Ever wanted to master your pasta-making prowess? Well, now’s your chance! We’ve got some top pasta-making tips, so you can be sure you won’t be making any pasta faux pas when you cook your next pasta meal.
1. Prevent your water from boiling over.
After you’ve added your pasta, put the lid back on to help increase the temperature of the water. The cold pasta will drop the temperature. When the water starts to bubble, remove the lid. Leaving the pot covered makes the water boil over.
2. Prevent pasta from sticking together.
It’s annoying when you have a pot of drained pasta sitting on your kitchen bench, and after a short period of time it’s all dry and stuck together – which is why it’s best to plate your pasta and pour your sauce immediately after cooking; the sauce maintains the moisture and prevents pasta from sticking together. However, if you do have to wait a little longer, adding oil through the pasta can help prevent it from sticking together, too.
3. To rinse or not to rinse?
Since cooked pasta is naturally coated with a layer of starch (which helps sauce cling to and absorb into the pasta), we recommend not rinsing pasta. However, if you do want to rinse your pasta, use boiling water (from the kettle), as it prevents removal of the residual starch that helps sauce stick to pasta, and keeps your pasta warm (nobody likes cold pasta, right?). You may like to rinse if you a making a pasta salad.
4. Every pasta is different.
You may think that boiling different types of pasta together will save you time ... well, technically it could if you’re okay with very soggy pasta. But different types of pasta call for different cooking times, so you’ll want to cook them separately if you’re making a mixed pasta dish. Additionally, different pasta types require various cooking temperatures (for instance, cappelletti pasta is best cooked on a soft boil).
5. Boiling water is best.
It’s best to add your pasta as the water is boiling – adding pasta whilst the water is still heating up will leave you with pasta that sticks together. The boiling water and a large pot with plenty of space for the pasta to move around helps to stop the pasta sticking.
