I’ve never oiled my pasta water before. It’s really simple: use the minumum amount of water to fully boil the pasta, salt the water, wait until the water comes to a full boil, then put the pasta in, regular spaghetti takes about 6-7 minutes to become al dente.
Oil the pasta after you strain it is the way you prevent it from sticking together.
If you use the minimum and precise amount of water, water will be completely evaporated when pasta is done, so you won’t have to strain. I don’t know why, but this makes pasta so much tasteful.
I have never once oiled my pasta water. I have also never once had my pasta stick. Just add enough water, boil, salt, pasta. Cook til it’s done, I literally never stir the pasta. Test for texture every so often. Drain, save some water for marrying with the sauce better.
I’ve always done the salt and prob a tablespoon of vegetable oil (yeah I’m a pleb). usually make my own sauce or will add simmered vegetables to a store bought base.
I don’t like vegetable oils if I am using a tomato sauce–I don’t think it goes well together. If I’m doing Mac-n-Cheese, then yes, Otherwise it’s olive oil.
I use apple vinegar to catch fruit flies and white vinegar to keep various laundry items odor free, plus it’s good for the front loading washing machine. I have to say though, cooking with various vinegars is beyond my capabilities.
I’ll tell you what blew my mind and opened a world for me. Please give this a try next time you make rice, with luck it does the same for you.
Use a rice cooker and prepare as normal. Before starting the cycle, add in about a teaspoon of salt and about 2 teaspoons of either rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar. Mix well then cook as usual. Adjust for the stovetop method if you don’t have a rice cooker.
I find that the rice wine vinegar works better, but that the cider vinegar works just fine. You’re going to worry that you put in too much vinegar because you can smell it a little while it’s cooking. But guess what? You didn’t. That little bit of acidity in contrast with the slight sweetness of the rice starch balances out.
I’ve also recently learned of the flavor triangle. You’re meant to balance sweet, salty, and bitter. The recipe above does that for rice.
Last tdbit: my chef friend turned me on to this, and it’s all I use now:
I used to get all the fancy brown and wild rices, the long grain rice, etc. Calrose is just no-fuss. It definitely has its uses and you’re not going to make biriyani with it, for instance. What it’s great for is when you just need rice on the side of whatever else you are making.
I hope this works for you. Please let me know what you think if you end up trying it.
p.s. just noticed that I linked you to a 5lb bag! LOL. They come in small bags too so don’t worry too much about that.
This shouldn’t happen unless you overcook your pasta. When the water starts boiling, toss in some salt and then the pasta. Wait for length of time on the pasta package. Then remove from heat and drain. If it still gets sticky, buy a better quality pasta.
Never had pasta stick in the boiling water, dunno what some people are doing to their pasta here. Best thing is just taking it right from the boiling water to the sauce before it’s done, add some pasta water in there, last thing toss a bit of olive oil in. Throw basil on top to serve if extra fancy.
I wonder wtf you guys do to your pasta, it’s like the easiest thing to cook… Boil water, add salt, wait for the time written on the box (or just look at it, you’ll see when it’s done).
I have never stirred pasta before, and never had it stick even once. Are you sure you’re waiting for the water to reach a full boil to add the pasta? At that point that air bubbles should be knocking it around enough that you don’t have to bother.
Did you ever make spaghetti? When you put a bunch of them in the pot, one end of the bunch still sticks out and the bunch just stands there, so no amount of bubbles is going to “knock them around”.
All you gotta do is push the ends that’re stocking out under once it’s soft enough. No stirring necessary. I suppose you can if that’s easier for you, but I don’t bother.
Editing in real quick though, I’ve never cooked high end pasta, so maybe that’s different. I’m broke, so it’s always the cheap stuff for me
I have never stirred pasta. I need you to understand this. I’m old, I’ve never once stirred pasta. I’ve made a lot of pasta.
I wait for the water to boil, I put salt in and question if this even does anything but I do it anyway, I put the pasta in then seven minutes or so later it’s done.
Yeah, I’ve read those theories, I’ve also seen people say it does nothing. I’ve forgotten and it’s made no difference. But I still do it. It’s worth noting you have to add a lot of salt to meaningfully change the boiling temperature.
Did you ever make spaghetti? When you put a bunch of them in the pot, one end of the bunch still sticks out and the bunch just stands there while the lower ends stick together.
I have made endless spaghetti and this has neverever been the case for me, ever.
Are you american? i gotta know if this is some american food is weird thing. american food is often weird. this is not something the rest of the world talks about.
What are you people doing to your pasta… I don’t even know what universe it would do that. How would it do that? Is this some American thing where American pasta isn’t made from wheat anymore but instead corn syrup?
