Wondering this as I watch the heavily boiling pasta water in my approximately 5-6quart pot jump the sides and splash onto the range surface.
Other than this one, I have a three quart, which is obviously too small, and an eight quart, which is too big. I only rarely seem to find pots in the store between 4 and 8 quarts. Have I been doing it wrong all this time?
Are you putting the lid back on the pot after adding the pasta? If so, that’s your issue. At most I’ll put the lid on for a minute just to get the pot back to a rolling boil. If not, try using less water. One gallon (4 quarts) for one pound of pasta should give you enough room. And don’t be afraid of the bigger pot, though even with the added space, putting the lid back will cause the problem.
There are recipes and techniques for boiling pasta in minimal water, and it works very well, yielding a very starchy water for sauces. That, however, is an advanced technique.
You can do it in a 6 quart pot with less water. You need to use salt so the pasta doesn’t get sticky, and start with the water at a rolling boil so you get the time right. Or see if it sticks to the wall for the right timing (I only do that to drive my wife crazy).
Aye; no lid for boiling pasta. Lids are for rice (most kinds of rice, anyway). It’s fine to use one to bring the water back up to boil if you have to, but don’t leave the lid on for the whole boil.
Salt doesn’t make the pasta less sticky. Salt lowers the boiling point of the water. Use a drop of olive oil in the water to keep the water from boiling over, but only a drop. You just need enough to lower the surface tension of the water. Don’t listen to the elitists who tell you never to use oil: my great-grandmother and grandmother taught me how to make and cook pasta, and they used a small drop of oil in every pot of pasta. Nonny came here from Florence, so to me her word on Italian food was THE word.
Also, no, the oil won’t keep the pasta from sticking together.
Stir the pasta every 2-3 minutes until it’s done.
And yeah, a 6 quart pot should be fine for pasta. You only need enough water for all the pasta to be submerged, even after it absorbs water; it doesn’t have to be a 5:1 ratio of water:pasta or anything.
I’ll need some convincing that normal amounts of salt will change the boiling point of water significantly. The salt keeps the pasta firmer to prevent sticking. Use oil if you want, small amounts won’t matter, more will result in greasy pasta.
Beg pardon? Salt raises the boiling point.
:smack:
My bad. Got my terms mixed up; it’s been a long time since we all tried to keep our finger in a jar of slushy salt water back in high school. Thanks for correcting my error.
The salt is there to, well, make things salty. It seasons the pasta. And please don’t throw your pasta against a wall. Just taste it to see if it’s done. That test is not reliable.
And you don’t need craptons of water. You can do pasta with just enough water to cover it. Read here. That’s how I cook my small shapes. Just stir it for a few minutes as it’s coming up to a boil, and you’re fine. Saves a lot on time and energy, too. Plus the extra starchy water is great for thickening up a sauce.
I’m just not getting into any arguments over salt and oil. I’m sure we can all agree on two things; you don’t need a lot of water to cook pasta, and throwing spaghetti at the wall to see when it’s done drives my wife crazy.
Oil is there to help against boilovers. I don’t use it. And, yes, the amount of salt needed to significantly change the boiling point of water is what would culinarily be referred to as a “crapton.” Like, we’re talking 2 oz of salt per quart of water to raise the temp 1F. That’s about a bit over three tablespoons per degree per quart.
According to Smithsonian.com there is a lot of bad advice here.
They say:
You’re Doing it Wrong: The Guide to Making Perfect Pasta
Use a large pot
Fill the pot with cold water
Heavily salt the water
Do not put oil in the pot
Make sure the water is boiled
Stir
Take the lid off
Cook, Time & Test
Don’t drain all of the pasta water
Don’t rinse cooked pasta
They are wrong about a large pot being necessary. See my link before. I believe Cooks Illustrated also came to the same conclusion. Most of the rest agree with what people are saying in this thread. The drops of oil Sno is recommending is no big deal and does help with boilovers, even though I don’t use it.
ETA: also, a lid is fine if you follow one of the less water methods, where you actually turn the heat off and let the pasta finish in a lidded pot.
Oh, hey, I somehow glossed over this. So you ninja’d me in a cooking thread! Agree with all of this, though I wouldn’t say minimal water is an advanced technique so much as a lesser known technique or one that’s been beaten out of us because we’ve been told we must always cook pasta in barrelfuls of water, even though many of us probably encountered cooking pasta in minimal water at some point (like mac and cheese or other prepared noodle type dishes.)
I do mine in a large frying pan. Put the pasta in the pan. Add enough cold water to cover it and some salt to season. Bring it to a light boil and cook per instructions. It will never stick to itself using this method, you use less water, and it comes to a boil faster than that huge pot of liquid.
However you do it, adding oil is going to cause whatever sauce you’re using to tend not to stick to the pasta. I don’t recommend it.
I do not know your wife, but I’l go ahead and agree to both of those things.
Nothing to add but: stirring immediately after introducing pasta to water until the strands start to soften will prevent clumping.
No we can’t. Plenty of water is critical, otherwise it sticks to the pot and burns. The no rinsing advice is all wet as well. If you don’t, the pasta ends up gummy and nasty.
No, it doesn’t. Trust me and the other posters in this thread who do it that way (as I just did for lunch about two hours ago), or trust the science of Serious Eats and Cooks Illustrated, linked to above.
Seriously, it’s fine. (And I am pretty picky about my pasta.) I don’t like rinsing it, though, as it keeps the sauce from sticking properly. I’ll only rinse it if I’m not using it immediately for some reason or need it to cool down. Served immediately, absolutely no rinsing.
Or you could, y’know, turn the heat down.
I put the burner on high to bring the water to a boil. When it’s good and roiling, I add the pasta and turn the heat down to 7 (electric stove — takes a minute for the temp to drop). The water never stops boiling, but it quickly mellows out to a civilized boil that doesn’t splash and spill.