Current Events > The worst crimes you can commit when cooking pasta.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm no expert on either pasta or law, but I suspect the worst crime one could commit while cooking pasta is probably murder.

Killing somebody with spaghetti like the Joker did with a pencil.

Ive broken them all at one point.

I used to see Scott Conant and Joe Bastianich rip into people on cooking shows for not finishing their pasta in the sauce, so now that's what I do and it is a huge improvement. Especially with spaghetti.

None, I apparently make perfect pasta.

TendoDRM posted...

None, I apparently make perfect pasta.

Italian nonne the world over would be proud of you.

If true.

TendoDRM posted...

None, I apparently make perfect pasta.

This is true.
I don't do exactly everything as stated, but I understand the reasoning.

how about giving the pasta a quick rinse, I don't like them too sticky

ProfessorKukui posted...

how about giving the pasta a quick rinse, I don't like them too sticky

It won't make a whole ton of difference.
People are just on this 'pasta water' kick nowadays.

If that's what you like to do, don't worry about it.

I've never broken spaghetti because I'm not a knuckle dragging savage, but if you put a gun to my head and told me to cook a single serving of spaghetti for myself I would fail miserably.

ProfessorKukui posted...

how about giving the pasta a quick rinse, I don't like them too sticky

thats why you add a bit of your sauce to the pasta after its done cooking.

your left overs wont be mush from the acidity of the sauce. Just put the sauce in a gravy boat and add as much or as little as you like.

Lokison posted...

Mixing the sauce and pasta together before storing will cause the acids from the sauce to breakdown the pasta making it worse when reheated. If you're going to store left overs of it you should keep them separate. I don't care what your Grandmother from Italy learned 80 years ago before science figured that out.

The funny thing is that I recall that an Italian food historian called Alberto Grandi showed that many "traditional" Italian dishes are more contemporary and foreign in origin than thought and Italian grandparents weren't doing such things.

chrono625 posted...

thats why you add a bit of your sauce to the pasta after its done cooking.

your left overs wont be mush from the acidity of the sauce. Just put the sauce in a gravy boat and add as much or as little as you like.

Are people out here really putting sauce in a gravy boat? >_>

I break the pasta everytime. I hate cleaning the big pot - small drying rack/lack of counter space

I put a drop of oil in everytime. I probably heard it on the Food Network years ago and just rolled with it

I season the shit out of my pasta.

I use to prefer just slightly overcooked pasta. Girlfriend has put me on Al dente

I like a lot of sauce, girlfriend doesn't. And like someone said, I don't know how to portion control pasta. Sauce and pasta stay separate

ECW_Originals12 posted...

What's wrong with breaking spaghetti

People always used to tell me "don't break the spaghetti, an Italian grandma is crying somewhere because of it!"
Well, she ain't my grandma

LordFarquad1312 posted...

Putting oil in the water

You need to do this to stop the white foam at the top. It also has zero effect on the taste of the pasta.

haloiscoolisbak posted...

https://youtu.be/5l8wMlBbgd8

This YouTube chef reccemends using the water as a base for the sauce. You add flavours to it while it's cooking and don't drain it

Ewww. Nasty. Nothing like boiled mayonnaise, ranch dressing, and mustard.

What about people who boil it in the sauce, thats okay according to TC

UndefeatedGOAT posted...

What about people who boil it in the sauce, thats okay according to TC

It's ok as a finisher. It's common to strain the pasta while it's still raw and then make it finish cooking in the sauce.

LordFarquad1312 posted...

1. Breaking the spaghetti

Why does it matter? How else will it fit in the damn pot?

2. Using a small pot/not enough water

Well, fuck...

3. Putting oil in the water

I've never added oil...

4. Not using enough salt in the water

I've also never added salt to pasta being cooked. Just good 'ol H2O

5. Overcooking it.

We prefer it softer instead of "al dente". Guess I do this, too

6. Not putting it into the sauce as soon as it's done cooking (aka, letting it die).

Why the fuck would you do that? Pour sauce on it once it's in a bowl to serve, keep the rest separate to store for later.

