Common pasta cooking myths debunked: Perfect your plate
Soft and flexible pasta tastes great even without sauce. It's not true that adding good ingredients can save overcooked spaghetti. Often, weak pasta can ruin the entire dish. So, it's worth remembering a few simple tips to achieve perfection.
25 October 2024 13:38
Cooking pasta seems like the easiest task in the world. Consequently, there’s no shortage of experts who offer advice such as, "To prevent pasta from sticking, add a tablespoon of oil to the water." This is one of the most frequently repeated myths. Oil added during cooking will always float to the top and won't improve sticky strands. The most crucial factor is the correct proportions.
Why does pasta stick?
Pasta sticks because it contains starch, which starts sticking when cooked in hot water. Wheat pasta contains about 60-70 percent starch, so it's not surprising that it’s most prone to sticking.
Extra caution is needed with regular wheat pasta that includes egg additives. The strands you usually cook for broth are very thin and delicate, so even a delay of thirty seconds can have disastrous results.
Less sticky durum wheat
Today, most pasta is made from durum wheat, which is harder and contains more gluten than white wheat. Gluten is responsible for the elasticity of the strands, so this pasta – even if cooked a little longer than recommended on the package – should not turn into mush. Durum wheat pasta has a distinct yellow colour.
Cooking pasta – 3 most common mistakes
Too little water – the ideal proportions are 100 grams of pasta per 1 litre of water. To ensure accuracy, it's wise to use a kitchen scale.
Cold water – you might be adding the pasta before the water in the pot is simmering. It's worth waiting. The longer the pasta remains in the water, the more it releases a sticky substance.
Exceeded cooking time – it's important to adhere to the time recommended for cooking pasta al dente, especially if you plan to mix it with olive oil or sauce, which will soften it slightly more.
How to save sticky pasta?
Everyone sometimes exceeds the recommended cooking time or hastily adds a few extra strands. Fortunately, there are simple tricks to save sticky pasta, provided it hasn't turned into complete mush yet.
You can pour the drained pasta with oil – only then does this trick make sense. Mixing pasta with sauce also works. We do not recommend rinsing spaghetti with water. Italians never do that.
