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I do like the Italians and save a little of the cooking water to add to the pasta and sauce. It makes it even silkier and tastier.

the oil in the water is one of the WORST thing you can do...it ensures any condiment with which you toss your pasta will slide right off. think about it - the oil perks away at the top of the pot and when you pull out the pasta, it passes right though the oil slick.

ah!

When I was in college I spent my junior year living with an Italian family in Florence. We (of course) ate pasta at every meal, deliciously prepared by my host mother. One weekend, she went on a trip to Holland, and I was left with my host father to make our own meals. (She actually left us with a lot of food to heat up, but we had to make our own pasta.) My host father, who was probably close to 60, rallied me to make the pasta, since he didn't know how. I had made spaghetti numerous times at home in the states, but oh, I was nervous! Of course, it turned out just fine.

In any case, my host mother was the one who showed me to add lots of salt to the water. It makes such a huge difference in taste, and it never would have occurred to me otherwise.

I wholeheartedly agree on the copious amounts of both water and salt and disagree on adding any oil whatsoever to the pot. One other item that is helpful is to set the timer. Different pasta shapes cook in different amounts of time and when rushing to get dinner on the table (or even when I am not rushing), I have on more than one occassion forgotten how long the pasta has been boiling. There is nothing worse than overcooked, gummy pasta.

When cooking spaghetti I like to break the dry pasta in half before adding it to the boiling water. This way it all fits into the water, and it's easier to eat later.

Whole wheat pasta, which I use practically exclusively now-a-days, require significantly more time to boil than regular pasta. It is just my opinion, but if I cook it for the same it seems tougher and of a less nice consistency.

Yep, whole wheat pasta takes quite a bit more time and I'm still learning to adjust. Different brands and types of whole wheat pasta cook really differently too.

I also use the pasta water in my sauces as well--I can't tell if it makes a difference, it's just something I've always done.

I don't use salt and I cook it way past "al dente". It's usually expanded quite a bit (from absorbing water) and quite soft. Yeah...it's crazy. But I like it that way.

breaking pasta in Italy is considered a sacrilege.

Anyway, The best method for cooking pasta is the following:

throw the pasta in the boiling water, wait till it comes back to boil and then cover and turn of gas. When the time is up, drain and continue cooking the pasta together with the sauce for a couple minutes.

This way the pasta doesn't move in the pot and hence it loses none of the starch, making it tastier, chewier and healthier. And of course, you save 8-10 minutes of gas or electricity every time.
This method comes from historic Italian pasta maker Agnesi.

I hate it when pasta, especially spaghetti, is broken before it goes into the pot! I'm sorry, but it is not easier to eat that way. A knife should not be on the table when eating pasta.

Anyways, all this talk of pasta is making me hungry. Pasta would be delicious on this cold and rainy day...

Big pot of salty water and oil are necessary! Oil is not. It makes dressing the pasta very difficult. The only time oil should be added to the pasta is if you are cooking it for later (gross). Oil should be added to the pasta AFTER it leaves the pot so that it doesn't stick together.

I am still struggling to find a good whole wheat pasta, or a least a partially whole wheat pasta. What do you all recommend.

oil in the water keeps the pot from boiling over. if that's an issue for you, it is more than worth whatever trouble you might have 'dressing' the pasta (i'm not even sure what that means).

the thing about the salt is that it will cook your pasta faster, but the water will reach a boil more slowly. because the salt raises the boiling point. the water will actually get hotter.

oofs, in Italy we add the salt only when the water has come to a boil. Otherwise the salt will sit on the bottom of the pot for enough time to corrode a stainless steel pot.

oofs is right about the oil helping keep the pot from boiling over.

But you only need about a teaspoon so it breaks the surface tension and its really only necessary if you cant (or dont have time or whatever other reason) cant get 6 quarts of water boiling for a pot of macaroni.

The more water you use the less foaming.