So... 5 out of 6. Maybe 4, not sure what counts as "overcooking". But these "rules" are dumb and I'm glad I break them, like I do my spaghetti, so I'll say I'm at 5.

Tyranthraxus posted...

It's ok as a finisher. It's common to strain the pasta while it's still raw and then make it finish cooking in the sauce.

oh, yeah that sounds good

i meant boiling from dry in sauce though, as a pasta sin

streamofthesky posted...

Why does it matter? How else will it fit in the damn pot?

Real talk, this is simpler than people think even with a small pot. Put the noodles in as much as you can. After a few seconds in boiling water they'll soften and you and twist the soft parts around so it draws the still stiff parts into the water. It happens so fast it doesn't even change cooking times.

fire_bolt posted...

Real talk, this is simpler than people think even with a small pot. Put the noodles in as much as you can. After a few seconds in boiling water they'll soften and you and twist the soft parts around so it draws the still stiff parts into the water. It happens so fast it doesn't even change cooking times.

i bought an oval shaped pot so id never have to do this

0 I love pasta and try to make it better every time I cook it.

You can avoid having to break spaghetti in half by just getting a non-garbage noodle shape to start with like penne, rotini, fusilli, or orecchiette. Or go wild and do something like cascatelli or perciatelli, which despite being dumb AF are at least a bit more novel than spaghetti.

skullmagic2 posted...

You can avoid having to break spaghetti in half by just getting a non-garbage noodle shape to start with like penne, rotini, fusilli, or orecchiette. Or go wild and do something like cascatelli or perciatelli, which despite being dumb AF are at least a bit more novel than spaghetti.

spaghettini best

SiO4 posted...

It won't make a whole ton of difference.
People are just on this 'pasta water' kick nowadays.

If that's what you like to do, don't worry about it.

False

Tax fraud

I do 6 all the time. Just cause I dont really use sauce in the first place.

just 6.

the trick with the salt is you want the water to taste like the ocean. season your pasta correctly ffs.

Spaghetti is best when broken into smaller pieces so it's easy to eat without manually cutting it later, saves a lot of unnecessary work so you can enjoy the food more.

Oil can be used to add flavor, but while it's extremely common it's completely optional, pasta is non-sticky by standard so oil is not needed for this reasoning like some people for some reason keep falsely claiming.

Salt should never be added to anything, especially pasta or anything else that's edible, that goes without saying, it ruins the flavor and is bad for your health with no positives to make up for it, humans get more than enough salt in their diet than needed from the natural amount of salt already contained naturally, and it's hard enough avoiding products that have extra salt added to them during production, so adding even more salt manually during cooking is literally insane, it's more than bad enough as it is, not even gonna comment on people who then also add extra salt to their food while eating it....

Overcooking is optional depending on what kind of outcome one wants, I prefer undercooked as it will continue to absorb moisture after it's taken off the stove and I add sauce when I eat the pasta which will continue to soften the pasta even more, so when it's time to eat the pasta has settled perfectly.

Always wait til the last second to add sauce to make sure the pasta doesn't get overcooked before eating.

Hoppy800 posted...

Ketchup on spaghetti, yeah this is a thing and it's nasty when I tried it.

Even trying it has closed the gates of heaven to you forever.

Newave posted...

Always wait til the last second to add sauce to make sure the pasta doesn't get overcooked before eating.

One neat trick you can do is just put the pasta on a plate by itself and then have another bowl at the side with the sauce. instead of mixing them together you just dip individual noodles in it as you eat

kirbymuncher posted...

One neat trick you can do is just put the pasta on a plate by itself and then have another bowl at the side with the sauce. instead of mixing them together you just dip individual noodles in it as you eat

and then to make sure the sauce is cooked to perfection, you fill a thimble sized cup with the sauce, and dip your noodle in it. then get a new noodle and a new thimble of sauce, and repeat

well worth the time and trouble!