First off, a big thank you to everyone that completed the survey! âşď¸ Youâll see some tweaks over the next few weeks as I work on implementing some of the feedback. And lastly, congrats to the three cookbook winners! I was pumped to give away Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, KitchenWise, and Six Seasons.
When making pasta, weâve all read the instructions: âBring 4 quarts of water to a boil.â
Everything Iâve always heard about cooking pasta is that you must use a large amount of boiling water. But why? If you donât, the pasta will stick together and turn gummyâŚright? Nope.
Like most ârulesâ for cooking, this one isnât true.
Weâve been doing it wrong! Kenji, Alton, McGee, and Cookâs Illustrated all confirmed it.
You donât need all that water to cook pasta. In fact, itâs better if you use less.
The first, and most important reason, is your sauce.
We use pasta water in sauces. The starch released into the water as the pasta cooks creates a magical concoction. Using that starchy water will (1) thicken your sauce and (2) marry the sauce and noodles together. It acts as an emulsifier. Itâs especially crucial for sauces that use fat as a main ingredient like cacio e pepe, carbonara, or aglio e olio. Itâs the pasta water that makes those sauces creamy not cream. đĽâ
But these sauces are notoriously hard to make at home. And itâs because of the pasta water. You need lots of starch in the water to prevent clumping and to create the right consistency.
So why are restaurant versions typically better? Itâs because they cook more pasta than we do. And they do it in the same pot of water. So as more pasta cooks, more starch is released. And the more valuable the pasta water becomes.
Lucky for us, we can cheat the system. How? Use less water.
The higher the ratio of water to pasta, the more diluted the starch levels. Conversely, youâll concentrate the amount of starch when you cook pasta in less water.
Here are two other reasons to cook your pasta in less water: âď¸
They arenât a thing! Well...kind of.
Pasta sticks when it cooks. But it sticks the same amount whether you cook it in a lot of water or a little.
Hereâs the real way to prevent stickage: stir!
Starches start to absorb water once the temperature hits 180â (82â). And once they absorb enough of it, the starches burst! đĽ At that point, all the broken starchy bits are released into the water. But that process mostly happens in the first couple of minutes of cooking pasta. So simply stir vigorously a few times when you first add the pasta to the water. That will disperse the sticky starch molecules off the pasta and into the water. Easy as that!
What about the texture? No difference. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt ran the tests to confirm it. Your pasta still comes out perfectly al-dente. Or molto al-dente, if youâre doing it right! đ
Itâs straightforward but there are a few important things to keep in mind.
First up, how much water should you use? 1.5 to 2 quarts of water per 16oz (500g) of pasta will do the trick. Simply bring it up to a boil like you would normally and then add your salt and pasta.
But remember these two things:
I hope this makes you reconsider how you cook pasta. If you want to stick to cooking pasta in lots of water, thatâs cool! Youâll still end up with a great result. But at least now you know all the pastabilities! đ
Talk to you next week,
Luciano đ¨âđł
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