And the oil doesnt "soak" into the pasta either. It doesnt do anything. Like someone else said it just sits on the top. Even when you pour the pasta out to drain, unless you used a lot of oil, you wont end up with some frictionless mass that sauce wont stick to. Especially if youre going to put oil on it anyway (think about it, what sense does that make, oily pasta makes it hard to dress the pasta in oil?)

As it says, lots of water is better, but a little tiny bit of oil in less than perfect amounts of water helps prevent foaming and boil overs.

Oh. Salt water boils faster, not slower.

The boiling point raises a few degrees C, but it also takes less energy to reach that boiling point because of the salt.

A lid also helps get water boiling much quicker.

ok to summarize:

lots of water, lots of salt added after the water has started boiling (that point was stressed to me by italians on numerous occasions) and absolutely no oil since it'll prevent the sauce from sticking to the pasta properly (allegedly it's called "closing the pores" although i don't know whether pasta has actual pores), and pasta is always more pleasant when it can carry more sauce rather than less. finally, drain the water just before the pasta is done, it'll keep cooking for a bit just sitting there. this is how i've learned to cook my pasta, and it has worked out quite well really.

rather than oil, i always use a little bit of the sauce (if its tomato or cream based) to keep the pasta from sticking. I believe my father saw this done in some italian movie...good fellas maybe and we've always done it that way.

cant anyone read? it says the added oil comes AFTER the pasta is drained. not in the water.

tons of salt is the best. sometimes i use this salt mix that also has other spices . its really yummy .

I agree w/ the lots of water and salt.

However, I usually just slightly undercook the pasta, drain it and then add it directly to my sauce (cooking in a saucepan). It finishes cooking in the sauce and takes on more flavor that way. I also will save some of the drained cooking water to use to thin the sauce as needed.

If I am not going to add the drained pasta directly to the sauce and it will be sitting for a short bit, I will add a splash of milk to keep it from sticking together, rather than oil. It works!

My mother taught me a fool proof way to make pasta.
Add salt to boiling water,
add pasta to boiling water
bring back up to a boil
turn off heat, cover and let sit about 20 minutes.

I do this every time I make pasta and it's perfect every time.

I too add just a drop of oil to keep surface tension on the boiling water. Not only does it not boil over, it doesn't get those starchy, scummy bubbles.

And thinking a couple of drops of oil is going to keep my sauce from sticking to my pasta is just silly, I've never had an issue with it (besides there's usually plenty more oil in most sauces themeselves ).

I have also learned to keep a lid on things, at least 'til everything's' boiling. Not only does the water boil quicker, but it's more energy efficient.

No to sound like a health nut, but doesn't all that salt then raise the amount of sodium in the final product? Considering the amount of salty things that are most likely going to be added (sauce, cheese, possibly a meat item) isn't this a bit unnecessary?

Lasagna noodles the easy way: layer uncooked noodles with your other lasagna ingredients. Refrigerate overnight. Bake as usual the following day. The moisture from cheese and sauce layers softens the pasta and baking cooks it. No need to boil pasta first and no burned fingers from handling steaming hot noodles.

When you folks say "tons of salt", how much do you actually mean - assuming I'm cooking a whole box of spaghetti?

Rob, 10 grams of salt per 100 grams of pasta. or -

"The boiling point raises a few degrees C, but it also takes less energy to reach that boiling point because of the salt."

how is that possible?

oofs maybe because water boils faster? I have no idea though. But anyway, it's not a matter of boiling point, it's only to save your steel pots.

OK, I *love* the idea of adding some leftover pasta water to the sauce to thin it out and flavor it, but I have the opposite problem! We don't usually have time to make our own sauce (though for special occasions, my husband does, because he has his own secret recipe, and it is gooood), so we use jarred [marinara] sauce. We have yet to find one that isn't runny to the point of there being way too much water running around the bottom of my plate making everything else soggy.

Has anyone solved this problem?