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You certainly can, but: - It's still not going to be enough starch - You can't rely on box cooking times even as a starting point. Your pasta will take signif

You certainly can, but: - It's still not going to be enough starch - You can't rely on box cooking times even as a starting point. Your pasta will take significantly longer to cook, since it will bring down the temperature of the water when you put it in, since there's so little water

messe 2y ago
In my experience box cooking times are never quite right, and irrelevant if you're going to be finishing your pasta in the sauce anyway. Unless you're extremely familiar with the exact brand of pasta, temperature of your stovetop, etc., you should be tasting your pasta toward the end of cooking to decide when to stop cooking it. > - It's still not going to be enough starch I'm inclined to disagree, but only have anecdata on this, so I can't really get into an extended debate over it. So I guess now I get to look forward to experimenting with starch additions the next few times I cook pasta.
- wahnfrieden 2y ago
  simply lift pasta and observe (and do this enough that you learn what to look for). that's enough to avoid tasting it until a final confirmation.
  - messe 2y ago
    For a longer pasta, sure. But something like Fusilli can be more difficult to judge, I've found.
aardvarkr 2y ago
1. The starch comes from the pasta, not the water. Decreasing the water increases the concentration of the starch in said water. That’s why every good recipe for cacio e Pepe I’ve seen recommends using as little water as possible 2. This has been thoroughly debunked. Kenji did a full write up of this but suffice to say that starches absorb water starting at 180 degrees. As long as you have the water above that temp it will cook in the same amount of time. https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boi...
- 2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
  Have not seen that article but I agree. I’ve been cooking pasta with less water and using box times for years. Has never ever failed for me.

messe 2y ago

In my experience box cooking times are never quite right, and irrelevant if you're going to be finishing your pasta in the sauce anyway. Unless you're extremely familiar with the exact brand of pasta, temperature of your stovetop, etc., you should be tasting your pasta toward the end of cooking to decide when to stop cooking it. > - It's still not going to be enough starch I'm inclined to disagree, but only have anecdata on this, so I can't really get into an extended debate over it. So I guess now I get to look forward to experimenting with starch additions the next few times I cook pasta.

wahnfrieden 2y ago
simply lift pasta and observe (and do this enough that you learn what to look for). that's enough to avoid tasting it until a final confirmation.
- messe 2y ago
  For a longer pasta, sure. But something like Fusilli can be more difficult to judge, I've found.

aardvarkr 2y ago

1. The starch comes from the pasta, not the water. Decreasing the water increases the concentration of the starch in said water. That’s why every good recipe for cacio e Pepe I’ve seen recommends using as little water as possible 2. This has been thoroughly debunked. Kenji did a full write up of this but suffice to say that starches absorb water starting at 180 degrees. As long as you have the water above that temp it will cook in the same amount of time. https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boi...

2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
Have not seen that article but I agree. I’ve been cooking pasta with less water and using box times for years. Has never ever failed for me.