8 ms·

Better-cooked spaghetti using a ruler and fundamental physical principles

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lqet 5y ago
I am at a point in my life where I can quite reliably tell whether pasta is ready by just stirring it in the water with a cooking spoon. I don't know what it is, they just "feel" ready, or they don't. I was exposed to considerable training data as a student. But I can only do this with "standard" pasta I regularly cook, that is penne, spaghetti, fusilli [0], maccheroni, gemelli, farfalle, linguine, etc. As soon as I try exotic new pasta [1], I have to fall back to tasting it every minute like some amateur. Cooking pasta with a timer has never worked for me. [0] https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog1792508/AOG100.jpg https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog1792508/AOG... [1] https://www.barilla.com/en-au/products/pasta/collezione/casarecce https://www.barilla.com/en-au/products/pasta/collezione/casa...
- aceazzameen 5y ago
  Following the cooking time on the bag for "al dente" pasta has given us pretty consistent results. Some brands more accurate than others. But yeah, at this point I can tell when it's ready by stirring too. There's been plenty of moments where I've forgotten to set the timer and then have to guestimate the time left and feel readiness by stirring. Do it often enough and you just know when it's done. I used to taste it til ready when younger, but haven't had to bother in ages.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    I thought this marketing effort was pretty inspired: Barilla Pasta created Spotify playlists that were the right length for their various pastas. https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/barilla-spotify-how-long-to-cook-pasta-playlists https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/barilla-spotify-how...
- treme 5y ago
  my chef friend told me Italian grandma way is to stir and feel & hear the sound, fwiw.
- cheese_goddess 5y ago
  Yeah, that's how I cook my curds when I make hard cheeses, also. I use an egg beater to stir curds while heating them up until they're the right size and consistency. Normally you're supposed to take some curds in your hand and squeeze them to test the consistency, but I don't want to stick my hands in the curds because it's a pain sanitizing them before and after (the hands, not the curds, haha). So I just pay attention to the way the curds feel as they hit the tines of the egg beater. When they're ready, they feel ready. Human touch is such an underrated sense! The intuitive, sub-liminal information you get from it is unbelievable. Edit: this article shows the process of cooking curds: https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/alpine-washed-rind-cheese-making-recipe https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/alpine... See step 4 "Cook curd" and look at the two pictures in the list for the traditional testing method.
- carlob 5y ago
  Weird to me that you consider casarecce exotic, whereas I had to google gemelli, because I don't think I've heard that name before. I've also been exposed to a lot of training data since I spent 80% of my life in Italy.
  - Alex3917 5y ago
    > I had to google gemelli, because I don't think I've heard that name before It pairs well with gorgonzola cheese and a cream sauce.
- vba616 5y ago
  I am at a point in my life where I usually cook the exact same type of pasta 95% of the time, so I know the exact amount of time it takes. But when I don't, I bite off the end of a piece and look to see if there's a tiny dry center or not. I don't know if I've ever had an issue cooking Barilla pasta for the amount of time specified on the box, regardless.
luxurytent 5y ago
There are two fundamental rules of making good pasta, maybe more, but these are what seem to be held the most to heart: 1. If you don't salt enough, no matter how good you make the sauce, or how fancy the noodle is, you're not going to have a good pasta dish. This seems to be one of the primary positions of this paper (although I didn't read it) 2. It's commonly known that Italian street vendors serving pasta would re-use the water throughout the day. This led to an increasing amount of starch being extracted into the water and ultimately, a better noodle closer to the end of the day. Starch is important and this is why pasta water is key to the finish of a pasta dish.
- mmastrac 5y ago
  Finishing pasta by cooking it the last 1/4 of the way in sauce with a bit of leftover pasta water is my go-to.
  - TillE 5y ago
    When you're cooking for just one or two people, you can just make everything in one large pan. Start the sauce (fry garlic in olive oil, etc), then add the liquid (usually canned tomatoes plus a couple can-fulls of water) and pasta. You need a little experimentation to figure out how much water you need, then you'll have perfectly cooked pasta when the sauce is appropriately reduced.
- wodenokoto 5y ago
  Which is why you should cook in as little water as viable. Packaging says to cook pasta in a lot of water, but this is because that is what large kitchens do, as they reuse the water throughout the day. In the home kitchen you get closer to the reused, starchy water, by simply using less water and stirring.
  - kevincox 5y ago
    The problem here is that if your stove isn't very powerful the pasta can cool down the watera lot at the start. This can lead to sticking or just suboptimal pasta. Using more water mitigates this.
1024core 5y ago
For me, when the water turns cloudy, I know the pasta is done.
Iwan-Zotow 5y ago
Could someone try and tell me if imperial ruler works?
- karim79 5y ago
  This comment nearly destroyed my laptop. +1
- samstave 5y ago
  Imperial Rulers are just a bunch of sticks tied together.
bob1029 5y ago
I find highly repeatable success by using one pressure cooker on a precise timer and strictly measuring my pasta by weight. The procedure is so reliable that I can switch my brain off and essentially meditate for the ~24 minutes it takes to complete the entire meal prep cycle. You'd think all the extra pots & pans would equate to higher quality outcomes, but I can make something that I find extremely agreeable using just the one vessel, assuming all of the various metrics are held to specification. For me, hack #2 is just the passage of time. Eating this stuff right after its done is not peak quality (especially considering the breakneck pace at which I prep). Reheating a few hours later or next day is where the magic kicks in. As a consequence, I usually meal prep a few days in advance, so that these effects can take hold while I finish off the previous batch of whatever.
- TillE 5y ago
  Measuring ingredients by weight is so much easier, faster, and more precise than doing it by volume. All you need is a cheap electronic kitchen scale that's accurate to the gram. It's unfortunate that American recipes have standardized on expecting you to have measuring cups instead of a scale.
- carlob 5y ago
  You cook pasta in a pressure cooker for 24 minutes? I thought pressure cookers decreased cooking time and the longest cooking time I've ever encountered for pasta is 17 minutes.
  - gramie 5y ago
    I'm guessing that's the entire time, including getting the cooker up to the desired pressure, and possibly a slow release. Maybe only 5 minutes of that is full-pressure cooking.
    - tigershark 5y ago
      Then what is the point of using the pressure cooker if he wastes 24 minutes? Spaghetti are ready in 10 minutes in a normal pot, and with a good induction hob the water is boiling in something like 5 minutes.
karim79 5y ago
Does this work with the higher-protein "keto" pastas out there? So my question, I guess, is when is pasta pasta and what actually is pasta and at which point does it become not pasta or anti-pasta? Can any of these questions be answered? Will they ever be? Who knows such things.
chillingeffect 5y ago
We thank You, Science. No idea how we got this far without You. We patiently and humbly await Your next breakthrough. Humanity is nothing without You. It is right to give You thanks and praise.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

lqet 5y ago

I am at a point in my life where I can quite reliably tell whether pasta is ready by just stirring it in the water with a cooking spoon. I don't know what it is, they just "feel" ready, or they don't. I was exposed to considerable training data as a student. But I can only do this with "standard" pasta I regularly cook, that is penne, spaghetti, fusilli [0], maccheroni, gemelli, farfalle, linguine, etc. As soon as I try exotic new pasta [1], I have to fall back to tasting it every minute like some amateur. Cooking pasta with a timer has never worked for me. [0] https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog1792508/AOG100.jpg https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog1792508/AOG... [1] https://www.barilla.com/en-au/products/pasta/collezione/casarecce https://www.barilla.com/en-au/products/pasta/collezione/casa...

aceazzameen 5y ago
Following the cooking time on the bag for "al dente" pasta has given us pretty consistent results. Some brands more accurate than others. But yeah, at this point I can tell when it's ready by stirring too. There's been plenty of moments where I've forgotten to set the timer and then have to guestimate the time left and feel readiness by stirring. Do it often enough and you just know when it's done. I used to taste it til ready when younger, but haven't had to bother in ages.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  I thought this marketing effort was pretty inspired: Barilla Pasta created Spotify playlists that were the right length for their various pastas. https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/barilla-spotify-how-long-to-cook-pasta-playlists https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/barilla-spotify-how...
treme 5y ago
my chef friend told me Italian grandma way is to stir and feel & hear the sound, fwiw.
cheese_goddess 5y ago
Yeah, that's how I cook my curds when I make hard cheeses, also. I use an egg beater to stir curds while heating them up until they're the right size and consistency. Normally you're supposed to take some curds in your hand and squeeze them to test the consistency, but I don't want to stick my hands in the curds because it's a pain sanitizing them before and after (the hands, not the curds, haha). So I just pay attention to the way the curds feel as they hit the tines of the egg beater. When they're ready, they feel ready. Human touch is such an underrated sense! The intuitive, sub-liminal information you get from it is unbelievable. Edit: this article shows the process of cooking curds: https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/alpine-washed-rind-cheese-making-recipe https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/alpine... See step 4 "Cook curd" and look at the two pictures in the list for the traditional testing method.
carlob 5y ago
Weird to me that you consider casarecce exotic, whereas I had to google gemelli, because I don't think I've heard that name before. I've also been exposed to a lot of training data since I spent 80% of my life in Italy.
- Alex3917 5y ago
  > I had to google gemelli, because I don't think I've heard that name before It pairs well with gorgonzola cheese and a cream sauce.
vba616 5y ago
I am at a point in my life where I usually cook the exact same type of pasta 95% of the time, so I know the exact amount of time it takes. But when I don't, I bite off the end of a piece and look to see if there's a tiny dry center or not. I don't know if I've ever had an issue cooking Barilla pasta for the amount of time specified on the box, regardless.

