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Word of Mouth: Al Dente

2008_09_29-AlDente.jpgAl Dente; adjective, Italian: Literally, "to the tooth." In practice, this means cooked just enough to still be firm, where the center still remains a bit under-cooked and the pasta still offers resistance when chewed.

 
 

In medieval times, pasta was cooked for an hour or more until it was soft, mushy, and offered no resistance. This was typical of all cooking at the time (ie, cooking food to death!), though it was perhaps necessary in the case of pasta made from tougher, less-refined grains.

By the 18th century, better refinery of duram wheat and changes to the pasta manufacturing process significantly reduced the necessary cooking time. Chewy 'al dente' pasta became the norm.

If you cut into a piece of pasta as it cooks, you'll see a white speck of starch at the center. The pasta is done when this speck is just barely visible. When chewed, the pasta should still have a bit of bite, but shouldn't actually be crunchy.

Though we most commonly use the term al dente to refer to cooked pasta, you'll often hear it applied to the cooking time of other grains (like rice and barley) and vegetables.

Do you like your pasta al dente?

Related: Quick Tip: The Best Way to Cook Pasta

(Image: Flickr member hadsie licensed under Creative Commons)

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Word of Mouth, Food History, Ingredients - Pantry, pasta, al dente, duram, semolina

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Comments (7)

I don't like it. I'd rather it be mushy. Not falling apart, but fairly mushy.

posted by wunami on September 29th 2008 at 7:02am
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very very very slightly al dente

posted by evamae on September 29th 2008 at 9:40am
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I grew up eating my pasta cooked through more than al-dente and I still like it that way...

posted by LuckyMonkey on September 29th 2008 at 11:01am
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I like my pasta al dente. Mushy pasta is... well, mushy pasta. That's not very appetizing.

posted by sparkle on September 29th 2008 at 2:33pm
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I don't really like my pasta al dente, guess I grew up with a mom that cooked things "to death" LOL

posted by nickel525 on September 30th 2008 at 9:31am
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oh, i SO like it al dente. i'd prefer actually under cooked pasta to over cooked!

posted by jessicaabroad on September 30th 2008 at 9:54am
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My mother is Italian, so all pasta in my house is cooked al dente. I can't stand mushy pasta, or pasta that falls apart as soon as you touch it with a fork.

posted by fade on violet on June 29th 2009 at 5:06pm
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