If you ever wonder why your pasta doesn’t taste as good as it does in a restaurant, it might be because you don’t salt your water. Italians make their pasta water quite salty because the salt adds flavor to the noodles and ultimately to the finished dish. Add the salt after the water has come to a boil because it will dissolve better.
Never add oil to the cooking water because it makes the pasta slick and the sauce won’t stick to the noodles. Also, never rinse the cooked pasta. The bit of starch clinging to it allows the sauce to adhere better. Always save some of the water the pasta was cooked in. The water has starch for thickening and salt for flavor. If you need to thin your sauce, it’s the best liquid to use.
Italians cook their pasta al dente, which literally means “to the tooth” because it’s still somewhat firm. This degree of firmness varies with each cook. (I’ve eaten in some homes where “al dente” meant almost raw.) Stir the pasta occasionally as it cooks, and cook it to the firmness you prefer. You can use tongs to pick a few strands out of the boiling water and taste them to determine desired firmness. The directions on the package provide guidelines.
Once the pasta has cooked, don’t let it sit in its hot water or it will continue to cook and get mushy. Drain it immediately, then put it back into its hot pan and cover it until you’re ready for it. Don’t worry if the noodles stick together; mixing them with the sauce will loosen them.
Italians believe that pasta waits for no one, and they always cook it at the last minute when everything else is ready and everyone is seated at the table. They would never drain the pasta and make it sit and wait for the sauce—but I choose to be practical rather than perfectly correct.
Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment