Seriously? Does there have to be a lesson on how to cook pasta? Absolutely!

“But how hard can that be”? you ask. Not very is the answer but I am constantly amazed by how people manage to get it wrong. Pasta is most often a major, if not the major component in a dish so it is important to get it right. Glossing over the pasta cooking process can result in an average dinner at best.

A brief history of pasta in the US and UK…

Durum wheat from which dried pasta is made is grown primarily in the south of Italy where pasta reigns supreme. In the Po Valley in the north of Italy rice is grown and that is the staple food of the region. But still, pasta in all its universally recognized forms is ubiquitous throughout Italy. And there are countless regional pastas not generally known outside of the country.

Pasta was introduced to America by Thomas Jefferson who first ate it in Naples in the late 1780’s. When he returned to the US he brought with him cases of pasta and a pasta rolling machine. It wasn’t until the mid 19th century, however, when Italian immigrants came to the US in vast numbers that pasta became widely known across the country. At that time most of the Italian immigrants came from Calabria in the south west of Italy, bringing with them the food culture of that region, including tomatoes. For a long time Italian food became synonymous with heavy tomato based sauces. The reality is that regional Italian food has a huge and diverse variety of tastes and textures.

In spite of its closer proximity to Italy than the US, Britain did not see a huge influx of Italians as did America and so pasta took longer to find its way into the UK food culture. I can remember in the 1950’s in the UK, pasta was an exotic food which we had only rarely. I recall my father boiling a pot of spaghetti, draining it and then rinsing it under cold water (horror of all horrors!). It was served with some kind of tomato sauce which was very forgettable.

Brits of a certain age may remember the BBC program called Panorama, hosted by Richard Dimbleby. In 1957 Dimbleby did a segment on his program (the last 10 minutes as I recall) where he highlighted a Swiss family of pasta farmers during their annual spaghetti harvest on the Swiss/Italian border. The item went on to describe how the spaghetti was grown and harvested. It showed the family picking strands of spaghetti from the trees and laying them in the sun to dry. Pretty much the whole country was taken in by the Panorama piece which aired on April 1, 1957!! We didn’t know it was an April Fool’s gag until the next day when it was reported in the newspapers. It goes to show how little we Brits knew about Italian food and pasta in particular.

It’s different today of course, in so far as Italian food is well known and appreciated around the world. That said, we have here in the US, what is known as Italian American food. That is to say, Italian food adapted to American tastes and locally available ingredients. These days there are any number of fine Italian restaurants on both sides of the ocean with excellent, authentic Italian food. Until fairly recently though, many others catered to what the local populous thought of as Italian and while it may be good food in its own right, it is not necessarily good Italian food.

OK, let’s talk about how to cook pasta:

When we are talking about dried, store bought pasta it is important to understand that it is made from nothing more than flour and water; nothing else, just flour and water. The flour used for dried pasta is made from Durum wheat grown primarily in the southern part of Italy. Being made from just flour and water, pasta has absolutely no taste. To infuse some taste into the pasta the water it is cooked in must be properly seasoned with salt. As the pasta cooks it absorbs the salted water and is seasoned throughout. If you simply add salt to pasta cooked in plain, unsalted water, the salt adheres to the outside and you end up with salty tasting pasta.

How much salt is enough to properly season pasta water?

Well, Italians might tell you that the water should taste like the Mediterranean Sea. But if you have never tasted the Mediterranean Sea, how would you know? Turns out the Mediterranean Sea is more salty than most other seas and oceans; around 3.8% in fact. What does that mean? Well, it means that for every liter of pasta cooking water you would need to add 38g of salt. That’s a lot of salt and indeed too much I think. My general advice is this: Add a lot of salt and when you think it’s enough, add a bit more! Then taste the water. It should be quite salty; unpleasantly so even. If you’ve ever taken a swim in the sea (any sea) you will have an idea of how salty it should be.

(All that being said, as we discuss the amount of water needed to cook pasta next, we will revisit this notion of ‘lots’ of salt.)

And so, how much water is enough?

Again, Italians might tell you enough water so the pasta can “dance” as it boils but “it should dance, not rock and roll!” (A quote from Giuliano Hazan, son of Marcella Hazan, the famous Italian chef, author and teacher).

Recently a noted food scientist called Harold McGee posited that all that water is not necessary. In fact, he says, you can cook 1 lb of pasta in 6 cups of water (that would translate to 500g of pasta in 1.5L of water). The pasta needs more attention for the first couple of minutes as it cooks in such a small amount of water because it hasn’t the room to move around and is prone to sticking to itself and clumping up. McGee actually suggests starting the pasta in cold water which, he says, prevents the pasta from clumping up. The resulting pasta cooking water, though, is thick and starchy and ideal for finishing pan sauces that the pasta is being served with.

Pretty much all Italian chefs McGee spoke to at the time, both native and ex-pats, were horrified at the notion. Turns out that cooking pasta in a smaller quantity of water is a fairly common technique but not one that has gained mainstream popularity – yet! I get a sense that is changing though; I have noticed of late that some TV chefs are now promoting this process so the idea is gaining some traction. I for one have whole heartedly adopted the less water method. The resulting pasta water is thick, tasty and luxurious. And even though the cooking process needs a bit more attention I do think it is well worth the effort.

