Saving/Reusing Pasta water

[Shalmanese]

I've been making a lot of fresh pasta recently and a lot of my recipes involve using pasta cooking water in the sauce. In restaurants, the same batch of water is used to make multiple batches of pasta, leading to full bodied pasta cooking water and superior sauces. I've taken to trying to replicate this effect at home by reusing pasta cooking water.

I keep a half gallon tupperware container of pasta cooking water in my fridge. When it comes time to cook pasta, I'll add the water + another half gallon of fresh water to a large pot on the stove and bring it to the boil for at least a minute and use it to cook about a lb of fresh pasta. Instead of draining in a colander, I use a spider to scoop out the pasta and dump it directly in the sauce (bringing some cooking water along with it). I leave the water on the stove until it's cooled down to room temperature, then strain half a gallon of it back into the container, discarding the rest. I then add enough salt such that, when re-diluted, it'll be at the appropriate salinity to cook pasta next time. So far, I've been using the water at least once a week so I'm not too concerned about the food safety issues but I figure the excess salt buys some protection as well. Every time I've used it, I taste it beforehand and it's fresh and clean tasting but I assume if you're cooking pasta less than once a month, there may be issues with this approach.

Also, now that I have it around, it's been occasionally useful as an all-purpose light thickener when I want to add just a bit of body to a dish. Because it's so heavily salted, it needs to go in before the final seasoning adjustment but I've found it's actually really great in soups where it adds just that hint of thickness that gives it the mouthfeel of a stock based soup (at the expense of cloudiness).

Does anyone else regularly do this? What's been your experience?

[weinoo]

I don't, But Batali has always said that the pasta water at the end of a shift is the best due to how much starch is in it.

[rotuts]

if pasta water turns out to be useful for you, why not make a pot and freeze in ice-cube trays: save some energy, take the salt out of the equations and have the frozen cubes ready in a zip-lock bag.

Take a fair amount of your favorite pasta, don't use salt and not so much water. Over cook significantly.

Then grind up the pasta thats now soft in the Cuisinart, add back to the water and cook some more to get the maximum starch into the water. Strain, cool, freeze-cube and save? You then will have a delicate thickener with a mild semolina flavor ready at all times.

Edited April 24, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[jmolinari]

if pasta water turns out to be useful for you, why not make a pot and freeze in ice-cube trays: save some energy, take the salt out of the equations and have the frozen cubes ready in a zip-lock bag.

Take a fair amount of your favorite pasta, don't use salt and not so much water. Over cook significantly.

Then grind up the pasta thats now soft in the Cuisinart, add back to the water and cook some more to get the maximum starch into the water. Strain, cool, freeze-cube and save? You then will have a delicate thickener with a mild semolina flavor ready at all times.

that's an interesting idea...

[slkinsey]

That was my thinking as well: overboil semolina pasta in water, VitaPrep it into oblivion, strain out any chunks and freeze.

[rotuts]

Id re-simmer it after the chop-up as new surface would be exposed to the water. Id also not make it so smooth that it would be difficult to strain, unless you wanted something with very fine starch particles in it.

I can see this as very useful for traditional italian soups, especially minestrone.

[Shalmanese]

An update since I started doing this: I've fallen in love with this method. I've started using this as an all purpose blanching liquid. I've cooked pasta in it, cooked udon in it, blanched vegetables & cooked dumplings and the liquid is developing into a rather flavorful stock. Tonight, I was blanching some leeks before grilling and I threw the leek trimmings into the pot after the leeks were done. I previously never had the patience for the whole "save scraps in the freezer until you have enough to make stock" method but if I can just dump them into my blanching stock instead, it seems like a far more convenient way to take advantage of trimmings.

Summer is getting into full swing and much of the fantastic produce is best enhanced with just a quick blanch and so I anticipate this blanching liquid getting a lot of workout during the summer.

[Toliver]

You have stumbled upon what the Chinese have been doing for centuries: The Master Sauce (an eGullet discussion)

[Shalmanese]

I'm familiar with Lu Shui and the concept is somewhat similar but I don't think exactly equivalent.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I've oft read that there is good reason to save and reuse water you've cooked pasta in.     All kinds of uses suggested, from use in bread dough to watering plants.    Do you do this, and is so in what ways?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

No.

