Ask Mario
One of the more popular questions I get (and have gotten recently) when talking food with people is about cooking pasta. It’s interesting that there is such confusion about such a simple food.
That being said, doing a few fundamental steps properly will pay huge dividends with making your pasta dishes more delicious and enjoyable.
First of all, you want to make sure you are using plenty of rapidly boiling water when cooking your pasta. I usually use six quarts of water per pound of pasta. Using more water will help the water come back to a boil faster after adding your pasta, and it makes it easier to submerge longer noodles. More water also helps keep the noodles from sticking by quickly washing away exuding starch from the surface of the pasta.
You should also stir the pasta during the first couple minutes of cooking to help avoid sticking. When pasta is submerged into boiling water, the starch granules on the surface of the noodles swell and pop. The starch rushes out of the noodles causing the pasta surface to be sticky with this surface starch. After a few minutes, though, the starch dissolves in the water and the pasta becomes a soft solid. If you don’t stir to keep the noodles moving during this time, the ones that are touching will likely stick together.
You should always salt your pasta water. I prefer to use sea salt in my pasta water. I was always taught that pasta water should taste like the ocean to properly flavor the noodles. That means you should most likely use a bit more salt than you are used to using and also taste your pasta water to make sure it is seasoned properly.
A myth about how to keep pasta from sticking is to add oil to the water. This is wrong, and adding oil can actually do more harm than good to your noodles. First of all, water and oil do not mix. Therefore any oil you add to your pasta water is more than likely being dumped down your drain when your pasta is finished cooking. Any oil that happens to be absorbed into the pasta will actually make the pasta oily and prevent any sauce from absorbing or sticking to the noodle. This will leave you with flavorless pasta.
Finally, remember that hot pasta absorbs more sauce and that you should always keep the water your pasta is cooked in until your pasta is served. When I make pasta I always have my sauce heated in a large saut茅 pan on the burner next to my pasta water. When my pasta is finished, I scoop the pasta from the water and transfer it immediately to the pan with my heated sauce. I toss the pasta in the sauce over a medium flame for two to three minutes and then serve it immediately.
Rinsing pasta before saucing it is a bad idea because it can cool the noodles. This will prevent them from absorbing the sauce and will also rinse away any excess starch. Excess starch helps to slightly thicken your sauce and gives your dish a much more enjoyable texture and mouth feel.
Pasta water is like a starchy pasta stock and is essential to have on hand after your pasta is cooked and in the saucing phase.
If your sauce looks a little thin, add a few spoons of the pasta water and the starch in the water will help thicken your sauce and also give it a much better flavor since your pasta water is properly seasoned as we discussed at the beginning of this column.
Send me all of your food/cooking related questions by email to hsfeatures@heraldstandard.com.
Mario J. Porreca of Belle Vernon is a food personality, author, and the host of Just Cook It on WMBS Radio 590 AM.