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Pasta Cooking Time

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Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#171

Post by psini »

nkurz wrote: post #125

Since I haven't seen it mentioned yet: I've been wondering how much acidity affects pasta cooking time. We've noticed that dry pasta almost always takes significantly longer to cook than the packaging suggests. I don't think we are overcooking, but I suppose that could be true. It could also just be bad instructions on the packages, but I think there is something more. We are at a slight altitude (2000 ft/ 600m) whic…

I used to have a small burner, and would throw a lot of (cold) dry pasta into not so much boiling water. The water would just stop boiling from being cooled down from the pasta, and take 5-6 minutes to come to a boil again. Perhaps something similar?

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#172

Post by kakacik »

senderista wrote: post #130

Cue shaming Americans for liking their pasta more done than al dente, as though it’s some moral failing. I will eat my pasta exactly as done as I like it, thank you very much.

Shaming? A bit too sensitive take so early in the morning, don't you think?

There are better and worse ways to do things, any things. Pasta preparation was perfected by Italians and its not a trivial process everybody groks in 2 mins. I strongly suggest visiting Italy and tasting how real pasta should taste, an experience rarely seen outside of the country, regardless how 'italian' given restaurant tries to look like (exactly same with ie south asian curries who are in the west usually a far cry from original food).

If you prefer doing things in non-ideal way and thus have inferior tasting experience that's your own choice. Don't expect applause for that, not in international forums full of people who know better.

And getting overly defensive when people suggest better approaches... not the best form, is it. Do you consider such approach a best one to general criticism, rather than ie some introspection and pinch of critical thinking?

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#173

Post by bubblyworld »

This is very cool as a science experiment, but if you're interested in getting the best results (for you) you should just taste as you cook. We're born with high-fidelity chemical and tactile sensors - use them!

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#174

Post by whizzter »

psini wrote: post #170
fscaramuzza wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Italian *nonnas rarely used more than one pan for cooking, and it was very common to just put pasta without the sauce in the plate, and a generous spoonful of sauce on top. This is what you used to find in restaurants, too. The cooking water in the large pan is a rather new thing. Or maybe it's something just from my region :)

Can't speak for all italian regions as there are many differences; but this "spooning some sauce over naked pasta" right on the plate always struck me as positively un-italian. I would always expect the pasta and sauce to be mixed in the kitchen, and the pasta to be completely coated in sauce when the plate reached my table. Maybe it's something italian-american ?

It might be a potato culture thing as it was historically common when pasta showed up on shelves in Sweden that the older generation just went with the instructions separately, cooking pre-peeled potatoes loses so much of it's flavor so if boiled, it's done so separately, getting a new ingredient you probably do it as you've always done.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#176

Post by Terr_ »

CharlesW wrote: post #96
jillesvangurp wrote: post #90

I don't tend to look at the clock for pasta. I just eyeball it and sample it. You can sort of see the pasta turning whiter from the outside in. Especially with my regular goto brands, I can see when it is done. I fish some out with a fork to verify usually when it's getting close. And I generally mix it with some sauce and it might sit in there for some minutes. So the cooking process actually continues after you rem…

> Speaking of pasta water, use less water for boiling past[a]… Or skip the boiling completely: https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-no-boil-baked-ziti-reci... "But who's to say that these two phases, water absorption and protein denaturing, have to occur at the same time? H. Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa of the fantastic blog Ideas in Food asked themselves that very question, and what they found was this: You don…

Sounds like a way to trade preparation time for energy expenditure, if it lets you minimize the amount of water you need to boil.

You'll probably need some extra water just to ensure even heating, but if the pasta is already rehydrated, then you no longer have to include a safety margin for water to be absorbed.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#177

Post by teekert »

marak830 wrote: post #144
triceratops wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do that aren't you just eating uncooked flour and egg?

It cooks in the liquid from the surrounding ingredients. You can do this with a sufficiently wet enough Lasagna quite easily.

Indeed we regularly eat "oven pasta", the raw pasta goes in to a sauce into the oven. 30-40 mins and it is al dente (with crispy cheese on top).

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#178

Post by technothrasher »

kakacik wrote: post #172
senderista wrote: post #130

Cue shaming Americans for liking their pasta more done than al dente, as though it’s some moral failing. I will eat my pasta exactly as done as I like it, thank you very much.

Shaming? A bit too sensitive take so early in the morning, don't you think? There are better and worse ways to do things, any things. Pasta preparation was perfected by Italians and its not a trivial process everybody groks in 2 mins. I strongly suggest visiting Italy and tasting how real pasta should taste, an experience rarely seen outside of the country, regardless how 'italian' given restaurant tries to look like…

> I strongly suggest visiting Italy and tasting how real pasta should taste,

Been there, done that. I understand. I still cook my pasta beyond al dente.

> getting overly defensive

Mr Pot, meet Mr Kettle.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#179

Post by dboreham »

Confused since I had no idea pasta packaging had cooking instructions. I'd never think to look for instructions and certainly wouldn't follow them. Cooking pasta has to be one of the most "covered" things in anyone's "training data", no?

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#180

Post by jjgreen »

foofoo12 wrote: post #40

Pasta is a bit like toast. It's undercooked for most of the time and only ready for a tiniest fraction of the time. The rest of the time it's overdone. Although I heard a reason for the toast thing the other day. As it slowly toasts it gets a tiny bit darker. Once darker it doesn't reflect as much energy, hence absorbs it and result is exponential roasting levels.

Overdone toast, no such thing; the blacker the better. [Dirty looks from SO.]
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