Cooking pasta

"Is it true.." here the young woman hesitated, then continued, "Is it true that in England to check if the pasta is cooked you throw it against the wall?"

I had heard of this practise before but decided to dismiss it as an urban myth. Surely it couldn't be true!

The idea was that if the pasta stuck to the wall, long strands of spaghetti being the preferred type for this culinary test, the pasta was done.  

Pasta is a serious topic. Many are the horror stories connected to overdone, overcooked pasta. 

This always begs the question: why do Italians always insist on eating Italian food abroad if they know that it is going to be sub-standard?

"When I was with my host family in Brighton I prepared the spaghetti for them," says Giulia. 

Marcello nods and tells us how when he was in America he was served re-heated pasta. A collective shudder runs through the room. "I had to teach my hostess how to cook pasta," he finishes off. 

Another tale of disaster followed, this time the souvenir of an  exchange holiday in France."They just threw the spaghetti into a pan of cold water. Cold water!! And then left it there for twenty minutes. I couldn't eat it,"

"It was all glued together. Inedible," came another testimony, from a summer spent studying English in Oxford.  

These were serious offences against food. No other nation could cook pasta correctly.

But, I wondered, why was this? Was it chronic misinformation the world over? I had read that on 'Barilla' pasta packets sold in America the advised cooking time was longer than on those sold in Italy. Americans believed that 'al dente' pasta was harmful for digestion so aimed for overcooked, 'scotta'.

Yet cooking pasta is not a complex task. There are some simple rules to follow.

1. Don't over-crowd the pasta. Aim for lots of water. The rule of thumb is 1 litre for every 100grs of pasta. You need a large pan. The pasta needs space to roll around and buck in the boiling water.

2. Use salt.

 I used to add a drop of olive oil to the water. An Italian friend saw me do this. She let out a horrified screech, "ma che fai!" (What are you doing?) I explained that the oil prevented the pasta from sticking together. She gave me a 'these foreigners are nuts' kind of look and gently said that if I used enough water the pasta couldn't stick. And besides, it was a waste of good oil. And, what would I do with the water afterwards? 

It was my turn to give her an agonised look. The water? Again, patiently, she explained that the water could be used for doing the washing up.

3. Don't use too much salt. Pasta dough is unsalted so it needs the salt in the cooking water to give it some flavour.

Now here there are differing points of view as to when to throw in the salt. I always put it in at the beginning as, from a chemical point of view, it helps the water reach boiling point a little faster. But, many cooks suggest throwing in the salt just as the water reaches boiling point and stirring it in, just before chucking in the pasta.

Salt crystals

4. Cook just under a minute of the recommended time on the pack. Thus, when you toss it in the sauce you have prepared it won't overcook and become that dreaded 'scotta'. Pasta must be 'al dente' - firm when you bite it. I once met an Italian who liked his pasta so 'al dente' it was chewy.

Remember that fresh pasta, as opposed to dried pasta,takes so little time to cook that turn away for a second and you are doomed.

 
5. Save a cupful of starchy, salty cooking water for a glossy finish on the sauce. You toss the cooked and drained pasta into the sauce, if it needs loosening add some of the cooking water. Some recipes such as 'cacio pepe' (pecorino cheese and pepper) rely on this addition of water to bring the dish together.

6. When you drain the pasta don't rinse it in cold water.

The other thing to bear in mind is that specific dishes need the right pasta. Hence, the good old 'spag bol' revered by so many is not Italian. The 'ragu alla bolognese' should be eaten with tagliatelle or fettucine - flatter and wider types of pasta than spaghetti to which the sauce can adhere better.

It doesn't stop there:  bucatini all'amatriciana, rigatoni con la pajata  (a Roman dish of milk fed veal intestines in a tomato sauce), penne all'arrabbiata (angry pens, a hot pepperoncino sauce characterises this dish), tonarelli cacio pepe, farfalle (butterflies) with a tomato or cream based sauce. pizzocheri-a buckwheat pasta from Northern Italy with cabbage, orecchiette (little ears from Puglia) alle cime di rapa (tender stem broccoli), strozzapretti (strangled priests) con porcini, small pasta shapes such as stelline or the Sardinian fregola in a minestrone or a broth..... 

There are an estimated 350 different types of pasta with just as many sauces and accompaniments. Using pasta in all its different ways is fun, just make sure it isn't 'scotta'.

bucatini with a simple tomato sauce and basil