Short pasta will be completely submerged in the relatively low volume of water and cook evenly. For long pasta I recommend cooking it in a wide, shallow pan such as a skillet that allows it to lay flat and be completely submerged.

Incidentally, using a relatively small amount of water to cook commercially produced dry pasta is fine but not so much for fresh pasta. That is much more absorbent than dried pasta and the nature of fresh pasta is such that it will go mushy by the time the water comes back to a boil. So, a little more water is needed when cooking your lovingly crafted fettuccini.

And what about salting the water? If you add a lot of salt to the relatively small amount of water so the water ‘tastes like the sea’, the pasta and subsequent pasta water will be inedibly over salted. With less water you need proportionately less salt. For our 1 lb (500g) of pasta in 6 cups (1.5 L) of water I would recommend starting with 1 1/2 Tsp of salt, especially if you plan to use some of the pasta water in your sauce.

Oil in the water?

Many cooks will tell you to add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to the pasta cooking water. The conventional wisdom being that adding the oil helps to prevent the pasta from sticking together when it is drained. I am here to tell you it does not!

In the first place, oil floats on the water while the pasta is submerged in it so they don’t actually come in contact with each other. In the second place, the sticky starchy surface of the cooked pasta lets the sauce stick to it and any oil that does get on the pasta makes a slick coating that prevents the sauce from sticking.

I did an experiment where I cooked two batches of pasta (penne rigate) at the same time; one in a pot of plain salted water and the other in salted water with olive oil. I drained the pastas and tasted them. I got an impression that the one cooked with oil had a slightly silkier texture than the one cooked without oil. But how could that be? During cooking the oil didn’t touch the pasta. I reasoned that while the pasta was being drained some of the oil may have coated the pasta. However, I don’t want a silky texture on the surface of the pasta because the sauce won’t stick! So, oil is out.

When is pasta done?

Italians like to cook their pasta ‘al dente’ which means, to the tooth. In other words, it shouldn’t be cooked to soft mush. But al dente doesn’t mean undercooked either. There is that sweet spot when the pasta is just cooked through but not soft. That is to say, it should offer some resistance as you bite it but it shouldn’t stick to your teeth.

And how do you know when pasta is cooked al dente?

There is only one sure way to know and that is to taste it! The cooking time suggested on the package is only a guideline. A number of variables will affect the actual cooking time, such as how much water is in the pot, how much pasta, the heat output of the stove burner, for example. About 2 minutes short of the cooking time suggested on the package, start tasting the pasta. Fish out a piece and bite into it. You may see, at its core, a little white uncooked pasta and it will feel sticky on your teeth. After another minute, try again. Keep tasting until it is just cooked through but still has some texture then drain immediately to stop the cooking process. And never, ever rinse cooked pasta (unless you are using it for a cold pasta salad). You want the surface of the pasta to be sticky so the sauce will adhere to it.

Except…

Now, all that being said, often times pastas are finished cooking in their sauces. In that case you would drain the pasta at about 80% done, add it to the pan sauce and finish cooking it there (or, conversely, put the pasta back in the pot it was cooked in and add the sauce to the pasta). As the pasta finishes cooking it will absorb the sauce as it did the water, further flavoring the otherwise bland pasta. And because the pasta absorbs some of the saue, always, always save a cup or two of the starchy pasta water before you drain it. The pan sauce may dry out a bit after you add the pasta and adding some of the flavorful cooking water is a good way thin it out while the starches give the sauce a silky, unctuous texture.

Fresh Pasta

Fresh pasta is a whole other proposition. At home it is most often made with regular white flour and eggs. In Italy the flour of choice is sold as Type ’00’ flour. The ’00’ designation is a measure of how finely the flour is ground, not how strong it is and actually Type ’00’ flour for pasta is made from a soft (low protein) flour. I am fortunate to have ready access to Type ’00’ flour which I often use but if I run out I just use regular all purpose (plain) flour for my home made pasta and that works well enough, although the texture is a bit more chewy.

Dried pasta will keep almost indefinitely while fresh will last only a few days, even in the fridge, although after it is cut/shaped it can be frozen for a couple of moths.

Cooking fresh pasta is the same as cooking dried except that the cooking time is much faster. Spaghetti will cook in about 90 seconds compared to 10 minutes for its dried relative. Stuffed pastas will take only about 3 minutes.

So, there you have it. Just a brief treatise on pasta and how to cook it the right way.

In a nutshel…

• Cook the pasta in a copious amount of generously salted water. Or cook it in a much smaller quantity of water with proportionately less salt.
• The less water you use the more starchy it will be and better for finishing pan sauces.
• Do not overcook the pasta so it becomes mushy. Start taste testing it about 2 minutes before the packet instructions say it’s done. Continue cooking and tasting until it is just done ‘al dente’.
• If you plan to finish the pasta in a sauce, stop cooking about 2 minutes before it is done. Add it to the sauce where it will finish cooking and absorb the sauce flavor.
• Always save a cup or two of pasta cooking water before draining the pasta. Use it to thin out the sauce if necessary after you add the pasta.
• No oil in the pasta cooking water, please! And never rinse the pasta after draining it. You want the sticky, starchy surface to hold the sauce.