If you don’t take care, and don’t stir, spaghetti might stick badly.
If you have enough water, hot enough, salt a bit, see to it that when you put the pasta in the water it’s not in a big lump, then it’s going to be okay.
I like to stir after a minute or three, but it’s mostly to see everything is okay like water temp.
Beginners might chuck it in colderer water, not stir spaghetti or whatever. Been there done that ☺️
Also, if the pan isn’t large enough the pasta will stick I think. I say I think because despite having cooked pasta hundreds of times I’ve never had this happen lol
After cooking the pasta just short of done, many toss them in the sauce pan and let them finish cooking in the sauce for a more even pasta-to-sauce-distribution. Saves you the hassle of portioning your sauce.
Hmm I call the large “pans” that you boil water and make sauces in pans, but I assume you don’t in your country- presumably the USA? I’m not even sure what you would call them instead tbh
Your stir at the beginning to ensure that each piece of pasta is properly engulfed by water. But after that there really shouldn’t be much need of stirring, the pasta moves around in the water on its own.
Half the time written on the box, believe me if you want a perfect “al dente”. Anyway the problem of everybody outside Italy is that they boil the water with the pasta in.
If you cook in 5-10l of water you will dilute the starch and the pasta won’t stick. Also if you mix the sauce through the pasta post cooking and let it rest for 5-10 mins it will soak up the sauce
All the oil is doing is helping the pan not boil over while on a high heat as it makes the formation of bubbles at the surface more difficult. So… it kind of helps because you can cook more easily at a high heat but yeah it does nothing for the pasta.
And of course as long as your cooking pot is large enough and you are actually being present, then there shouldn’t be any risk of it boiling over and thus no need for any oil.
I think your comment is the source of a lot of people’s problems with sticking pasta. If there pots aren’t big enough and stove not powerful enough, a large amount of pasta can cool the water enough to stop the boiling and the pasta will stick if not stirred.
yes, this is the answer! patience! a proper boil that stays boiling until the pasta is done. no sticking ever. salt and oil are never needed in the cooking water.
It’s not the same effect. Then the sauce will be salted, and the pasta will maybe absorb some of that salt.
But, in my opinion, that’s an inelegant solution.
I personally do not want any more salt in the pasta sauce than what’s already in there. I do, however, want my pasta to take in a little salt from the water.
For those reasons, I add a little salt to my water as it’s boiling
I read that quote regularly. Any clue who it originates from? I think it’s a romantic overstatement and does not hold as a general pasta rule. Salty pasta water is needed when you use a sauce or a pesto that has little salt in it. However, when using a particularly salty sauce or pesto, your end result can easily turn out too salty, if you put too much salt in the pasta water. When I make japanese miso-butter pasta for example, I don’t put any salt in the boiling water, because combined with the miso-butter, that would make the end result way too salty.
Seawater is two teaspoons salt per cup of water. That’s a little more than half a cup of salt per gallon of water. That is an unhealthy amount of salt.
For small portions that probably will work. Plenty of times I’ve put pasta in only to have it stick if I don’t stir a little in the first minute or two. There’s just not enough room for the boiling to agitate the pasta enough to prevent sticking.
Cooking pasta correctly is an art, but there are some basic rules to follow if you want consistent results.
If you want to avoid this situation in particular, take the pasta out just before it’s done along with about 1/4 cup of the water and add both to your sauce and finish cooking the pasta there. You’ll end up with pasta that is cooked perfectly with a sauce that readily adheres to each noodle and no stickyness
Well, you only use a bit of the pasta water, it depends how much tomato sauce you’re making.
Pull out about a cup of the pasta water.
Dump the pasta. Don’t rinse the pasta, ever.
Now either slowly pour in a bit of the pasta water into the sauce, stir it, look at it, there should be a sheen. The pasta water makes the red sauce very silky.
Or, take a frying pan, turn the heat on. Add butter and olive oil. When the butter gets melted, dump diced veggies (or not) into the pan. Cook the vegetables to almost desired tenderness. Dump garlic in for no more than one minute.
Dump some pasta water in, just a little, and throw the pasta on top. Mix it up. After a short time, 15 seconds maybe, pour the red sauce on top of the spaghetti and veggies, stir.
After about a minute or so, add pasta water, just a bit. Stir. Taste. Is it shiny and silky? If not add a little more water. Repeat until it’s tasty.
Rinsing the pasta is fine for making a cold pasta salad or something like that, removing the free starch stops it from sticking. But for a dish with sauce, definitely don’t rinse.
The sauce itself should be quite thick before adding the pasta water. I let my bolognese reduce for at least an hour and a half before starting to boil water for the pasta.
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