[HN Gopher] Pasta Cooking Time
___________________________________________________________________
Pasta Cooking Time
Author : bariumbitmap
Score : 113 points
Date : 2025-09-30 12:40 UTC (10 hours ago)
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| praash wrote:
| Measuring pasta with calipers is prime HN material, thank you for
| posting this!
| LordShredda wrote:
| Reminds me of nailing jelly to a wall
| seeeeebt wrote:
| In the UK pasta instructions tend to be 9-11mins. 15mins is nuts,
| especially for the small cheap pasts he's using here. "More for
| your dollar". Yum!
| abakker wrote:
| 15min is certainly needed for some shapes in Boulder, even the
| loss of a few degrees seems to matter a lot.
| cogman10 wrote:
| Yup, for my altitude (825m) the 12 minute cook times are
| about spot on. And I do prefer my noodles to be more al
| dente. I don't even mind if they have a little crunch.
| croisillon wrote:
| maybe because the US water is not hot enough at 100 degrees
| cogman10 wrote:
| Nearly all the population in the UK lives below 500m.
|
| In the US, there are major cities that are at 1500m elevation
| (like Denver CO). Water in Denver boils at ~94C. For most of
| the UK it's more like 98->100C
| afandian wrote:
| Yeah, 100 degrees in the US is barely 38degC.
| HarHarVeryFunny wrote:
| It depends on the type and shape of pasta. Whole wheat pasta
| takes longer than white flour pasta. 7 min for whole wheat
| sphagetti, 9 min for rotini.
|
| 13-15 min for that rigatoni definitely sounds excessive.
|
| The "throw it at the wall, and see if it sticks" test is about
| right!
| notindexed wrote:
| You do not cook pasta by cooking time.
|
| "La pasta vuole compagnia" Pasta needs company! Never leave it
| alone, keep stiring once in a while and keep testing them.
|
| Best to drain it before you think it's "good" or al dente cause
| paste keeps cooking after beeing drained due to the heat and
| moisture/vapor.
|
| Also, most good pasta dishes get their final cooking in a large
| pan in the sauce with some cooking water. So usually you drain em
| when they are still a bit hard in the inside and finish the
| cooking in the pan.
|
| Italian nonas are rollin in the grave. Good HN article nontheless
| delta_p_delta_x wrote:
| 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 al-dente.
|
| Also, to all pasta lovers: please try _trafilata al bronzo_
| pasta from places like La Molisana, De Cecco, Garofalo, Rummo,
| and more.
| octo888 wrote:
| Isn't De Cecco pretty mid? It's found in every supermarket in
| the UK for example
| bpicolo wrote:
| It's a high quality mass market brand. I have tried a large
| number of more expensive brands, but none have beat De
| Cecco for me in terms of consistency and quality.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| 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.
| delta_p_delta_x wrote:
| 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.
| asimpletune wrote:
| 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.
| Hikikomori wrote:
| Rummo is my favourite grocery store pasta.
| Tox46 wrote:
| Cooking time can be a good indicator. If it says 10 minutes you
| can start to check it out by 8 and decide from there.
| octo888 wrote:
| Eye-talians probably downvoting this LOL. Confused by a bit of
| basic Italian
|
| it's nonna* though ;)
| alexjplant wrote:
| True facts. Make a pan sauce while your pasta is cooking then
| throw it straight inwith some of the starchy water to thicken
| things up.
|
| I die inside every time somebody dumps a jar of Ragu into a
| drained pot of overcooked spaghetti. Hell, there are ways to
| dress up jar sauce in a one-pot fashion that only take a few
| minutes more but a lot of people simply aren't interested.
| Conversely I'm sure there's stuff that I do that others cringe
| at - my guitar-playing buddy probably feels the same way every
| time I drag my digital rig onto stage instead of real amp and
| pedalboard.
| walthamstow wrote:
| > I die inside every time somebody dumps a jar of Ragu into a
| drained pot of overcooked spaghetti.
|
| I can give you even worse than that. It was common in the 00s
| in Britain, maybe still is, to serve pasta as a bowl of
| plain, dry boiled spaghetti with sauce poured on top.
