What Are The Most Common Pasta Cooking Mistakes?
Introduction
Traditionally, cooking techniques would be passed down through generations, and in the case of pasta, some outrageous theories have been allowed to rumble on unchallenged. Here, we're picking apart the top 20 mistakes people make when cooking pasta, blow by blow.
1.) Choosing the cheap stuff
Everyone loves saving on their grocery bill, but we always recommend premium pasta if your budget allows. The ingredients won't necessarily be of higher quality, but the producers of the pricer stuff will almost always have dried it slowly and made it with superior equipment to ensure the sauce sticks to the pasta better.
2.) Thinking that fresh is better than dried
We know that fresh is king in virtually all areas of food, but contrary to popular belief, fresh pasta is not necessarily better than dried; it's just different. We generally prefer the texture of dried linguine to its fresh counterpart, while we wouldn't be seen dead buying dried tortellini.
3.) Not measuring how much pasta you're using
Little pasta shapes like orzo can be cooked, chilled, and added to salads with great results, but once you've mixed your pesto with your pasta, there's no going back. You can refrigerate those leftovers, and they'll be perfectly safe to eat the next day, but the texture changes when you reheat pesto-pasta dishes. Ensure you're following our portion size recommendation, and you won't have loads of leftover pasta to throw away.
4.) Choosing the size of your pot for the wrong reasons
Traditional wisdom is to use the largest pot you can find and cook your noodles in the largest amount of water possible. The reasoning is that smaller pans will take longer to get back to a rolling boil, and your pasta will cook unevenly, become sticky, and be overly starchy. J. Kenji López-Alt has debunked every one of these myths in his seminal book, The Food Lab. So, moving forward, use however much water you want, although we agree with Kenji and favour less over more.
5.) Not salting your pasta water
Forgetting to salt your pasta water is considered the most heinous crime among Italian cooks. Pasta naturally doesn't contain salt, so it's important to season it through the cooking process, or your dish will taste bland. We opt for a 0.5% salt-to-water ratio, but everyone has their preference. There is, however, one myth that has got to go, however poetic or romantic it may sound. Pasta cooked in water "as salty as the sea" is gross.
6.) Blindly following what your pack of pasta tells you
We never look at the "instructions" on our dried or fresh pasta packs. Most of the time, the advice is way off the mark, and we much prefer trusting our intuition.
7.) Adding pasta to the water too early
Don't be tempted to try and speed up your dinner by adding your pasta to the pot before the water has come to a rolling boil. Those effervescent bubbles ensure your pasta cooks without sticking or settling on the bottom.
8.) Over or undercooking your pasta
Everyone is encouraged to aim for al dente ("to the tooth") when cooking pasta. This basically means your pasta still has some resistance and is neither crunchy nor soft. We leave these rules at the door and eat our pasta with whatever texture we feel like.
9.) Not stirring your pasta regularly
There's nothing more disappointing than having your lovely pasta ribbons stick together like glue. To avoid this, keep the water moving, especially in the first couple of minutes.
10.) Adding oil to the water
We don't know where this ridiculous recommendation came from, but cooks have repeatedly proved it unnecessary. Indeed, coating your pasta in a little bit of oil after cooking can help prevent the noodles from sticking to each other, but that also means it will stop your sauce from sticking to the pasta, making it pointless!
11.) Flinging pasta against a wall to see if it's ready
Yet another pasta recommendation that makes absolutely no sense is to throw some pasta against a wall to see if it sticks. Is your kitchen wall better at taste-tasting than your own mouth? Trust your abilities; try a little and see whether you like the texture.
12.) Not saving some of the starchy cooking water
As pasta cooks, it releases some of its starch, resulting in starchy pasta water. Despite being murky and unappetising, this stuff is liquid gold. Add a little of this water to your pesto or pasta sauce, and you'll end up with a beautifully silky, emulsified sauce that sticks brilliantly to your pasta.
13.) Rinsing your pasta after cooking
This is another pasta myth we'll never understand. Starch is your friend, so washing it off is ruining your dish, not improving it.
14.) Snapping spaghetti in half
We know that when you put spaghetti in a pan of boiling water, the pasta is half in, half out. Therefore, people think their spaghetti will cook unevenly, so they snap their pasta in half. It only takes about 20 seconds for your spaghetti to have given up some resistance for you to get the whole lot submerged. Most importantly of all, though, spaghetti is the length it is for a good reason. Try twirling your half-length spaghetti around your fork and having a satisfying mouthful. Chances are, you won't. If you want short pasta, buy short pasta!
15.) Pairing your sauce with the wrong shape
We're more relaxed about shape pairing than many foodies, but it is true that using different pasta shapes for pesto than you do with tomato-based sauces will make a very tangible difference to the overall enjoyment of your meal.
16.) Cooking different shapes or brands in the same pot
We're ashamed to admit that as broke students if we didn't have enough pasta left in our already open bag, we'd open a new bag and mix them to save those all-important pennies. We may not have mixed the same brand, let alone the same shape. The results were appalling, with half our supper tough and the other half mushy. We feel miserable just thinking about it.
17.) Serving pasta with too much sauce
However much you love your favourite pesto or pasta sauce, drowning your pasta in the sauce is downright uncouth. See our recommended pesto-to-pasta ratios here.
18.) Plonking the sauce on top rather than mixing through
Admittedly, we don't see this much nowadays, but if you look at stock images of pasta, you'll often find a big bowl of pasta with a dollop of sauce on top. Please stir your pasta with the sauce before serving.
19.) Leaving your pasta standing around
In most scenarios, you should serve pasta immediately. Letting it sit around will lead to a lukewarm meal and increase the chances of the pasta sticking to itself. If you grate some Parmesan on top, you also want the noodles to be hot enough to melt the cheese slightly.
20.) Using pre-grated cheese
This one's simple, pre-grated cheeses are gross. They start losing their flavour as soon as they are grated, and producers prevent the cheese from clumping by adding all kinds of nasties. Just grate the cheese yourself; it isn't any great hardship.