next time you're boiling pasta..

  On 7/8/2009 at 5:20 PM, ward said:

OLIVE OIL IS FOR TASTE AND TEXTURE TOO YOU FOOL

i add neither oil, salt or green tea to my pasta.

pasta and boiling water.

silly billys

I eat my pasta raw, specially if fresh.

I find adding oil to pasta helps it cook faster, and if you are making a soup the oil keeps the broth warmer longer as well.

  On 7/8/2009 at 5:39 AM, jules said:

  On 7/8/2009 at 3:58 AM, chaosmachine said:

it's a "hmm, i'm out of olive oil, what else can i throw in here instead" thing.

 

never throw olive oil in the pasta water. just tons of salt. never ever anything else. blasphemy.

Hes right though. The Italians only put in handfuls of salt. Olive oil is a bad idea. just yesterday I saw a chef say its an american thing to put olive oil in the water. I also read that in Italy they never do that. They put tons of salt in the water though. We also don't get the same quality noodles they have there, unless you pay out the nose

  On 7/8/2009 at 4:53 PM, encey said:

Don't oil the water.

 

A good thing to do is to slightly undercook the pasta (so that when you pull a piece out of the boiling water and bite into it, there's just a bit of white, uncooked starch in the middle), then pour it into a colander to strain out the water (reserve some cooking water for your sauce if needed). Flush the pasta with cold water to stop it from cooking, then drizzle and mix up some olive oil in the pasta to prevent sticking while it sits. Finish cooking your veggies and/or sauce, then throw the almost-done pasta into the hot pan for 2 minutes or so to heat it up, finish cooking it and combine it with the rest of the ingredients.

 

Sorry, that's probably well-known, but I thought I'd mention it anyway!

Never rinse the pasta. The starch is what the sauce clings to

I like to make my own pasta out of flour and eggs. Its so much better than the boxed kind

  On 7/8/2009 at 8:19 PM, marf said:

  On 7/8/2009 at 4:53 PM, encey said:

Don't oil the water.

 

A good thing to do is to slightly undercook the pasta (so that when you pull a piece out of the boiling water and bite into it, there's just a bit of white, uncooked starch in the middle), then pour it into a colander to strain out the water (reserve some cooking water for your sauce if needed). Flush the pasta with cold water to stop it from cooking, then drizzle and mix up some olive oil in the pasta to prevent sticking while it sits. Finish cooking your veggies and/or sauce, then throw the almost-done pasta into the hot pan for 2 minutes or so to heat it up, finish cooking it and combine it with the rest of the ingredients.

 

Sorry, that's probably well-known, but I thought I'd mention it anyway!

[/quote

 

 

Never rinse the pasta. The starch is what the sauce clings to

i reckon it's a crappy restaurant trick.

 

the other day i saw gordan ramsey saying you should boil risotto rice for 6 minutes, rinse, and put it the fridge (spread out on a tray), to save time, .. then you get crappy slop.. he wasn't saying do that only if you need to save time later, he just said that's how you make risotto

 

don't believe everything all chefs say about cooking, sometimes they think restaurant tricks are the best way to cook stuff

 

anyway,

  On 7/8/2009 at 8:13 PM, marf said:

  On 7/8/2009 at 5:39 AM, jules said:

  On 7/8/2009 at 3:58 AM, chaosmachine said:

it's a "hmm, i'm out of olive oil, what else can i throw in here instead" thing.

 

never throw olive oil in the pasta water. just tons of salt. never ever anything else. blasphemy.

Hes right though. The Italians only put in handfuls of salt. Olive oil is a bad idea. just yesterday I saw a chef say its an american thing to put olive oil in the water. I also read that in Italy they never do that. They put tons of salt in the water though. We also don't get the same quality noodles they have there, unless you pay out the nose

yeah, ive lived with italians for 3 years - they put a fuck load of salt in. they also use a lot of water so need so much to get the concentration right, and avoid putting salt in the sauce/ at the end at all costs. bit pricey then - the water used is practically brine.

The large amount of salt adequately brings out the taste of the pasta.

Thanks marf; nex time I'll try undercooking the pasta more and letting it sit warm in the colander, rather than cooling it down w water.

  On 7/8/2009 at 9:15 PM, idrn said:

  On 7/8/2009 at 8:13 PM, marf said:

  On 7/8/2009 at 5:39 AM, jules said:

  On 7/8/2009 at 3:58 AM, chaosmachine said:

it's a "hmm, i'm out of olive oil, what else can i throw in here instead" thing.

 

never throw olive oil in the pasta water. just tons of salt. never ever anything else. blasphemy.

Hes right though. The Italians only put in handfuls of salt. Olive oil is a bad idea. just yesterday I saw a chef say its an american thing to put olive oil in the water. I also read that in Italy they never do that. They put tons of salt in the water though. We also don't get the same quality noodles they have there, unless you pay out the nose

 

yeah, ive lived with italians for 3 years - they put a fuck load of salt in. they also use a lot of water so need so much to get the concentration right, and avoid putting salt in the sauce/ at the end at all costs. bit pricey then - the water used is practically brine.

well the water should be like the sea when you cook macaroni in it. its the only time you have to season your macaroni. always always always cook al dente. the only thing worse than not eating macaroni is eating squishy over cooked macaroni.

  On 7/8/2009 at 6:01 AM, yek said:

i can dig on some pesto

Pesto + Spaghetti + Diced Chicken Breast + this tea thing = sounds pretty good.

I'd like some garlic bread with pesto spread on it right about now...

I'd like some garlic garlic with garlic spread on it right about now...

my friend says both salt and oil

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH your friend says

you only add salt to pasta. you save the pasta water and add a bit of it to the sauce. don't ever add anything else to pasta. just salt. generous amounts of salt.

i've boiled rice with a bag of earl grey, because i only had tea and rice to eat.

barely noticable

fuck italians in the ass

I am gonna put both salt and olive oil in my pasta

Ive never really embraced the toss the pasta in the sauce then layer more sauce on top. I need to get into that. I wish I could make something like chef boyardee with the pasta and meat sauce really fused together. The closest Ive come is with homemade pasta. I know. Why try and emulate that canned junk, but its got its merits

  On 7/8/2009 at 11:30 PM, marf said:

Ive never really embraced the toss the pasta in the sauce then layer more sauce on top. I need to get into that. I wish I could make something like chef boyardee with the pasta and meat sauce really fused together. The closest Ive come is with homemade pasta. I know. Why try and emulate that canned junk, but its got its merits

you don't really need to layer more on top

chaos i just did this and didn't notice much of an effect.

  On 7/8/2009 at 11:28 PM, beatfanatic said:

fuck italians in the ass

 

 

save your olive oil for that.