Huh, I had no idea you could actually taste iodine! (Like I said, culinary philistine.)
I don’t claim that this is necessarily true or objective, but this is the source, and yes, @lobotomyboy63 has identified the alleged reason.
What I do claim from long personal experience is that I make a pretty good pasta (mostly my specialty, spaghettini) using relatively large amounts of lightly salted water, carefully timed to be al dente, and it’s always turned out fine. I love good pasta so I’m very picky about it – the only pasta sauces that I consider satisfactory are either homemade ones from certain Italian households that I’ve been acquainted with, or the semplice sauce from Pusateri’s that I’ve mentioned a few times.
ETA: This is the relevant quote from the article:
Here at Basically, we always recommend Kosher salt for seasoning during cooking. Do not use iodized table salt, which is tongue-tinglingly salty and gives food a tinny, bitter taste. Among the kosher salts out there, though, there’s a big difference in the size and shape of the salt crystals and therefore a difference in how salty each tastes by volume.
There is a reason to oil the pasta, and that is if you are par cooking it to be finished later.
When I did prep in restaurants, it made a big difference if you oiled the pasta, if you did not, then it would clump together when reheated.
At home, I rarely don’t use pasta immediately after making it, so it’s not necessary.
As to salt, I was told by a Master Chef, “Salt like the ocean!”, so I do, salt’s cheap.
I heard the iodine in table salt was like adding fluoride to the water—we need a small amount on a regular basis, so what’s something everyone uses? Salt.
Some use sea salt instead of kosher…I don’t like it as well, though.
Yeah, I can’t understand that some people don’t salt the water, pasta undersalted taste like crap. If I cook 500g of pasta, I put a good handful of salt to the water. No oil, though, for the reasons mentioned.
Iodine is definitely a flavor, and it is often used in describing the taste of certain Scotch whiskies. That said, I personally can’t taste it in table salt, so far as I can tell, at least not like I do in, say, Islay whiskies. (And it’s a separate flavor from the predominant peat in something like Laphroaig or Ardbeg. – perhaps I should more accurately say that it seems to be connected with the smoky peat flavor, but it’s the medicinal, kind of burnt band-aid-y part of the flavor of many Islay whiskies.)
Mister Roberts - Making Scotch Scene
Nice! I totally forgot about that scene! I can’t remember where I’ve seen it before (maybe it was even linked here), but I admire their resourcefulness!
This little gadget is perfect for keeping your pasta water from boiling over. I don’t know how I ever lived without it.
I have never been tempted to give the pure chemicals a taste test, but you have me thinking, maybe pure iodine (if you were to lick those dark purple crystals) would taste slightly different to the iodide or triiodidide ions found in salt or antiseptic/water purification solutions. Plus (except for elemental iodine) you are never tasting iodine alone; there are a few to many other chemicals in the mix. There is a definite flavour, though.
I have a few of those in different sizes! Never really bothered with it for pasta, but if boiling over is a problem, it works as well as any other lid.
I guess my go-to pasta pan is oversized; never had a problem with boiling over. That or I’m blessed.
I add salt to the water (like the sea) but not oil, unless I am partially cooking the pasta and reheating it. I use a big pot and have never had the water boil over. I add a skoosh of pasta water to my sauce which is said to help it stick better.
In fact I made a batch of sauce today, plus some pasta to go with it. I’d put my homemade sauce against anybody’s. But I don’t live close to Pusateri’s. We have a good local pasta maker who makes fresh noodles and good (though under seasoned) sauce and I sometimes buy that.
Yeah – that’s like, a desired trait. That’s also why you generally do not want to rinse your pasta after cooking, and also adding a bit of the starchy cooking water to the sauce will help it thicken up a bit and stick to your pasta.
Yeah, I don’t always add salt, and I’ve had quite a few people berate me for it on the apparent basis that the pasta will not be properly seasoned (and ‘proper’ seasoning being that which is uniformly distributed throughout the foodstuff). I disagree. I like a bit of heterogeneity.
That’s something most people are unaware of, I think. A small amount of pasta water not only helps thicken the sauce, but also makes it smoother.
Yeah, and help it come together/emulsify especially in something like cacio e pepe.
You’ve cooked your noodles and prepared your sauce for it. What now?
- Mix the sauce and pasta in the pot.
- Plate a pile of pasta, cover with sauce.
- Other
- Pancetta (See what I did there?)
0 voters
I think I make a pretty decent sauce, but I’m sure it’s a million miles from authentic Italian. When I finish, I probably have a quart of sauce or more. If you plate the pasta, then cover with sauce, you can choose your ratio. I also used to make meatballs, so you can pick how many you want (or none at all).
I was about 25 years old before I saw anybody mix the sauce and pasta in the pot (then plate). He started with just a couple tomatoes. Olive oil, onion, garlic, tomatoes…cook down till flavor is super concentrated. Then mix with all the noodles and everybody gets the same ratio.
I’d have made the sauce in one pot while (or before) the pasta was cooked, then I combine from there.
Kenji of Serious Eats shows you how it’s done:
If I make too much sauce (which I often do), I just spoon off the amount I need for the pasta I’m making.