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| > _You do not cook pasta by cooking time_
|
| I learned this the hard way moving to an altitude where water
| boils around 200degF. Just threw out the timers and started
| obsessively tasting. Flip side is I make fresh pasta more often
| because the active work of kneading and shaping is more
| interesting than standing around eating uncooked pasta.
| rhaps0dy wrote:
| This is awesome. Measurement and experiment for a very quotidian
| thing is a great vibe.
| kshahkshah wrote:
| The cooking time is proportional to the thickness.
|
| General advice on pasta:
|
| * a quality dry pasta (dececco e.g) will have ~14 grams of
| protein per 100 grams dry weight, this is really essential
|
| * bronze die cut will help soak up more sauces
|
| * you do not need the full volume of water the box says, but
| start your timer once the water has returned to a boil
|
| * once it has gotten to a boil, keep it boiling, but it doesn't
| need to be a raging boil, that'll tear apart the pasta,
| especially a stuffed one
|
| * heavily salt your water, but it does not need to be "salty like
| the ocean"
|
| * set your timer for a minute less than the cooking time on the
| box, check for doneness, then give it another minute if needed
|
| * if you're finishing in a sauce, take the pasta out a minute
| before it is done. Remember to reserve one cup of the starchy
| cooking water before draining your pasta entirely
|
| * do not put oil in your cooking water, it will NOT help it not
| stick. Just stir after you put it in, and then again a minute or
| two in
|
| * if you're struggling to tell if it's "done", take a bite of a
| single piece, and look at the cross section a bit of "white" in
| the middle means that hasn't hydrated fully. Maybe you like a bit
| of "toothsome"ness ('al dente'), maybe you don't
| travisjungroth wrote:
| Based on the article, this seems like a recipe for overcooking
| pasta.
| frantathefranta wrote:
| As someone who makes pasta 3 times a week, the comment sums
| up my experience with cooking better than the article. I
| don't really ever have issues with pasta getting too soft in
| my alla gricia, cacio e pepe or aglio e olio.
| oulipo2 wrote:
| why would it be a recipe for overcooking pasta when it
| doesn't even mention cooking time but "check regularly and
| taste" ?
|
| that's basically what I do
|
| with French quality brands, it's between 9-11 min for dry
| pasta, when I make my own ravioli, it's more 2-3min
| jsnell wrote:
| But what the OP wrote was not "check regularly and taste".
| They proposed a single timer-based check at one minute less
| than the time on the box.
|
| That strategy relies on the box being off by at most one
| minute, so the results from the article seem highly
| relevant.
| UomoNeroNero wrote:
| Bravo. * set your timer for a minute less than the cooking time
| on the box, check for doneness, then give it another minute if
| needed
|
| Please eat the pasta al dente. Overcooked pasta is really
| awful, trust me
| master-lincoln wrote:
| No need to trust you. I tried it myself. Food preferences are
| subjective and I prefer overcooked pasta to al dente...
| UomoNeroNero wrote:
| Mia nonna si ribalta nella tomba a leggere questa eresia!
| :-)
| krembo wrote:
| Pasta water being strachy is a good myth. It only happens in
| restaurants where they reuse the water all day long for many
| servings of pasta.
| llimllib wrote:
| That water's _starchier_ but it's not a myth. Here's Kenji on
| it: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-
| boi...
|
| (I get what you're saying, spiritually, your pasta water from
| your giant pot of one box of pasta isn't gonna do much to
| thicken your sauce. But it's not a myth, just a matter of
| degree)
| codyb wrote:
| Can depend on the pasta too, and how much volume water to
| pasta you have.
| ebiester wrote:
| If you cook it in a lot less water, and add a quarter
| teaspoon of corn starch, you can get the same effect. Play
| with the ratios to taste.
| SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
| I prefer to use semolina, since that's the same flour the
| pasta is made of. I find corn starch can add an "off"
| flavor.
| fsckboy wrote:
| corn starch is widely used because it has no taste raw; a
| flour based roux needs to be "browned" in oil to
| eliminate the floury taste (i've tasted the grain of
| wheat from a plant in a field: tastes floury)
| kshahkshah wrote:
| ... if you use less water than the amount prescribed on the
| box it'll be proportionally starchier. It isn't a myth, you
| can literally see the starch in the water ...
| Hikikomori wrote:
| How much salt also depends on how much pasta water you want to
| use for your sauce and how much cheese you intend to put in.
