Test pasta for doneness after eight minutes of cooking.
Although a relatively simple technique, cooking pasta properly requires attention to several seemingly minor, yet imperative, guidelines. These include adequate cooking water, sticking prevention, proper salt content and the timely addition of sauce. Although certain parameters, such as level of doneness and seasoning, are a matter of personal preference, pasta responds best when certain recommendations are followed.
Instructions
1. Bring one gallon of water to a rolling boil for every pound of dried pasta. Do not add pasta before the water reaches a boil. Bringing pasta up to temperature in tandem with the water prompts the release of excess starch and results in a gummy consistency.
2. Add salt to taste after the water reaches its boiling point. Adding salt too early can In addition to creating pits in aluminum pots, adding salt too early also affects the amount of time it takes water to boil. An apt guideline to follow when seasoning pasta water is taste -- the water's saltiness indicates the saltiness of the pasta.
3. Add the pasta all at once to the boiling water, and stir for the first two or three minutes. Do not add oil to the water to prevent sticking. Oil coats the pasta and prevents sauce from adhering and absorbing. Stirring during the first few minutes of cooking allows each piece of pasta to cook independently and prevents clumping.
4. Drain cooked pasta in a colander. Do not rinse as this removes starch on the pasta's surface and negatively affects the sauce's ability to adhere. Add heated sauce to the pasta immediately after cooking. Pasta absorbs sauces while hot, and rinsing prompts the sauce to slide off.
5. Cook pasta to taste. General guidelines prescribe cooking pasta 10 to 12 minutes; however, several variants -- such as elevation and type of pasta -- affect cooking times. Pasta takes more time to cook at elevations in excess of 3,000 feet because the water boils at a lower temperature. After of cooking at a rolling boil --10 minutes if cooking at an elevation exceeding 3,000 feet -- use a long-handled fork or a tongs to remove one piece of pasta. Taste for doneness. Continue cooking until desired tenderness is reached.
6. Cook fresh pasta for approximately two or three minutes. Eggs bind and enrich fresh pastas, prompting shorter cooking times and making the pasta relatively delicate compared to dried varieties.
7. Cook pasta al dente by boiling it for seven minutes, then tasting it at one-minute intervals thereafter. The best way to identify pasta cooked al dente is by tasting. There should be a firmness in the pasta's consistency, and it should give a slight resistance when bitten. Pasta cooked al dente does not overcook when hot sauces continue to heat the noodles.
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