Harold McGee, author of Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes, shares a handy way to speed your pasta dinner along. Plus it's ecofriendly!
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Harold McGee, author of Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes, shares a handy way to speed your pasta dinner along. Plus it's ecofriendly!
Mario Batalli, please give your input on this matter. I've cooked pasta in the microwave but that's on the road and it's fine but then again I'm not a pasta connoisseur.
Just to add more ranting about the traditionally "correct" way of cooking pasta: We've always been told to use tons of water in relation to the pasta so that the water doesn't get too starchy, but that too always seemed idiotic to me. I think the idea was if you used too little water, the noodles might stick to each other. Well, how about adding a bit of oil to the water to prevent that? (It...+READ
Just to add more ranting about the traditionally "correct" way of cooking pasta: We've always been told to use tons of water in relation to the pasta so that the water doesn't get too starchy, but that too always seemed idiotic to me. I think the idea was if you used too little water, the noodles might stick to each other. Well, how about adding a bit of oil to the water to prevent that? (It works for me.) Again, the reasoning for using a billion times more water to pasta strikes me as saying that one needs 400 gallons of water to take a bath, because any less water wouldn't dilute the oil and dirt on your skin enough. ("Okay, so how about using less bath water, but scrub your body with a washcloth and soap instead of just letting the water volume dictate everything?" ... Never! Blasphemy! Fill up that swimming pool for your daily bath!)
And of course, the excess water is said to be needed in order to have the perfect amount of starch sticking to the noodles. Use too little water, and supposedly there would be too much starch. Well, how about simply using a more sane amount of water and rinsing off the pasta afterwards to unstick the pasta. Well, you're not supposed to do that either because otherwise, the starch will get "rinsed off" too much and any sauce you put on the noodles won't stick to them.
That is literally what every pro-chef I've ever heard has said, including science-minded Alton Brown. It's lunacy. I have to tell you, in my entire life of making pasta (even rinsing it off sometimes before saucing, necessary because I didn't use a swimming pool of water to cook with), I have *never* had an issue where the sauce just wouldn't 'stay on' the pasta. Are pro chefs using some kind of laminated pasta I've never heard of where the sauce is just slipping off it all the time? Are they preparing pasta in the zero gravity of a space shuttle in orbit? Are they making dinner on Space Mountain at Disney World where there are issues with the sauce flying all over the place?-COLLAPSE
You know, I have to say, the traditional supposedly "correct" way of boiling water for pasta has always struck me as insanely wasteful. Even before I was aware of conservation issues, it always seemed ludicrous, like filling an entire swimming pool every time you wanted to take a bath. The pan method makes sense, if only because you are now using a vessel without a ton of wasted space. (A big...+READ
You know, I have to say, the traditional supposedly "correct" way of boiling water for pasta has always struck me as insanely wasteful. Even before I was aware of conservation issues, it always seemed ludicrous, like filling an entire swimming pool every time you wanted to take a bath. The pan method makes sense, if only because you are now using a vessel without a ton of wasted space. (A big vertical pot isn't exactly form-fitting to long spaghettic noodles.)
If you've ever made instant noodle products like "Noodle-Roni" this is basically the same thing. You use just enough water to get the job done. (In the case of Noodle-Roni, all the excess liquid is used for the instant sauce packet.)-COLLAPSE
Wow, brilliant! Never thought of doing this!
I do this with packaged broth and it is a mainstay of apartment living for me. The whole wheat or whole grain pasta I use is especially good with the frying pan-broth technique. Just sauce it and va bene!
@truepeacenik, absolutely. I cook wontons, ravioli, potstickers and periogi's in a large frying pan with just enough water to cover them. Simmer until cooked and remove. Then I sauce or saute in butter in a separate pan.
I'm wondering about filled pasta, now.
Anyone use an ultra-low water method? (mine is cover filled pasta, pull back out of water, heat water, proceed as normal)
I remember on chowhound when chowhounder Nikki Rothman voiced the same opinion about gallons of water and salt not being necessary and she was trussed and tossed onto a flaming bed of coals where she was roasted ad infinitum. It was not pretty.
Now here it's Howard McGee and eveyone's calling him genius (which he may well be).
Just wondering if there are any of those chowhounds still around,...+READ
I remember on chowhound when chowhounder Nikki Rothman voiced the same opinion about gallons of water and salt not being necessary and she was trussed and tossed onto a flaming bed of coals where she was roasted ad infinitum. It was not pretty.
Now here it's Howard McGee and eveyone's calling him genius (which he may well be).
Just wondering if there are any of those chowhounds still around, and are they feeling remorseful for how they treated Nikki?-COLLAPSE
You know if, there is a thing you do, and have done it for years a certain way, and suddenly, you find a better way that makes it slightly easier? You're happy! "Oh wow, that's cool. Wish I had known that earlier" you say, smiling to yourself.
Then, there is the above, but you find a way, a glaringly obvious way that is way, way better. I mean, the tools were always there, but you were just...+READ
You know if, there is a thing you do, and have done it for years a certain way, and suddenly, you find a better way that makes it slightly easier? You're happy! "Oh wow, that's cool. Wish I had known that earlier" you say, smiling to yourself.
Then, there is the above, but you find a way, a glaringly obvious way that is way, way better. I mean, the tools were always there, but you were just too stupid to realize it! Instead of being happy, you are angry. Angry at the world, at life, at yourself.
This is the latter. I am so mad that it took me this long to make pasta this way. I will never go back to the old way. Never again.
*punches the ground in a fit of impotent rage*-COLLAPSE
Cook it until it is done ;) the time will vary on the type of Pasta, altitude, size of the pan, amount, etc. experiment!!
How long do you cook the pasta for?
i agree. you are an absolute genius. i'm so in awe i've done this about a zillion times this week just to see it happen...again. perfect pasta. thanks!!
Agree with dump. It definitely works.
Many years ago I tried to cook pasta starting with cold water. It just turned to mush. I'm wondering why this method works now. Is it because of the end of the Cold Wa[te]r?
Sorry, bad pun but serious question.
I heard him saying the same thing on Splendid Table and was impressed. Not enough to change my method, but impressed. I bet it'd work really well for smaller pastas than spaghetti - like rotini or medium shells.
He doesn't mention salting the water -
I used to do this in graduate school, because I didn't have a large enough pot.
This man is a freaking genius.