
Another tip, after draining well, even if you will use a sauce, add butter or good olive oil that has some garlic and chopped basil and oregano. Gives the pasta a pretty look, doesn’t stick and tastes yummy!
There is debate over adding oil. While it keeps the pasta from sticking together, it causes the sauce you add later not to stick as well. I generally add oil. Lots of water is really important. I was using a 4 quart pot for pasta for 3 people. Then I found a previously hidden 6 quart pot. Life is much better as so is the pasta. Mangia!