Here are some useful tips to help you make and prepare pasta to have a better meal experience.
Adding Salt to Pasta
- General rule of thumb for one pound of dry pasta
- ~ 4 quarts of cold water
- 2 TBL of non-iodine salt – for example Kosher salt
- Heat water to a rapid boil and then add salt. Once water returns to a rapid boil, add the pasta. If you add the salt before water boils, you risk pitting your pot as the salt settles to the bottom and reacts with the metal base. Use cold water because it won’t have all the yucky minerals and other deposits from your hot water heater.
Helping Sauce Stick to Pasta
The technique for getting sauce to stick to pasta is called emulsification and is about they way you cook the pasta and introduce the sauce. The trick is to balance fat, with starch and acid.
- Prepare your sauce.
- Boil heavily salted water in a pot.
- Cook pasta until al dente, i.e., a bit underdone. The pasta will finish in the sauce.
- Drain pasta, but reserve at a cup of the hot starchy water. This water contains gluten, which is glue.
- Pour 1/2 cup sauce in the empty pasta pot and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add 1/2 TBL of butter to the sauce and stir constantly. Repeat four times (adding 2 TBL).
- Add back rest of sauce and stir vigorously.
- Add back drained pasta and mix vigorously to further emulsify the sauce with the pasta starches.
Note: If sauce is too thick you can add back reserved pasta water, a little at a time. If sauce is too thin, let cook excess liquid off. You can also add grated Parmesan cheese to thicken.
