10 Important Pasta Tips You Will Want to Know

PASTA MAKING TIPS THAT WILL LEAVE YOU WITH PERFECT PASTA

Making good pasta is easy, but to make great pasta..... Here are 10 excellent pasta cooking tips for making great pasta at home.

HOW MUCH PASTA PER PERSON

If you are serving pasta as a main course with a salad and some crusty bread, count on 4 ounces per diner. In other words, a one-pound box of dried pasta will serve four as a main course. On the other hand, if the pasta is a side dish to a protein (think Chicken Parmigiana), allow only 2 ounces per diner.

HOW MUCH WATER

To cook one pound of dried pasta, bring one gallon of water to a rolling boil. Once the water is boiling, add enough salt to taste like seawater. Add the salt until the water is boiling, or the salt can pit your pot.

ADDING PASTA TO WATER

Add the pasta all at once, bending long pasta into the water and around the inside of the pot as the boiling water starts to soften the pasta. Don't break the pasta to fit the pot.

Stir the pasta immediately. The surface of the pasta, when first added to the water, is sticky because of the glue-like starch. If you don't give it an immediate stir, it will stick together like thick and thin.

Once the water has come back to a boil, turn the heat down a bit to prevent the pasta from boiling. Next, boil the pasta until it is al dente - slightly firm in the center. Al dente translates to "to the tooth" or "to the bite," meaning that the pasta should still provide some resistance instead of being completely soft all the way through.

SHOULD I ADD OIL TO THE WATER?

Short Answer - NO!

I get a lot of emails from visitors who have read this pasta tips page with the suggestion of adding a little oil to the pot of boiling water to prevent the pasta from sticking together.

I did this for years until my friend and professional chef Ricco Deluca told me this was a bad idea. A real no-no.

Why, you may be asking yourself, since this is one of your favorite pasta cooking tips that you have been doing for as long as you can remember?

Because yes, the pasta won't stick together, but neither will the pasta and the sauce. This is because the oil prevents the sauce from sticking to the pasta. So you end up with a pile of pasta with all the sauce in the bottom of the bowl.

A better tip for preventing the pasta from sticking together is to use plenty of water. It may take more time to boil a bigger pot of water, but you'll find the pasta tastes better, doesn't form into a big gluey mess, and the sauce sticks to it the way it should.

Use the Pasta Water To Your Advantage

A great trick professional chefs always use is to save some of the pasta water (½ - 1 cup) before draining. Then, they add some of this water back into their sauce to help the pasta sauce stick better to the pasta.

How does this work?

There is starch in pasta. Some of the starches are transferred into the water when you boil the pasta. So if you add a little of that "starchy" water to your sauces, the starch in the sauce helps it adhere to the starchy pasta.

If you're concerned the water will thin out your sauce, it might, but all you have to do is keep the sauce on the heat a little longer and let it cook down to your desired consistency. Just be careful not to add too much starchy water.

Use the Pasta Water To Your Advantage

A great trick professional chefs use all the time is to save some of the pasta water (½ - 1 cup) before draining. They add some of this water back into their sauce to help the pasta sauce better stick to the pasta.

How does this work?

There is starch in pasta. When you boil the pasta, some of the starches are transferred into the water. So if you add a little of that "starchy" water to your sauces, the starch in the sauce helps it adhere to the starchy pasta.

If you're concerned the water will thin out your sauce, it might but all you have to do is keep the sauce on the heat a little longer and let it cook down to your desired consistency.  Just be careful not to add too much starchy water.

WHEN IS THE PASTA DONE?

Pasta boxes generally give you cooking times, but I have never found them accurate. For example, most directions will tell you to cook spaghetti between ten and twelve minutes. But it only takes about 8 minutes. So, use the directions on the box as a guide, but check on the pasta a few minutes before.

Reach into the pot with a long-handled fork or pasta server and pull out one strand of pasta. Let it cool for a moment, and then taste it. When the pasta is done to your liking, it is time to drain it. I reserve about ½ cup of the cooking liquid and use it to finish the pasta with the sauce.

HOW TO COOK FRESH PASTA

Unlike dried pasta, which is most frequently made of 100% semolina, fresh pasta is made with an egg-enriched dough. As such, it is more delicate than hearty dried pasta.

To cook fresh pasta, follow the procedure for cooking dried pasta, but decrease the cooking time to 2-3 minutes. Always taste to make sure the pasta has the texture you want.

Finish fresh pasta in the pot, just as you would dried pasta, but be gentle in stirring since the pasta is more delicate.

To Rinse or Not to Rinse Pasta

Unless you are planning to serve the pasta cold, as for pasta salad, do not rinse it.

If you are concerned about the pasta sticking together and you are not going to serve it immediately, stir in a cup or so of sauce. This will keep the pasta nice and moist and the starches from gluing your noodles together.

How to Cook Fresh Pasta

Unlike dried pasta, which is most frequently made of 100% semolina, fresh pasta is made with an egg-enriched dough. As such, it is more delicate than hearty dried pasta.

To cook fresh pasta, follow the procedure for cooking dried pasta, but decrease the cooking time to 2-3 minutes, and always taste to make sure the pasta has the texture you want.

Finish fresh pasta in the pot, just as you would dried pasta, but be gentle in stirring since the pasta is more delicate.

How to Cook Frozen Stuffed Pasta

To cook frozen ravioli or tortellini, follow the instructions for cooking dried pasta. Once you add the frozen pasta to the boiling water, it will take a minute or two for the water to come back to a boil.

Once the water has returned to a boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Once the pasta floats, it is ready to be drained.

Some of My Favorite Pasta Recipes