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Pasta Cooking Time

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Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#71

Post by dfxm12 »

octo888 wrote: post #33
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know why this was downvoted. My best pasta comes from when I start testing it roughly 9 minutes in. Pasta softness depends on water softness, salinity, even ambient air pressure (though I am decidedly a low-lying person). Also pasta shape, and even quantity of pasta in the container (unless you have one of those huge boilers used in restaurants). The instructions on the box tend to overcook my pasta well beyond…

Isn't De Cecco pretty mid? It's found in every supermarket in the UK for example

Yeah, there's more to good (extruded and dried) pasta than bronze dies. The ingredients of the pasta, quality of the flour and drying technique are important too.

That said, taste is subjective.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#72

Post by delta_p_delta_x »

octo888 wrote: post #33
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know why this was downvoted. My best pasta comes from when I start testing it roughly 9 minutes in. Pasta softness depends on water softness, salinity, even ambient air pressure (though I am decidedly a low-lying person). Also pasta shape, and even quantity of pasta in the container (unless you have one of those huge boilers used in restaurants). The instructions on the box tend to overcook my pasta well beyond…

Isn't De Cecco pretty mid? It's found in every supermarket in the UK for example

Fair point. Ergo the other brands. I am partial to La Molisana and Garofalo, the latter mainly because I can get 1 kg packets of penne and spaghetti.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#73

Post by saaaaaam »

tirant wrote: post #20

Another advice for cooking pasta: The water does not need to be boiling the whole time. You can boil the pasta just 2 minutes, turn off the stove, close the lid and leave the pasta in the water for the rest of the time until reaching the desired cooking time, plus around one more minute. The result will be the same and you would have saved round 80% of the energy.

When you are cooking you should be using a lid. So you bring the water to the boil at full heat and then turn your stove down to keep the water surface just shivering. With the lid on this will be more than hot enough. People talk about “a furious boil” and a “gentle boil” but if the water is boiling it’s boiling.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#74

Post by tracker1 »

LOL... I love how anal engineering types (like myself) can be at times.. going down rabbit holes like this and definitely appreciate it. Pasta is a hard thing and I tend to not rely on timers at all beyond around 8m... I just start testing a piece every 30-40s or so until I'm happy.

This will also vary by final application, if I'm going to rinse/cool to stop cooking, etc... if it's going into a bake after being made (mac and cheese, casserole/hot-dish, etc). It will just depend on a lot of factors beyond how done it is in the pot.

Edit: also, altitude, pureness, salinity, etc of the water will also change things dramatically.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#75

Post by asimpletune »

octo888 wrote: post #33
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know why this was downvoted. My best pasta comes from when I start testing it roughly 9 minutes in. Pasta softness depends on water softness, salinity, even ambient air pressure (though I am decidedly a low-lying person). Also pasta shape, and even quantity of pasta in the container (unless you have one of those huge boilers used in restaurants). The instructions on the box tend to overcook my pasta well beyond…

Isn't De Cecco pretty mid? It's found in every supermarket in the UK for example

De Cecco is great for a big brand. The best way to know if a dry pasta is good is by the color. The more pale (i.e. less yellow) the better. This is because a more costly, slower drying method preserves the original color better.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#77

Post by messe »

saaaaaam wrote: post #69

This is crazy. I cook my pasta for 9 minutes max. Often 8. Because by the time you’ve taken it off the stove, drained it and added it to your sauce any longer and it will be mush. But this guy is starting at 9 minutes. I worry for American food.

I find it highly depends on the maker of the pasta, and the variety in use. 9 minutes followed by immediately serving is actually quite conservative for some brands. It also depends on the cooking method and how long you intend to finish them in the sauce (or just cook them in the sauce - heresy, I know, but it fucking works).

> I worry for American food.

Gastronomic bigotry helps nobody, and just paints you as a dick. Hold off on it for your own sake.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#78

Post by Levitating »

comeonbro wrote: post #68

There is a dry pasta I use that, long story short, comes without a listed cooking time, whose correct cooking time I have experimentally determined to be ~18 minutes (though remarkably flexible, good at a much wider range than "normal"). I like it quite a lot (even though it seems to have the teflon-die surface rather than the bronze-die surface). I think greater pasta thickness is underexplored, and the teflon-vs-br…

Do you happen to know the brand/type/number?

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#79

Post by dfxm12 »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #66
tirant wrote: post #20

Another advice for cooking pasta: The water does not need to be boiling the whole time. You can boil the pasta just 2 minutes, turn off the stove, close the lid and leave the pasta in the water for the rest of the time until reaching the desired cooking time, plus around one more minute. The result will be the same and you would have saved round 80% of the energy.

I don't do this, but I'm impatient so I start with scalding hot tap water. Not sure if there is any energy saving (or waste) there, since it takes at least 30 sec for hot tap water to reach max temp.

If you have lead in your pipes, the hot water will have more lead dissolved in it and boiling isn't going to remove it. You can use try filling your pot one rapid boil tea kettle at a time, or try an induction hob.

Re: Pasta Cooking Time

#80

Post by Luker88 »

comeonbro wrote: post #68

There is a dry pasta I use that, long story short, comes without a listed cooking time, whose correct cooking time I have experimentally determined to be ~18 minutes (though remarkably flexible, good at a much wider range than "normal"). I like it quite a lot (even though it seems to have the teflon-die surface rather than the bronze-die surface). I think greater pasta thickness is underexplored, and the teflon-vs-br…

> and the teflon-vs-bronze die thing ....is slightly-overstated r*dditry

So, there's this thing that I heard, but I never found confirmation, maybe someone here can help.

Apparently bronze by itself can't be used as a cooking utensil since it loses material too easily.

When they use bronze for extruding and such, they have to coat it in teflon to have a legal bypass.

But it all remains kinda brittle, and now you are eating teflon and bronze!

I simplified it all, but I am not a material expert nor a law expert, so could anyone debunk or confirm?

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