I think these people are wrong. I like my pasta thoroughly cooked, but not to the mushy state of, say, canned spaghetti. I like to know I'm eating pasta and not cream of wheat.

Timing pasta at this altitude can be a little dicey, especially when it's non wheat pasta, because water boils at 200F and everything tends to take a bit longer.

Last edited Sun Dec 23, 2012, 01:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Us too!!!!!!!

No way to the "al dente" stuff...I choke and gag, when I hear all the "cooking talking-heads" on Food Network, etc. saying
to remove the pasta BEFORE the cooking time is up.

Uh....NO!

I've had it "to the bite" in restaurants and hate it.

LOVE you bringing this up.

not just coat the outside of it. I guess I just don't have a sophisticated palate.

are:
1) pasta was coated with oil in the water (and thus repels infusion of sauce) or
2) Left to rinse, and cooled off, before being introduced to the sauce; what happens is that the pasta closes over and doesn't accept the sauce.

For best results, no oil in the water (pasta shouldnt stick if you stir it properly), and then drain it (don't run it under cold water) the within the first minute introduce it to the sauce and stir it well enough that it's fully covered.

Otherwise, in either case, the sauce just slides off the pasta.

Box time + a couple of minutes.

it's best straight out of the box like a cracker. The Chinese invented noodles 3,000 years before there was an Italy, and they like 'em well cooked.

"Al dente" is Italian for "sticks in the teeth."

So true.

Pasta will continue to cook even after you remove it from the water and if you toss it immediately after draining with a hot sauce (which you should), it will continue to cook even more. If you cook pasta until it is done throughout in the pot, it will be overly done once it is served.

To test the pasta, what I do is take a piece out of the pot, cut it, and the cross section will reveal how close to being done it is.

I cut into a piece of pasta to see if the middle is done. If it's not I boil the stuff longer. I want to eat pasta - not choke on it.