| With more cheese you'll need more starch and then you need to
| avoid over salting the water.
|
| For the type of rigatoni (smaller) in the article and my local
| brands it varies between 11 and 15m recommended cooking time
| depending on brand, and from experience the recommended time is
| when its ready to be put in a sauce, so not fully cooked. My
| favorite but more expensive brand says 14m, I usually set a
| timer to 13 and then try it until its ready to be cooked in the
| sauce.
| foobarian wrote:
| > * heavily salt your water, but it does not need to be "salty
| like the ocean"
|
| Speaking of, wonder if using seawater for cooking would have
| good results. Pasta or otherwise!
| SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
| No. It's much, much too salty.
| darkwater wrote:
| > you do not need the full volume of water the box says, but
| start your timer once the water has returned to a boil
|
| I never do that, I start the timer as soon as I put the pasta
| in the water, and usually the cooking times on Italian brands
| are spot-on. If I have to finish the cooking in a pan
| (depending on the sauce) I take out 1m or 1m30s, and it's "al
| dente".
| codyb wrote:
| If you make pasta frequently, you can just reserve the pasta
| water on the stove and cook more pasta in it the next day. I
| usually just leave it out with a cover on, it's fine for a day,
| probably two.
|
| For whole grain pastas I find this really helps get a more
| satisfying flavor and consistency.
|
| Sometimes I'd put the whole pot in the fridge after it cooled
| to room temperature and it'd keep for a bit so I could use it
| for brown rice, or for more pasta later.
|
| Finally, you can also use that water to water your plants
| because it has a ton of healthy nutrients in it, but you have
| to be really careful cause of the salt so I always water it
| down heavily and don't apply it as frequently as I have a pasta
| water that I'm going to drain.
| Quarrel wrote:
| > * if you're finishing in a sauce, take the pasta out a minute
| before it is done.
|
| ie, 2-3 minutes before the box time, possibly more, depending
| on what finishing means for your case.
|
| > * do not put oil in your cooking water, it will NOT help it
| not stick.
|
| It will not hurt, and may help. Oil will stop the super starchy
| water, if you followed the reduce the water volume step as
| suggested, from boiling over - as it will help reduce the
| surface tension. This is real, and particularly important for
| some types of noodles and dumplings.
|
| > Remember to reserve one cup of the starchy cooking water
| before draining your pasta entirely
|
| At least- again, depending on what sauce you're putting it in,
| and how underdone you took it out. Particularly if you'll have
| leftovers (as any good homecook often will!), the 'al dente'
| pasta will absorb all your water, and you'll need to add some
| before you put it in the fridge, or it will be super dry when
| you reheat it.
|
| > it does not need to be "salty like the ocean"
|
| despite what Nigella might tell you, it should be no where near
| ocean water. (just to reinforce this, because I'm not sure if
| people just think it is a thing to say, or they just have no
| idea how salty the sea is)
| seszett wrote:
| > _or they just have no idea how salty the sea is_
|
| Well sea saltiness levels vary wildly, and although the
| Mediterranean is much too salty, I'd say salty like the North
| Sea seems about right to me.
| orev wrote:
| > * do not put oil in your cooking water, it will NOT help it
| not stick.
|
| Using oil has never been about preventing it from sticking,
| despite so many people repeating this myth. Anyone can plainly
| see that the oil floats on top of the water and never touches
| the pasta.
|
| The only purpose of the oil is to prevent foaming so it doesn't
| boil over.
| zparky wrote:
| Wait does that work?
| orev wrote:
| Yes, generally. The mistake most people make with a boiling
| pot of water is they start the heat on high, and when the
| water gets to a boil they keep it on high. You really need
| to turn it down to medium or lower to just maintain the
| boil. If it stays on high, the violent agitation breaks
| down the pasta and releases a lot of starch.
|
| If you turn the heat down to a reasonable level, then yes,
| the oil will do a lot to help prevent boil over.
