How to Boil Pasta
Boil some pasta, open a jar of spaghetti sauce, and you have the quintessential meal for an American 20-year-old.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- salt
- pasta
- olive oil
- Groceries
- A Large Pots
- Colanders
- Slotted Spoons
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-
1
Fill a large pot 3/4 full with cold water.
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2
Place the pot on the stove and turn the burner to High.
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3
Wait for the water to boil, then add 1 to 2 tsp. salt, depending on how much pasta you're making.
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4
Add the desired amount of pasta and stir it around.
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5
Return the water to a boil.
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6
Cook for as long as the package instructs. Stir occasionally so the pasta doesn't stick to itself.
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7
To test when the pasta is done, taste it at the earliest time indicated on the package. It should be tender but still firm to the bite ("al dente," which means "to the tooth" in Italian). If you can still see a little ring of uncooked pasta in the center of the noodle, it needs another minute or so. But it will continue to cook a little after you remove it from the stove, so keep that in mind.
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8
When the pasta is done, remove the pot from the burner immediately and carefully pour the contents into a colander in the sink.
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9
Shake any excess water free over the sink.
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10
If you want, use a couple of drops of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking; but if you're saucing the pasta, you really don't need to.
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11
Serve immediately.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Pasta should boil in plenty of water. If you're cooking one serving, you might be able to get away with a 2-quart pot for a short, tubular pasta, but most of the time, you'll want at least a 4-quart pot and probably larger, especially if you're making a whole box of long, thin pasta such as spaghetti.
The salt adds taste to the pasta, but you can omit it if you like. It doesn't affect the boiling time.
Check the package directions to determine specific serving sizes; different sizes and shapes of pasta make different amounts when cooked.
Steam can burn you, so be careful when draining the pasta; stand a little to one side as you pour, and keep your body and face back.
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Comments
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Point number 3 is also incorrect. The amount of salt is *not* proportional to the amount of pasta! It's only proportional to the amount of water used.
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thatsnottrue
Feb 06, 2009
The second tip is absolutely wrong and backwards. The point of the salt is that it changes the boiling temperature of the water and makes it hotter at the boiling point. Since the salt dissolves in the water, and since you don't fully saturate the water with salt, you will not taste the salt. But the pasta will cook better at a higher temperature, which cannot be achieved by simply turning the stove on higher. That will just cause the water to boil faster, not hotter. The temperature of a boiling liquid is constant no matter how much heat is applied to it, the heat affecting only the amount of time it takes the water to go from liquid to gas. Only adding impurities can alter the boiling temperature.
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thatsnottrue
Feb 06, 2009
The second tip is absolutely wrong and backwards. The point of the salt is that it changes the boiling temperature of the water and makes it hotter at the boiling point. Since the salt dissolves in the water, and since you don't fully saturate the water with salt, you will not taste the salt. But the pasta will cook better at a higher temperature, which cannot be achieved by simply turning the stove on higher. That will just cause the water to boil faster, not hotter. The temperature of a boiling liquid is constant no matter how much heat is applied to it, the heat affecting only the amount of time it takes the water to go from liquid to gas. Only adding impurities can alter the boiling temperature.
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Aug 08, 2006
It is best to use rock salt in the boiling water. It is a lot easier to get the amount just right. Plus that's how everyone in Italy does it, so there must be complex hidden advantages.
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Aug 08, 2006
My Italian grandmother used an amazing trick to test if the spaghetti is ready to eat (pasta al dente). While cooking, she used to take a piece of spaghetti from the boiling water and threw it to the wall (tile or cement wall, doesn't matter). If the spaghetti sticks to the wall, the pasta is ready. If the spaghetti falls on the floor, it needs more cooking.