luxurytent 5y ago

There are two fundamental rules of making good pasta, maybe more, but these are what seem to be held the most to heart: 1. If you don't salt enough, no matter how good you make the sauce, or how fancy the noodle is, you're not going to have a good pasta dish. This seems to be one of the primary positions of this paper (although I didn't read it) 2. It's commonly known that Italian street vendors serving pasta would re-use the water throughout the day. This led to an increasing amount of starch being extracted into the water and ultimately, a better noodle closer to the end of the day. Starch is important and this is why pasta water is key to the finish of a pasta dish.

mmastrac 5y ago
Finishing pasta by cooking it the last 1/4 of the way in sauce with a bit of leftover pasta water is my go-to.
- TillE 5y ago
  When you're cooking for just one or two people, you can just make everything in one large pan. Start the sauce (fry garlic in olive oil, etc), then add the liquid (usually canned tomatoes plus a couple can-fulls of water) and pasta. You need a little experimentation to figure out how much water you need, then you'll have perfectly cooked pasta when the sauce is appropriately reduced.
wodenokoto 5y ago
Which is why you should cook in as little water as viable. Packaging says to cook pasta in a lot of water, but this is because that is what large kitchens do, as they reuse the water throughout the day. In the home kitchen you get closer to the reused, starchy water, by simply using less water and stirring.
- kevincox 5y ago
  The problem here is that if your stove isn't very powerful the pasta can cool down the watera lot at the start. This can lead to sticking or just suboptimal pasta. Using more water mitigates this.

1024core 5y ago

For me, when the water turns cloudy, I know the pasta is done.

Iwan-Zotow 5y ago

Could someone try and tell me if imperial ruler works?

karim79 5y ago
This comment nearly destroyed my laptop. +1
samstave 5y ago
Imperial Rulers are just a bunch of sticks tied together.

bob1029 5y ago

I find highly repeatable success by using one pressure cooker on a precise timer and strictly measuring my pasta by weight. The procedure is so reliable that I can switch my brain off and essentially meditate for the ~24 minutes it takes to complete the entire meal prep cycle. You'd think all the extra pots & pans would equate to higher quality outcomes, but I can make something that I find extremely agreeable using just the one vessel, assuming all of the various metrics are held to specification. For me, hack #2 is just the passage of time. Eating this stuff right after its done is not peak quality (especially considering the breakneck pace at which I prep). Reheating a few hours later or next day is where the magic kicks in. As a consequence, I usually meal prep a few days in advance, so that these effects can take hold while I finish off the previous batch of whatever.

TillE 5y ago
Measuring ingredients by weight is so much easier, faster, and more precise than doing it by volume. All you need is a cheap electronic kitchen scale that's accurate to the gram. It's unfortunate that American recipes have standardized on expecting you to have measuring cups instead of a scale.
carlob 5y ago
You cook pasta in a pressure cooker for 24 minutes? I thought pressure cookers decreased cooking time and the longest cooking time I've ever encountered for pasta is 17 minutes.
- gramie 5y ago
  I'm guessing that's the entire time, including getting the cooker up to the desired pressure, and possibly a slow release. Maybe only 5 minutes of that is full-pressure cooking.
  - tigershark 5y ago
    Then what is the point of using the pressure cooker if he wastes 24 minutes? Spaghetti are ready in 10 minutes in a normal pot, and with a good induction hob the water is boiling in something like 5 minutes.

karim79 5y ago

Does this work with the higher-protein "keto" pastas out there? So my question, I guess, is when is pasta pasta and what actually is pasta and at which point does it become not pasta or anti-pasta? Can any of these questions be answered? Will they ever be? Who knows such things.

chillingeffect 5y ago

We thank You, Science. No idea how we got this far without You. We patiently and humbly await Your next breakthrough. Humanity is nothing without You. It is right to give You thanks and praise.