| fsckboy wrote:
| > _if you 're struggling to tell if it's "done", take a bite of
| a single piece, and look at the cross section a bit of "white"
| in the middle means that hasn't hydrated fully. Maybe you like
| a bit of "toothsome"ness ('al dente'), maybe you don't_
|
| coupla quibbles, one of which you may not be guilty of:
|
| toothsome means delicious, not any sort of mouthfeel (though I
| agree, it would be a great word for al dente, which means "to
| the teeth")
|
| the bit of white in the middle is raw, and not _al dente_. al
| dente is the "rubbery snap" of biting a noodle and not the
| "concrete snap" of a raw interior. somehow (like all across
| NYC) there are so many chefs who think al dente means uncooked
| center. it does not. handmade egg noodle pasta (which has no
| dry interior) and extruded hard durum wheat pasta both can both
| be served al dente.
| travisjungroth wrote:
| There's an American fear of "not enough". I think the overboiled
| pasta is informed by a fear of undercooked food, but also just
| this general not-enoughness. It's the same fear that makes
| someone buy a truck that can hold the biggest load they can
| imagine needing, rather than accepting they might need to make
| two trips or rent a bigger truck every few years (or never) and
| get a truck half the size.
| oulipo2 wrote:
| It's also because Americans love "mac n cheese" and food like
| that, so basically that have a taste for overcooked, mushy
| stuff, where basically 99% of the taste is in the
| (overflavored) sauce they'll pour on top
| gwbas1c wrote:
| > I think the overboiled pasta is informed by a fear of
| undercooked food
|
| Never attribute to malice what you can attribute to
| incompetence.
|
| "Mahkit Baskit" (as we say it) is a discount grocery store.
| Even though it's clean, there are often lots of mistakes that
| happen with low-wage, untrained labor. IE, one of the few times
| I went there, the bosc and d'anjou pears were all mixed
| together because they are green. (But they are obviously
| different in taste and shape if you are smarter than ChatGPT,
| and have stickers on them to make it obvious to whoever's
| stocking the shelfs.)
|
| So it's no surprise the directions on pasta are wrong!
| jefftk wrote:
| This isn't a Market Basket-specific issue: I see the same
| thing with pasta at Shaws/Star, Stop and Shop, and Wegmans.
| zahlman wrote:
| Meh, connoisseurs would probably say my pasta is overcooked; I
| don't care. I've tried it other ways and I don't like what's
| supposedly best.
|
| I'm Canadian and I don't think this is an American thing at
| all. Certainly my lifestyle is nothing like stereotypical US
| lifestyle.
|
| Also: there's a certain kind of machismo associated with liking
| steak rare, which is hard to reconcile with overcooking other
| things habitually.
| octo888 wrote:
| You can feel when it's done by stirring it. It's not rocket
| science. After 10-20 times cooking pasta this method can be
| second nature
| tirant wrote:
| 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.
| andrewbarba wrote:
| This math doesn't account for the time it takes to get the
| water to a boil. Probably closer to 40% savings. Still, quite
| good!
| HarHarVeryFunny wrote:
| 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.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| 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.
| simondotau wrote:
| The potential for energy saving is if your hot water service
| is significantly more energy efficient than your stove top.
| The most extreme would be if you had a heat pump hot water
| service and a gas flame stove top.
|
| Also important for efficiency and speed is to use the least
| amount of water possible.
| saaaaaam wrote:
| 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.
| oulipo2 wrote:
| Also something I discovered recently: making home-made pasta is
| REALLY EASY, and quite delicious. For basic ravioli you need
| about 30min from going from raw ingredients (a bit of flour, one
| or two eggs, some salt) to a ravioli
| rs186 wrote:
| How much time for cleanup?
|
| I did this once or twice and decided I was not that into pasta
| to justify making my own.
| chaiDrinker wrote:
| It's funny because Americans love to overcook their pasta, even
| when it's 'Al dente'. Italians serve pasta so it nearly crunches
| in the very center of the noodle.
| foofoo12 wrote:
| 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.
| losvedir wrote:
| Hopefully tptacek shows up... this is sort of offtopic but made
| me remember some comments of his from years ago here on HN.
| Something about the "rehydrating" step not having to be the same
| as the "cooking" step. I feel like he said you could end up with
| some pretty interesting and terrific pasta by _soaking_ it for a
| while (not cooking it), and then cooking it for a much shorter
| time later.
|
| Does this ring a bell for anyone? I've been wanting to try it,
| but I can't remember the details exactly.
| xnx wrote:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8948177
|
| There's so much superstition and ritual around food preparation
| (especially coffee). Tested processes are extremely rare.
