The Physics of Cooking Dried Pasta: Methods Old and New

[Duvel]

38 minutes ago, rotuts said:

My original thought was that

 

a book , that understands Pasta , should understand all and newer methods of cooking

 

said pasta .

 

no more , no less.

Are you making a pitch for Modernist Pasta ?!

[rotuts]

@Duvel

 

Insightful .

 

That is , however a good idea 

 

Soooo 

 

@Duvel

 

you are now Charged w AnyThing  MC has said 

 

about the Various , New ??  So old , its just as good 

 

for the Pasta , On my plate

 

Soon . 

 

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

Maybe as fast as the Fasta!

 

Faster than the Fasta?

[gfweb]

I use a smallish volume of water. Enough so the pasta can swim and swell but no more.

 

A small volume concentrates the starch so that sauce addition is more effective and doesn't dilute it too much.

[Maison Rustique]

Not to step into the middle of the debate/arguments, but my microwave in both houses is over the range. I would find it very difficult to reach up to remove anything with a significant amount of hot water/food without spilling or dropping it.

[weinoo]

2 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

Not to step into the middle of the debate/arguments, but my microwave in both houses is over the range. I would find it very difficult to reach up to remove anything with a significant amount of hot water/food without spilling or dropping it.

yeah, that would be a pretty terrible idea.

[Honkman]

6 hours ago, rotuts said:

they do not have anything to do with a discussion on how one might cook pasta .

I think it is relevant because why would any author include a cooking method which is known to have a potential negative health impact. In addition, in many countries outside of the US (especially Europe) microwaves are still seen as an inferior cooking approach and so any author who uses it as one of the key ways to cook pasta would have a significant credibility issue

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, Honkman said:

I think it is relevant because why would any author include a cooking method which is known to have a potential negative health impact.

You mean like deep-frying, open flame grilling, broiling, serving stuff raw, ..?

 

 

[haresfur]

I thought the newish trend in cooking pasta was to use minimal water to maximise the starch and to encorporate that into the sauce, since the old style draining the pasta and putting the sauce on at the table is apparently a sin now.

 

I  think draining pasta has its place as does dripping starchy water into the pan.

 

Even if I am using tongs to transfer pasta into the sauce, draining keeps the remaining stuff from overcooking and I nearly always cook extra to use another day.

[weinoo]

8 hours ago, haresfur said:

I thought the newish trend in cooking pasta was to use minimal water to maximise the starch and to encorporate that into the sauce, since the old style draining the pasta and putting the sauce on at the table is apparently a sin now.

 

I'm pretty sure that in Italy they've been using the pasta water,  in certain sauces, for a long time.  And I don't recall ever seeing a plate of pasta with sauce dumped on top when dining in Italy; the pasta is always mixed with the sauce before plating.

[rotuts]

1)  I cook my linguini in the Fasta

 

2) After draining , and saving the pasta water ( 1 cup )  I plate the pasta in  a warm dish w sides

 

3) Immediately add the tomato jus // then the beaten egg , mix.  Then add the EVOO//butter  .  Mix again

 

4) then add the tomato/spinach  or Pork ragu .  the cheese

 

looks like this :

 

 

eats like this 

 

 

as tasty as tasty can be.

 

But its not Italian .

 

there are more that one way to skin that Pasta that are not Italian , but many stared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

@rotuts, it sounds like you've developed a “build it in the bowl” method that works really well for you with Fasta-cooked linguine.
Maybe the Fasta people would be interested in commissioning you to write a cookbook featuring their product?  Sell it!

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin

 

you bet !

 

the worlds only two page cookbook :

 

page 1 : Linguini a la Campari 

 

page 2 : Linguini a la Pork 'iPot' Ragu.

 

Fasta would send me DelCecco linguini for life

 

and cover any tariffs on Campari tomatoes.

Edited October 10 by rotuts (log)

[haresfur]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

I'm pretty sure that in Italy they've been using the pasta water,  in certain sauces, for a long time.  And I don't recall ever seeing a plate of pasta with sauce dumped on top when dining in Italy; the pasta is always mixed with the sauce before plating.

