How to CookPasta
Follow These 2 Steps to Achieve "Pasta Perfection"
by Sarah Jampel
• April 25, 2017
• 8 Comments
Here's how I typically cook pasta (don't scream at me): Bring a pot of water to a boil, add a pinch of salt (I know this is wrong, but what am I, made of salt?), add noodles, set a timer for whatever the box says, drain, plop into a bowl, dollop some barely-warm sauce over top and mix it up as I eat. It's efficient.
Needless to say, my pasta—no matter how much cheese I add—never tastes as good as the pasta I order at restaurants. Nor does it taste as good as, with just a tad more care, it easily could.
And that's because, according to the authors of Perfect Pasta: Recipes and Secrets to Elevate the Classic Italian Meal, I'm ignoring the critical two-step stairway to pasta perfection (as defined by al dente noodles with the full flavor of the sauce).
It takes only a bit more attention (and one additional pan) to achieve "a deeper-tasting dish in which all the ingredients are wedded in a well-balanced whole." Here's how:
Step 1
Undercook the pasta by about 2 minutes. (When you're only cooking pasta for 8 minutes total, this is a significant chunk of time!) "This ensures that the pasta maintains an essential spine of chewiness."
Step 2
Then, "finish cooking the noodles in the sauce, which, ideally, you’ve been simmering in a skillet on another burner." By adding the pasta to the sauce before it's fully cooked, you're giving the noodles (which are still not fully rehydrated) 1 to 3 minutes to absorb the flavors of the pan—to meld, to marry (I now pronounce you, pasta and sauce).
And, it should be said, this does not have to be a fancy sauce—it could be as simple as olive oil, garlic, and herbs. In the cookbook, the authors apply this one-two step to all kinds of pasta dishes, from bucatini with ramps to rigatoni with spicy salami and tomato.
But what's the first pasta-sauce combination you'll try it on? Personally, I've got my eye on some asparagus and brown butter.
More Pasta Tips to Pick Up
What's the best pasta tip you've picked up? Tell us in the comments below!
Comments (8)
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Explore more about pastas in my blog! Hope you learn more about pasta recipes and cuisines! http://yourcookingtipsandrecipes...
Also, DO NOT rinse the pasta (macaroni! Ha) in cold water after draining....you rinse off all that good starch!!!
Yes, from finishing the pasta in the sauce is a good practice. But being someone that likes to also have plain pasta with a little buyer and cracked pepper in addition to some with sauce, it's not the way for me!
Jessica, does the cracked pepper get into the "buyer's" eyes? :) LOL
HalfPint is a trusted home cook.
I do what @Gino de blasio instructs below. I once really salted the pasta water because someone, maybe Martha, said to salt it like seawater. I had to throw the pasta out. It was inedible. Lesson learned, so now I add enough to make it lightly seasoned. And that finishing in the sauce part makes a big difference. I think it's even more important than salting pasta water.
Sarah, why is adding salt to water before the pasta (not noodles) incorrect? Your water should taste like a lightly seasoned sea water. Never put oil in the water and always, always keep a cup of starchy water to the side when finishing off your pasta in the sauce in case it goes dry. Take it from an Italian and someone who has studied pasta cooking for over a decade.
Sarah is Food52's senior staff writer & stylist.
Hi Gino, I meant that my quantity (just a pinch!) is incorrect. I know it should be more like a handful. And thank you for your other tips!
It's 7:30 am and I want pasta now!
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