Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Mar 2018
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- Brighton
Salt is so old fashioned, now we have a spoon that makes your food taste like it has salt!
What type of salt do you use for boiling pasta?
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Just a bit of salt in the water. It reduces the boiling point and also makes the pasta taste better.
The key to pasta for me is to cook it until it's not quite fully cooked. Drain it, rinse and cool it with cold water, then put it in a colander and pour hot water from the kettle over it to reheat before serving (I use a steamer insert so I can put it back over an empty pan to drain). There's a knack to getting it right, but once you do, you'll never go back. You can concentrate on the sauce and then plate up perfectly cooked pasta at just the right moment.
The key to pasta for me is to cook it until it's not quite fully cooked. Drain it, rinse and cool it with cold water, then put it in a colander and pour hot water from the kettle over it to reheat before serving (I use a steamer insert so I can put it back over an empty pan to drain). There's a knack to getting it right, but once you do, you'll never go back. You can concentrate on the sauce and then plate up perfectly cooked pasta at just the right moment.
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What exactly are you getting “right” here?
You’re rinsing out all of the starch which will help emulsify your sauce. If you can’t time 8-10mins for your pasta with the rest of your cooking then I’m worried. Heck, you could just turn 99% of sauces off the heat before you start the pasta and they’d stay warm enough when tossed through with freshly cooked pasta.
I don’t doubt probably some restaurants do the above for means of having everything ready to go but there’s really no need for home cooking. Plus all the extra washing up and faff. Sod that!
What exactly are you getting “right” here?
You’re rinsing out all of the starch which will help emulsify your sauce. If you can’t time 8-10mins for your pasta with the rest of your cooking then I’m worried. Heck, you could just turn 99% of sauces off the heat before you start the pasta and they’d stay warm enough when tossed through with freshly cooked pasta.
I don’t doubt probably some restaurants do the above for means of having everything ready to go but there’s really no need for home cooking. Plus all the extra washing up and faff. Sod that!
Nah, it doesn't rinse out all of the starch at all. If you're using cheap, thin spaghetti maybe, but a normal supermarket linguini for example is fine.
I'm a bit of a sauce nut. I have to get that right and 2 mins either way can be a big difference when using herbs. Those volatiles are, well, volatile... It's much easier to have the pasta ready to go as far as I'm concerned. If you're cooking a jar of dolmio then maybe it's no so important
And the extra washing up is the same colander/steamer I'd use to drain the pasta anyway. ie, there is none.
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So you're saving some of the starchy water?
I've not had a jar of pasta sauce in the house for 15+ years. I don't see the need when at a push you could fry up some garlic, add a tin of tomatoes and simmer away for 20mins (on its most basic form) and get something perfectly good and way better than the sugary mess that is jarred sauces. If you prefer creamy sauces then we always have a pot of creme fraiche in the fridge which serves a very similar purpose.If you're cooking a jar of dolmio then maybe it's no so important
Anyhoo, Serious Eats generally never misses the mark when it comes to breakdowns of cooking process, so I'll just leave this here; https://www.seriouseats.com/does-pasta-water-really-make-difference (the short answer is yes it absolutely does make a difference)
I love how you're trying to be condescending and implying that anyone who doesn't do it your way is doing things badly or cheaply, while simultaneously being pretty clueless about how to cook pasta and pasta sauces well. Bravo.Nah, it doesn't rinse out all of the starch at all. If you're using cheap, thin spaghetti maybe, but a normal supermarket linguini for example is fine.
I'm a bit of a sauce nut. I have to get that right and 2 mins either way can be a big difference when using herbs. Those volatiles are, well, volatile... It's much easier to have the pasta ready to go as far as I'm concerned. If you're cooking a jar of dolmio then maybe it's no so important
And the extra washing up is the same colander/steamer I'd use to drain the pasta anyway. ie, there is none.
