If you lived in our kitchen you might often observe my husband and I standing over our drained spaghetti (or other pasta) noodles, debating whether or not to rinse them. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. But we both swear we’ve read something on the subject, though our memories fail us.
Do you rinse? Why or why not?
I do not rinse noodles after cooking. The remaining starch on the noodles is supposed to help the sauce to stick and coat the noodles more thoroughly.
Nope, never rinse. And I’ve certainly never seen an Italian rinse pasta.
The only time I rince noodles is if they are to be cooled down for use in a salad, or else to be stir fried later. In both cases it is worth getting rid of the extra startch by rinseing. I wouldn’t rinse pasta before serving, as it would just cool it down too much IMHO.
I do rinse because I prefer the texture of the rinsed noodles. When I don’t rinse, the noodles taste too “sticky” for my preference.
In addition, I’m able to cook the noodles to the right amount of doneness easier when I rinse. Since I rinse in cool water, the cooking process stops as soon as I rinse. If I don’t rinse, then the pasta seems to cook a little longer and gets too soft.
I don’t rinse. My mom taught me to rince them, but somewhere along the line I stopped and it never seemed to make that much difference.
Bottom line is, you can do it whichever way you like. My advice is next time you make pasta, seperate it into two bowls and rinse half of it. Then taste both and see which one you like better.
Better yet, have your husband make dinner and do a blind tasting. 
I rinse. I think the noodles taste more “starchy” if you don’t.
A couple of weeks ago the New Yorker had its annual Food Issue and one article waw about cooking pasta in Italy. I don’t remember the specifics, but in one passing phrase, he referred to the fact that Italians DON’T rinse their pasta and consider it blasphemy…
I don’t think we have a taste or sticky issue - just wondering what the benefits or… un-benefits are. But hey, if the Italians don’t even rinse, who am I to presume?! Still envisioning a blind noodle tasting… hmm… :eek: 
I definitely do not rinse for the reasons stated above. If I rinse my noodles, the sauce ends up as a bit pile on the bottom of my plate or bowl, rather than sticking to the pasta as it should.
As has already been stated, it depends on the application.
Soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) which are served cold with a very thin but tasty sauce should always be rinsed. If they aren’t the noodles over-cook and the starch clouds the sauce.
Pasta to be served with a tomato sauce should NOT be rinsed. A good pasta made from hard durham wheat should not get soggy as long as you cook it al dente and the starch allows the sauce to stick to the noodles increasing their flavor.
My 2 cents FWIW
I don’t rinse noodles eaten hot but I will rinse noodles before I cool them down and store them for leftovers.
I never rinse pasta. The starch goes away and the sauce doesn’t stick, it ends up combing with the leftover water from the rinsing and getting nasty on the bottom of the plate, below the pasta. SOme peopel like to say they rinse to stop the cooking, well, you should stop cooking when the pastai s al dente, i.e., not 100% cooked all the way. By the time you serve it, it will be perfect.
Oh, I also don’t put oil in the water. Doesn’t do a damn thing.
Oh really???
Well, you shouldn’t add oil to pasta.
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/c00140.asp
FWIW, I’ve never found the need to use oil to keep pasta from sticking.
I sometimes lightly toss it in oil if I am assembling a baked dish using the pasta. Other than that I have never heard of any chef recommending either adding oil to the water or rinsing the pasta, except for salad making, but I routinely see threads were people insist that it is the thing to do.
But other than making a salad or a baked pasta dish you don’t have to worry about pasta sticking because it should come out of the pot, drain and then join the sauce for immediate serving.
Like the others said - putting oil in pasta water does absolutely nothing. Notice that oil and water don’t mix; putting oil in the water simply results in an oil slick on the top of the water. If you’re having trouble with noodles sticking together, you’re not cooking in enough water. Use a bigger pot and/or more water.
Alton Brown has an episode of Good Eats where he confirms that oil in pasta water does nothing.
Most recipes are written with the idea that pasta is not rinsed after cooking. That startchy taste is desired, and it allows the sauce to stick to the noodles better. Pasta should never be rinsed.
If your pot isn’t as big as it should be and you put a tablespoon of oil in the water, it helps keep it from boiling over. I’ve never noticed this making a difference to the taste or how well sauce sticks, since the oil pretty much stays on top of the water.
I’d never even heard of the practice of rinsing noodles until this thread. I’ve never rinsed noodles except in the rare cases I’m making a pasta salad and want to cool them off quickly.