| dang wrote:
| Added to https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights!
|
| (I mention this so people can know the list exists, and
| hopefully email us more nominations when they see an
| unusually great and interesting comment.)
| spiffytech wrote:
| > I generally find the numbers printed on pasta boxes for cooking
| time far too high: I'll set the timer for a minute below their
| low-end "al dente" time
|
| Interesting! I generally _add_ three minutes to the recommended
| cooking time, otherwise the pasta still feels stiff. There 's no
| accounting for taste, is there?
| cestith wrote:
| How hard is your water and how high above sea level do you
| live?
| spiffytech wrote:
| Very soft. Elevation is nearly sea-level.
| Night_Thastus wrote:
| How does water hardness affect it? Mine is on the harder end,
| I've been wondering if that is giving me trouble.
| Finnucane wrote:
| Who needs a timer? When the pasta is about done, just pull a
| piece out and eat it.
| nahumba wrote:
| "I boiled some water, put in the pasta, and starting at 9min I
| removed a piece every 15s until I got to 14:30:"
|
| When you remove pasta, you Cool down the water. So its not the
| same reault as actual 15 minutes cooking
| jefftk wrote:
| How does removing pasta cool down the water?
|
| I was putting in a slotted spoon, and removing one piece at a
| time. The water remained at a full boil throughout.
| IAmBroom wrote:
| No, they're right. You took out at least a nanojoule of
| thermal energy.
|
| Did you factor that in to your next tasting?
| foofoo12 wrote:
| This post disappeared from the front page, what happened?
| https://hnrankings.info/45424704/
| jsnell wrote:
| Probably caught by the flamewar detector (too many comments
| compared to upvotes).
| dang wrote:
| Yes. Reversed now.
| jmclnx wrote:
| Man, if you can shop at Market Basket, you must now the real
| Pasta cooking time is Wednesday :)
|
| Nice article BTW.
| beezle wrote:
| Wednesday is Prince spaghetti day!
| cudgy wrote:
| Interesting. I live at low altitudes and I almost always have to
| cook noodles longer than the instructions on the box. Now I only
| use Italian pasta like DeCecco or Rummo.
| derbOac wrote:
| Yeah, I think usually the recommended time is an underestimate
| for me, but it depends strongly on the brand and type of pasta.
| I usually treat the recommended time as a ballpark of when to
| think about monitoring it closely if I'm busy prepping other
| things. Usually the first time I cook a given type of a given
| brand I'll watch it more closely and then try to remember what
| seemed best.
| UberFly wrote:
| I am the same though I'm embarrassed to admit I never realized
| it was because I'm at sea level. I just always wondered what
| was wrong with pretty much every printed pasta cook time. Doh.
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| Don't forget that altitude is also a factor.
| saaaaaam wrote:
| I read this as "attitude" and quietly agreed.
| Avshalom wrote:
| Yeah I live a mile above sea level, anything that needs boiling
| water just has to be done on experience.
| comeonbro wrote:
| 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-bronze die thing as the highest determinant of pasta quality,
| while not nothing, is slightly-overstated r*dditry.
| Levitating wrote:
| Do you happen to know the brand/type/number?
| Luker88 wrote:
| > 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?_
| banannaise wrote:
| Bronze-die pasta has an obvious and substantial textural
| difference from teflon-die pasta. The stickiness of the bronze
| requires more force from the extruder, but results in a rougher
| surface on the pasta, because it literally sticks to the die.
|
| Bronze-cut pasta holds sauce much better, especially for
| thinner sauces. It also makes your pasta water more starchy,
| since it loses more material during cooking. These things seem
| very obvious to me via my observations as a cook who uses both
| from time to time (but mostly the bronze stuff).
|
| Both properties can be very useful (the first to everyone, the
| second just to those who use their pasta water in the sauce
| step).
|
| It's good to question our assumptions from time to time, but
| there's no reason to just deny something like this with
| absolutely nothing to back it up.
| comeonbro wrote:
| I don't deny that it is beneficial (it clearly is, in my
| direct experience as well): I doubt that it is the highest
| determinant of quality, and suspect that even more basic
| properties like thickness have been systematically neglected
| and may be more consequential.
| saaaaaam wrote:
| 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.
| messe wrote:
| 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.
