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Why not break pasta?


mcsheffrey

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I've heard plenty of times that when cooking dried pasta you should never break the pasta prior to putting it in the pot. Is there any logical reason for this? I've searched the Internet and found references to "Don't do it!" but nothing that gives any rationale.

Every other piece of advice regarding cooking pasta makes sense, and I would assume that after millions (billions?) of people cooking pasta for hundreds of years the conventional wisdom would be true.

Can anyone prove or disprove this theory?

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I've been in many households where breaking spaghetti (or linguine, etc.) in half is standard operating procedure. I suppose the theory is that it makes it easier to eat? Or maybe it's because the pot is too small? In any event, I can't imagine that there's any actual harm in breaking the pasta. It's not like the insides of the pasta ooze out when you break it, or some aromas escape or the friendly pasta spirits take flight. I assume the anti-breakage position is more of an aesthetic one. I can certainly understand cutting spaghetti up for a child, but grownups should just learn how to eat the stuff. Not to mention, if you need to break pasta to fit it in the pot then you're surely using too small of a pot.

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What is your reasoning for wanting to break pasta?

So it wil fit in the pot! Especially if I am only cooking for one or two and don't want to heat a quadilliozon gallons of water. :biggrin:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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If you are cooking for one, you can use a wider pot, just put in less water. Also, even if it doesn't fit in the pot at first, after 15 seconds, you can just push it down with your hands. The pasta in the water will have softened up by then. Lastly, watch the Good Eats episode on boiling water for pasta. You want lots of salted water.

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I find it much more difficult to eat broken spaghetti. The pasta doesn't seem to bind into a solid mass nearly as well when twirling it. I usually just end up with spaghetti on my fork that is falling all over the place, and there are double the number of ends sticking out. And isn't the fun of spaghetti the twirling as much as the eating?

I usually just put the pasta in and then push it down as it becomes flexible after about 30 seconds.

That said, if you don't have the above difficulties go for it, the pasta will still have the same texture/flavour as the unbroken.

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Isn't it common Italy to break spaghetti and other long pasta into small pieces for soups?

When you store lots of pasta you get pieces that break. These broken pieces get collected, and when you get enough they go into soup, they come from a variety of shapes. However you wouldn't break your pasta just to put it in soup.

Edited for spelling.

Edited by jvalentino (log)
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In China, noodles represent long life. One eats a bowl of noodles on one's birthday. I should think that breaking the noodles in half would represent truncating your own life.

Yeah, my mom told me about the symbolism in noodles when I was younger, along with the fish and the color red, etc etc. Even though her parents believed more in fire-and-brimstone Christianity than anything, those traditional beliefs still managed to stick in her consciousness, so I heard about them too. I've never liked the idea of breaking noodles, and I think it's a result of that knowledge. I even mentioned the long-life symbolism to my boyfriend, who subsequently stopped breaking them as well. :raz:

I don't care if other people break them, though. Not that I don't value your longevity. :wink:

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In China, noodles represent long life. One eats a bowl of noodles on one's birthday. I should think that breaking the noodles in half would represent truncating your own life.

Yeah, my mom told me about the symbolism in noodles when I was younger, along with the fish and the color red, etc etc. Even though her parents believed more in fire-and-brimstone Christianity than anything, those traditional beliefs still managed to stick in her consciousness, so I heard about them too. I've never liked the idea of breaking noodles, and I think it's a result of that knowledge. I even mentioned the long-life symbolism to my boyfriend, who subsequently stopped breaking them as well. :raz:

I don't care if other people break them, though. Not that I don't value your longevity. :wink:

Yup yup.

If they are long, they are meant to be long and should stay that way.

Plus, I like slurping them up.

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I find it much more difficult to eat broken spaghetti.  The pasta doesn't seem to bind into a solid mass nearly as well when twirling it.  I usually just end up with spaghetti on my fork that is falling all over the place, and there are double the number of ends sticking out.  And isn't the fun of spaghetti the twirling as much as the eating?

Ah ha, so another difference is eating style. I don't twirl my noodles, I just slurp them up Chinese style -- I'll even use chopsticks if I'm at home. With the slurping style, I do think it's a little easier to eat broken noodles, but I don't mind slurping and biting off what I can't fit in one bite.

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As it turns out, there was a thread a while back on this same subject, which you can see here.

My thoughts are much the same now as they were then:

The main thing about breaking pasta is that it ruins the textural element that is created by the long strands.  If long strand pasta was meant to be eaten in short little pieces, it would have been manufactured that way.

Besides, regular mass-produced strand dry pasta is only what, a foot long?  No reason to make it any shorter.  I have some artisinal dry pasta that is around 4 feet long!

One needs only to learn how to properly twirl and eat long strand pasta, and there is no reason to break it in half (as others have pointed out, if you're cooking only one serving's worth you can always boil it in a sauté pan or, if using a small saucepan, simply wait a few seconds for the bottom half of the pasta to sufficiently soften and push the rest of the pasta under the water).

--

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As it turns out, there was a thread a while back on this same subject, which you can see here.

So there was an old thread...I wonder how I missed it? Oh well, thanks for all the feedback. I personally don't really feel a need to break pasta but that was always how it was done in my family. Probably just a tradition that started when no sizeable pot was available.

Edited by mcsheffrey (log)
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My guess is that breaking pasta is a practice that developed out of two things:

1. A wish to cook the pasta in far to little salted water; and

2. Not understanding how to properly twirl pasta around the fork.

#2 isn't rocket science, but a surprising (to me, anyway) number of people have trouble with it. However, there may be a kind of vicious circle at work, because broken-short pasta is more difficult to twirl which might incline one towards more of a "scooping" fork technique, which would then favor shorter pasta.

--

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