 

I certainly do recall from the 1960s/1970s. But I admit my recall of that time period may be fuzzy. I have a memory of spaghetti with sauce on top and the waiter putting the parmisian on top with a heavy hand and a flourish. 

 

I think people tend to go quickly from "what we do now" to "this is how we have always done it" ymmv

 

eta: and I wasn't necessarily referring only to what they do in Italy, but old style, what my parents always did. I actually often like having a bit of variety between forkfulls of past with sauce and forkfuls without for some dishes. I'm probably in the minority on that one.

Edited October 10 by haresfur (log)

[weinoo]

21 hours ago, haresfur said:

I certainly do recall from the 1960s/1970s. But I admit my recall of that time period may be fuzzy.

 

For some reason, my recall of that time period is a bit hazy as well.

 

I'm sure there were places, here as well as maybe in Italy, where the plate and dump was done. It's just not classically how it is handled.

[Ddanno]

Should have called the thread "Let's start a war with Italy" 😁

[TdeV]

On 10/10/2025 at 9:51 AM, haresfur said:

I actually often like having a bit of variety between forkfuls of pasta with sauce and forkfuls without for some dishes. I'm probably in the minority on that one.

 

Nope. Me too.

[Pete Fred]

I rarely eat pasta but have recently been on a cacio e pepe trip after noticing that my local supermarket started carrying the bronze die pasta that @weinoo mentioned, with its starch enhancing benefits. A couple of Serious Eats articles I read are nothing new-new, but speak to this subject. And re-reading them just now, I'm curious to give the pre-soaking method a go. (The original Ideas in Food blog is now closed, but 1-minute pasta is discussed here, as well as a couple of other hacks.)

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, Pete Fred said:

but 1-minute pasta is discussed here, as well as a couple of other hacks.)

Thank you for some really interesting articles. We're having pasta tonight and I'm going to try the pre soak. I've been cooking pasta in just a small amount of water for years. And once it comes to a boil and I add the pasta, I always turn the heat down. Never had any complaints.

But it never hurts to learn something new.

[weinoo]

I guess I just find it hard to fathom how people are looking for ways to make the ultimate convenience food even more convenient.

 

just suck on the stuff out of the box while eating a tomato if you’re so pressed for time. Imagine all the cleanup you’ll save!

[Tropicalsenior]

20 minutes ago, weinoo said:

just suck on the stuff out of the box while eating a tomato if you’re so pressed for time. Imagine all the cleanup you’ll save

In my case it's not a matter of saving time. At my age I've got all the time in the world but I never know for sure when my housemate, Carlos, will be home for dinner. His hours aren't exactly 9:00 to 5:00. I can make pasta sauce that will hold with time but if I make pasta ahead of time it gets mushy and I don't like it, nor does he. I've tried it the restaurant way by cooking it partially and finishing it in boiling water but that doesn't work with all pasta shapes. Using a smaller amount of water worked because it took less time to come to a boil. The pre-soak sounds like it will be even less time perhaps with better results. I'll let you know.

[rotuts]

for me :

 

1 )  put the pasta in a convenient ( size , weight , storage site ) lightweight container.

 

2 ) add the tap water to a previously determined ( by experiment ) mark .

 

3 ) add salt .

 

4 ) push a button .  when the ' cooker ' beeps , pasta is done .  reviewing :  done perfectly .

 

5 ) gain weight deliciously .

 

Edited October 12 by rotuts (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

3 hours ago, rotuts said:

push a button .  when the ' cooker ' beeps , pasta is done .  reviewing :  done perfectly .

Thanks rotus, but that method probably wouldn't always work for me because usually my microwave is otherwise occupied when I'm finishing dinner.

As I said, we were having pasta tonight, noodles, so I gave the pre-soak method a try. I soaked them in the pan that I was going to be cooking them in for 90 minutes in salted water. Turned the burner to high and brought it to a boil. It immediately foamed up. So I turned it to medium and cooked them for 2 minutes. I turned the burner off for 2 minutes and removed them with a spider. They were perfect.

I need to add that the only pasta that I can get here are local brands that are certainly not Gourmet pasta. So for it to work so well with mediocre pasta it should do great with the more pricey element.

Thanks @Pete Fred.