Edited to tone it down (a little
). I wouldn't ever criticise someone simply for being ignorant about food, but being ignorant and trying to act like you're an expert while trying to put down someone who clearly knows a lot more than you deserves calling out.
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Go ahead and try it. I don't tend to put MSG in everything, but a little bit is unlikely to do any harm and it may well do something nice.
Some research:
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I love how you're trying to be condescending and implying that anyone who doesn't do it your way is doing things badly or cheaply, while simultaneously being pretty clueless about how to cook pasta and pasta sauces well. Bravo.
Edited to tone it down (a little
My condescension was mainly in retort the rhetoric of "what exactly are you doing right?" and about the mistake of thinking I create more washing up, but if you wanna get up on a high horse in defence of someone else over pasta water then that's your call.
My point stands that out of the two things, the sauce and the pasta, it's cooking the pasta that's the most simple and can be reduced to an even simpler 30 seconds and it's done, rather than putting the more complex task of the sauce on a deadline. It just reduces risk. Risk that someone is going to knock on the door, the phone goes, I might decide I'd enjoy my dinner more if I went for a **** first. There's a plethora of reasons to do it the way I do. The only reason to do it another way is because you might rinse out the starch, which I don't. Nobody would ever tell the difference.
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Sorry, you're wrong. A really quick Google will help inform you on this subject; does rinsing pasta reduce starch
So why are you making it more difficult? In my house, we drain the pasta through the holes on the pan lid. So, draining into a colander and then rinsing, then boiling water and rinsing it again is absolutely laborious, uses more implements, more energy, more gas/electric, and time. There's just no need.
Again, not to be blunt but if you're such a "sauce nut" then you should realise how important the starch is to emulsify sauces with the pasta.
Now I know the thought of eating a succulent meal does invoke some feelings of arousal, this is a well known fact in fact, especially if you are really in to your sauce making. But maybe wait until afterwards?
Now I know the thought of eating a succulent meal does invoke some feelings of arousal, this is a well known fact in fact, especially if you are really in to your sauce making. But maybe wait until afterwards?
The fact that you don't suffer from Pasta Arousal Syndrome does not give you the right to mock the afflicted. I just hope he remembers to wash his hands...
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Snort a line first then decide what to do
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Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Dec 2003
- Posts
- 6,946
- Location
- Cambs UK
Some of you need locking up lol
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Dec 2003
- Posts
- 6,946
- Location
- Cambs UK
One of the least degenerate posts in this thread honestly
I use any old salt, usually the cheapest I have to hand, as once it's dissolved it makes no difference.
However, i tend to use much less/none if I'm using the water in a sauce, because I'd rather control the salt more granularly, if you'll pardon the pun!
However, i tend to use much less/none if I'm using the water in a sauce, because I'd rather control the salt more granularly, if you'll pardon the pun!
Yeah, I appreciate that some starch is lost when rinsing. However, like most things, this isn't a binary choice. If I used thin, cheap pasta and then boiled it until fully cooked, then rinsed it through whilst still hot, then I'd be rinsing more than noticeable amounts of starch. However, if I use thicker pasta, such as linguine for instance instead of a spaghetti, then boil it until it's not quite cooked, then flash cool it with cold water, (which as you'd know makes the starch less soluble AND may make it healthier https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cooling-resistant-starch#:~:text=This process is called starch,and leads to health benefits.) THEN rinse it, I'm really not losing that much starch at all. I know that because like I said, I drain it in a steamer insert over the pan, so I get to see what drains. So you can tell me I'm wrong as much as you like but you're not right about my particular method. Much like you weren't about the extra washing up. Not everyone has pans with lids suitable for draining pasta from and invariably I'd have already used it as a colander whist prepping the sauce.
And when did I say I didn't use any of the starch in my sauce? So much assumption going on.
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A chef once told me putting oil in the water means it makes the pasta slippery, and will stop sauces sticking well to it. Makes sense, but have never done a side-by-side comparison.