If you want the pasta not to get sticky, rinse it with cold water to stop the cooking process.

On edit: By all means, salt the water liberally when you add pasta to the water. Doesn't have to be sea salt -- any salt will do.

...do so after cooking. It won't do you a damned bit of good in the water.

while cooking, the oil on the top of the water is good to reduce boil overs. It doesn't do anything else however. The oil stays on the top of the water and then is poured out first. All it really does is make the colander greasy.

I never knew a single, solitary Italian who put oil in the water. Ever.

Salt, yes. Oil, never.

The oil will coat the pasta and ruin it. You want your sauce to absorb into the pasta slightly. That can't happen with a barrier on the pasta.

For some stupid reason I thought the oil softened the pasta slightly and made it absorb the sauce.

Thanks. Honest.

I add a little garlic powder to the water as well. Yes? No?

My ex-Wife's parents emigrated from Italy, and Sunday Dinners at their house were like dying and going to Heaven. Mama P's sauce was made with beef neck bones and the neck bones were served on the side. That wasn't my favorite meal to eat there though, it was the Saturday Linguini and Clams. I wish I could remember how to say it in Italian. Papa P made that. I swear the clams melted in your mouth... And the Pasta e fagioli was to die for. Mama P explained to me it was a poor man's dinner. I never saw it that way.

Thanks for the oil thing. No more oil in the water.

toss in the pot was a fair amount of salt.

All of the other seasonings happened with (what some Italian Americans call) "the gravy"--or if the sauce was oil based (a little oil in the pan, maybe a chopped tomato, a bit of fresh garlic, a sardine or two if you were brave and bold) they'd throw in a bit of the slightly undercooked pasta into the "gravy"/sauce, whiz it around in the pan w/the mixture, dump it in the bowl, and tear a bit of basil and scatter that on top. Basta cosi!

Linguine vongole is probably what you remember--good stuff. Mussels and pasta is another "to die for" IMO! And pasta e fagioli is one of my favorites as well--everyone makes it a bit differently, but it's all good....

That old wives' tale has been repeated so often that is is accepted as truth. The oil is on top of the water. The oil is poured out of the kettle and does not coat the pasta.

Only Americans use "strainers." Or "colanders." Or dump their pasta in a piece of FSM Headgear in the sink.

Italians use tongs or a small scoop w/holes in it (for things like penne, e.g.) and take a clump of pasta and mix it with sauce in the pan.

The pasta doesn't leave the water until it's combined with the 'gravy.' There is no problem of "clumping" this way. It goes from water to sauce immediately, and it is slightly undercooked when it transitions. It is warmed in the sauce to finish it, and more sauce, if needed or appropriate to the recipe, is added on top.

I too make Italian Sunday Gravy (wife's family is Italian) but I also make pasta in other menus where it is poured out of the kettle.

However, most of the people posting here are not Italians in Italy. I would guees that most of th people posting here pour their pasta through a colander in the sink.

I think it's what causes all that starchy sticking.

Even when cooking for twenty people, I always saw the nonna use the tongs!

There would be two pots of sauce working, one to mix with the pasta, and one for the topping if need be!

The way they handled boil over was to use a very large and high pot which didn't have too much water in it--that made it harder to boil over. One of my domestic culinary gurus swore by the wooden spoon across the top of the pot to prevent overboil. Might have been a wive's tale, but the thing never boiled over!

Of course, most times, they made their own pasta--it spent very little time in the pot!

Always butter!

I kid around... A little bit of salt mostly.

Sometimes we don't all make it to the table at the same time.

Prevents sticking and also adds a nice flavor.

Otherwise you may end up with spaghetti clumps. They were my favorite when I was a kid, but now they make for a less than elegant presentation.

Just good pasta.