| saaaaaam wrote:
| Oh dear. I think you've taken a frivolous comment rather too
| seriously. Calling people "a dick" online is a self fulling
| prophecy. Sorry if my gastronomic bigotry upset you.
| messe wrote:
| This comment is my limit for recursive irony, I'll leave
| you to reflect on that.
| tracker1 wrote:
| 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.
| t1234s wrote:
| There was a similar post in the past but had to do with getting
| the perfect hard boiled egg.
| ilikepi wrote:
| Not sure what post you have in mind, but Kenji Alt-Lopez's
| video[1] on the topic is excellent. If I remember right, it's
| based on work he did with a well-known food publication (or
| show or something)...
|
| [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb0Elaa6gxY
| jillesvangurp wrote:
| 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 remove it from the water. Cooking a bit longer in the sauce
| and shorter in the water is going to help the flavor and texture.
| There's no point in being hyper precise about the cooking time
| and then letting it sit for five minutes or whatever in the
| sauce. Nobody ever measures that time. Add pasta water to loosen
| the sauce if it absorbs too much.
|
| Speaking of pasta water, use less water for boiling paste; not
| more. Many TV cooks get this completely wrong. They'll dump 100
| grams of pasta in a gallon of water. Complete waste of time,
| energy, and salt (assuming they season the water correctly).
|
| Especially if you plan to use the starchy water for your sauce,
| you need to use as little water as you can get away with. If you
| use too much water, there's not going to be a lot of starch in
| there. If it still looks like clear water by the time your pasta
| is cooked, you used way too much water. You might as well just
| use tap water for your sauce. The water should be cloudy not
| clear. As long as it doesn't cook dry, it's fine. About 2-3x the
| dry weight should be plenty for most pasta types. Restaurants
| tend to reuse their pasta water for multiple batches of pasta so
| they'll use more water. But the water has lots of starch after a
| few batches.
| CharlesW wrote:
| > _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 't have to complete both processes
| simultaneously. In fact, if you leave uncooked pasta in
| lukewarm water for long enough, it'l absorb just as much water
| as boiled pasta."_
| GloriousKoji wrote:
| I prefer to cook pasta like rice and starting it in cold
| water brought to a boil and then a simmer:
| https://altonbrown.com/recipes/cold-water-pasta-method/
| dateSISC wrote:
| If the advertised cooking times make your pasta mushy, the
| problem might be the quality of your pasta..
| ekjhgkejhgk wrote:
| Anyone know the name of that microscope? It doesnt look like it
| passes the light thru the way Im used to seeing [1]
|
| [1]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscope#/media/File:Ukraini...
| meatmanek wrote:
| Not sure the brand, but you can find lots of these USB
| microscopes in the usual places. They have a light that shines
| down onto your subject rather than shining light up through a
| glass slide.
| ekjhgkejhgk wrote:
| Funny, "USB microscope" actually finds it. Thank you.
| niek_pas wrote:
| For people who enjoyed this post, I highly recommend J. Kenji
| Lopez-Alt's "The Food Lab", which is a kind of science approach
| to home cooking. He also has a very good YouTube channel.
| Night_Thastus wrote:
| I'm not sure if anyone else runs into this, but I feel cursed by
| bad pasta.
|
| Every time I boil it, I inevitably get pasta that is under-cooked
| in the center while mushy on the outside. I've had some times
| where I've had to boil it for several minutes more than
| recommended just to get the inside to cook fully.
|
| And even a few minutes in, the pasta seems to split apart into
| pieces.
|
| I've tried 'quieter' more simmer-y boils, I've tried cranking it
| up as far as it goes, I've tried salt, I've tried different
| stoves, nothing has seemed to help.
|
| Maybe it's just low-quality noodles, I don't know.
| karlosvomacka wrote:
| IMO the longer the pasta you're choosing needs to be cooked,
| the more the effect will be pronounced. Look into thin fast
| cooking pasta.
| bigmanjon wrote:
| Never really ran into the issue but perhaps try soaking the
| pasta for a while (10-30 min never tried) then it should be
| able to boil for less time and cook more evenly.
| binaryturtle wrote:
| I check by sampling a piece. If you chew on it and it sticks to
| your teeth then it's not done yet and can cook a bit longer. No
| need to make a science out of it. :)
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