 

[Okanagancook]

We do not.

[gfweb]

nope. I may slop  a some into a sauce, but it doesn't do the thickening job that a restaurant's pasta water can do because it isn't as concentrated. More often I use cornstarch slurry .

 

That pasta water advice sounds like clickbait.

"10 surprising reasons to save used pasta water"

[Alex]

9 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I've oft read that there is good reason to save and reuse water you've cooked pasta in.     All kinds of uses suggested, from use in bread dough to watering plants.    Do you do this, and is so in what ways?

 

Could you provide some links about those uses? Thanks.

[Darienne]

Never.  We do have a pasta situation in our house.  I like it al dente and Ed likes it what I 'lovingly' call al mushe.

 

[ElsieD]

No, I don't.

[blue_dolphin]

I'll cook vegetables in the salted water BEFORE I cook the pasta and I reserve some water to add to a sauce but once it's served, the rest goes down the drain.  I don't want starchy, salty water on my plants!

 

 

[eugenep]

no but maybe broth from cooking beans sometimes (I just drink it bc of the yummy flavor) 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

6 hours ago, Alex said:

 

Could you provide some links about those uses? Thanks.

Needed to reGoogle, but here are a couple of opinion, some amusing, some straight.    https://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2013/02/how-long-can-you-keep-reusing-pasta-water.html 

[Toliver]

 

3 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Needed to reGoogle, but here are a couple of opinion, some amusing, some straight.    https://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2013/02/how-long-can-you-keep-reusing-pasta-water.html 

My first response to the original question is "Ewww.no." But in the comments section of you linked-to article, one person does bring up an exception which I also thought of:

Quote

According to my mother the street food hawkers in Thailand use the same pot of Looing Master Sauce for decades. It gets passed down from generation to generation. They just reboil it and add their pork and boiled eggs, and add water if the level gets too low.

The Master Sauce has been discussed in the Chinese forum before. It is reboiled for each use. It is filtered/strained after use and then stored in the refrigerator. If it doesn't get used shortly, it gets frozen and then eventually thawed for its next use. More of the original spices are added after a couple of uses of the sauce to reinvigorate it. 

So what's the difference in doing the same thing to pasta water?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

25 minutes ago, Toliver said:

 

 

The Master Sauce ...is reboiled for each use. It is filtered/strained after use and then stored in the refrigerator. If it doesn't get used shortly, it gets frozen and then eventually thawed for its next use.

 

LOL.    I never looked at my re-purposing in this light before.  

 

Husband is often frustrated that I can't recreate a dish he particularly enjoyed.    He doesn't understand that there is never exactly the same saved "sauce" in the refrigerator. 

[liuzhou]

43 minutes ago, Toliver said:

The Master Sauce has been discussed in the Chinese forum before. It is reboiled for each use. It is filtered/strained after use and then stored in the refrigerator. If it doesn't get used shortly, it gets frozen and then eventually thawed for its next use. More of the original spices are added after a couple of uses of the sauce to reinvigorate it. 

 

 

Yes, it is, but only in professional catering. I've never known it done at home, although  I suppose there is always the odd exception to everything.

However, 卤水 (lǔ shuǐ) aka "master sauce" is a complex blend of flavors which develop over time. Pasta water is just starch in water. Can't see any benefit of keeping that going for years or even days.

 

[heidih]

Agreed - Master Sauce = different animal. Pasra water - why & who has the fridge space?  On a busy night in a pasta driven restaurant perhaps biu otherwise seems bit goofy. 

[Shel_B]

Is it possible to safely save starchy pasta water, the water left over from cooking pasta?

 

I made some cacio e pepe earlier and the residual water left in the skillet was quit starchy. I can think of several instances where that additional water might be useful. Can it be saved in the fridge or the freezer?  Any idea for how long?

Edited April 28 by Shel_B
Clarity (log)

[gfweb]

Outside of immediate use in a sauce, I cant think of a use that for which it would be better than a little starch out of a can