I also bite a piece to check for doneness, and other than salt, don’t put anything in with the pasta when cooking (it needs lots of hot water, so use a big pan).
I’ve also read that when draining it’s a good idea to leave a half cup of the water in with the pasta, since it continues to cook and absorb water even when drained. If you then add the sauce it stops the sticky clagginess which can come from the pasta absorbing too much of the water from the sauce.
I yank a piece out and flash it under some cold water, then bite it. The water is just so it doesn’t burn the ever loving Christ out of my mouth- I don’t normally wash my pasta.
I, too, was a rinser. For years. Then, sometime in the mid nineties, my local cable company added the Food Network, and soon my pasta-rinsing days were behind me.
I disagree with this. Dripping pasta will cause watery sauce on the plate, and the sauce won’t adhere. I toss it in a collander until all of the liquid is drained. No rinsing though.
Do you mix your sauce in with the pasta before serving? I tend to drain roughly, then put the pasta in the pan with the sauce and toss a couple of times to mix completely. This seems to avoid any separating sauce, and the pasta has a chance to soak up a tiny bit more of the water/sauce mix. If you weren’t mixing (i.e. just topping a plate of pasta with the sauce to serve), I think I’d agree with you.
I think the origin of rinsing was to stop the cooking process. People probably overdid it though. I have given pasta a quick spritz of cold water for that purpose, but saw no advantage. Some people add cold water to the pot to bring the temp down before draining. I doubt anybody could tell the difference from that. If you are saturating the pasta with either cold or hot water after draining, it probably ruins the texture and robs flavor.
On the other hand, many restaurants prepare all pasta ahead of time, rinse it with cold water and keep it chilled. It can be quickly warmed in very hot water, and with quality dried pasta it will be difficult to tell that it was pre-cooked.
After over 30 years of cooking pasta, I know exactly how long to cook it for both my husband and daughter. If my daughter’s visiting, then I warn her a few minutes before the pasta is done to her tastes (she likes a firmer pasta), and she puts some in a strainer, then on her plate. Then my husband’s portion is probably done, so I put the rest in a strainer, and set the strainer over the pot, which has been removed from the burner.
Me? I’ve taken out the meat and veggies that I panfried earlier. I’m not really fond of pasta OR spaghetti sauce, unless it’s something like pasta and cheese (ravioli, lasagna, manicotti, etc.). I’ll eat a piece of garlic bread for my carb serving.
If the pasta isn’t going to be served immediately, I toss it with a small amount of sauce to prevent it from getting sticky. Depending on what I’m making, I might mix in all of the sauce.
Might not be bad for his tastes, perhaps. I’ve done enough “the big pot is occupied, I’ll just use this smaller one” cooking that I know that, for me, pasta cooked in too little water in a too small pot is awful. It cooks unevenly, with a slimy, sticky exterior and an uncooked interior. It’s also a lot of work, as it requires much more stirring.
I will grant that I can get away with maybe 3 quarts of water to a pound of pasta if I don’t mind stirring a lot, but when I see my son grab the 2 quart pot, I know I won’t be sharing his meal. He’s incorrigible. Of course, he’s also 17, and doesn’t much care what the food he’s eating actually tastes like.