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Ooo, that picture makes me hungry! Greetings, kids! I hope everyone had an excellent weekend. Do you like pasta? Today's Tip will help you cook perfect pasta every time, so scroll on down and check it out.
HOW TO COOK PERFECT PASTA
Fill a large stockpot with water. The more the better - pasta only sticks when cooked in too little water.
Add salt. Salt makes pasta taste better, and won't appreciably increase the sodium level of your recipes. Use 1 teaspoon per gallon of water.
Bring the water to a rolling boil. This means a boil you can't stop by stirring.
Measure the pasta you need. Pasta generally doubles in size when cooked, so 1 cup uncooked = 2 cups cooked. Refer to the recipe if necessary.
Slowly add the pasta to the boiling water. Ideally, the water shouldn't stop boiling, but if that happens, it's ok.
Stir and stir some more! Pasta will stick together if it isn't stirred during the crucial first moments of cooking. Don't add oil, because that will make the pasta slippery and the sauce won't stick to it when it's done.
Start timing when the water returns to a boil. Most pastas cook in 8-12 minutes. Check the package directions!
You can regulate the heat so the pasta/water mixture doesn't foam up and over the pot sides. Lower it the tiniest bit, and everything should be under control.
Really the only way to tell if the pasta is correctly cooked is to taste it. It should be 'al dende' - firm, yet tender, with a tiny core in the middle.
You can also cut into a piece you've fished out of the pot. There shouldn't be any solid white in the center of the pasta - just a shading to more opaque cream color.
Now drain the pasta into a colander placed into your kitchen sink. Lift the colander and shake off excess water.
Don't rinse if you're serving a hot dish. That removes the starch that helps hold the sauce. If you are making a cold salad, rinse so the salad isn't sticky. (Although it's okay not to rinse; just a matter of personal preference.)
Great tip, and you've started another CD dinner party. I know there have been times when I have not used enough water, because the pasta has been sticky. Thanks for helping me be a better pasta cook.
Yum...thanks for the pasta tip. I love pasta and it sticks right to my hips
My stepfather had a special way of testing cooked spaghetti. He would take a strand or 2 out of the pot and throw it at the wall. If it stuck it was done Needless to say, my mother did not like his way of testing pasta, lol.
This is exactly how I cook my pasta! Except for one thing: I've always heard that you should add salt once the water is boiling, otherwise it's as if you hadn't put any...
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