Pasta Cooking Instructions

[Jenise]

No wonder Susie Homemaker always overcooks her pasta.

I don't think I've ever looked at the directions on a box of pasta in my life. As a kid it was my job to cook the spaghetti, and I just put it in the pot and tested frequently, draining it and rinsing it to stop cooking when it was at the stage of chewiness that I had been taught to recognize as al dente. That remains my method today though I've pared down the definition of al dente by about a minute.

But today when I went into this exercise of cooking one heckuvalottapasta for tomorrow night's neighborhood feed, I needed to be more exact. I needed to cook every batch identically, and needed to make good use of the time inbetween batches and therefore use the timer to remind me when to come back to the kitchen. Too, I was cooking two different sizes (Ronzoni brand penne rigate and mostoccioli rigate, because I couldn't get 100% of what I needed in the same size) and they were going to have different cooking times. For a relative sense of what to do when, I read the box. And couldn't believe my eyes. The cooking time on the penne was 7 to 9 minutes where I'd have guessed 5-6 judging by its size, and the mostaccioli was 12 to 14, where I'd have guessed, if asked, that I cook a noodle like that in around 10.

Mind you, the box directions, or misdirections!, affected me not at all because I did test batches of both to confirm the timing I needed, but it was dismaying to think how done the pasta would have been had I left it in the pot all the way to the their minimum, let alone longer. The penne would have been perfectly cooked in five minutes, and the mostoccioli in nine, two and four minutes below Ronzoni's minimum. I cooked each batch even less for my purposes, but still, five and nine vs. 7 and 12 minimum, or about 30%? That's huge.

Are all the pasta manufacturers this bad?

The Italian makers that I favor give much shorter times, Jenise, and always add "or to taste". A typical penne rigate we like has seven or eight minutes as their suggestion, and add "to taste".

[Robin Garr]

The Italian makers that I favor give much shorter times, Jenise, and always add "or to taste". A typical penne rigate we like has seven or eight minutes as their suggestion, and add "to taste".

I'm a little bemused by this, Bob (and Jenise). Most of our short pasta is De Cecco, from San Martino in Abruzzo. It's a big producer, probably a little mass-market, and the pasta they sell in the US is obviously made for export, with English instructions and all. But their smallish <i>penne rigate</i> call for 13 minutes, and although I too check for doneness rather than watching the clock, I have to say that most of their short pastas seem to come out about right within a minute or two of the specified time. I like <i>al dente</i> and think I've eaten in Italy enough to recognize it, but if I pulled these <i>penne</i> at less than 11 or 12 minutes, I think they'd still be hard and chalky in the interior. Different brand, maybe? I always cook them the traditional way, full rolling boil in a large amount of water "salty as the sea."

Couple of thoughts, Robin:

1. No salt here -- don't know if it matters, but the rolling boil seems hotter without salt -- at least the water comes back to a roll very quickly.

2. Most of the pasta we buy seems to be re-packaged, or at least, packaged in excellent American English. Maybe they have different versions?

3. In any event, shorter cooking times here. I only have torn up bags on hand at the moment, but will revert with some actual text. There seems to be a "story" here.

Regards, Bob

Couple of thoughts, Robin:

1. No salt here -- don't know if it matters, but the rolling boil seems hotter without salt -- at least the water comes back to a roll very quickly.

My understanding is that salt lowers the freezing point of water and increases the boiling point such that a rolling boil of salt water is hotter than a rolling boil of water without salt. The proof is more or less that water stops boiling when you toss salt into it and must reach a higher temperture to come to a renewed boil.

2. Most of the pasta we buy seems to be re-packaged, or at least, packaged in excellent American English. Maybe they have different versions?

I don't know about the Italian products, but Ronzoni, San Giorgio, American Beauty, Creamtte, Skinner, Prince, Mrs. Weiss, P&R and Light 'n Fluffy are all macaroni/spaghetti brands owned by New World Pasta and pretty much made in the same place on the same equipment. Different versions? Naw. Different boxes, maybe.

3. In any event, shorter cooking times here. I only have torn up bags on hand at the moment, but will revert with some actual text. There seems to be a "story" here.

My impression is that the harder the wheat the longer the cooking time. If you buy good Italian stuff, it can take as many as 13 minutes to get them even al dente. Buy something like Mission and they're mush in six minutes.

[Jenise]

I like al dente and think I've eaten in Italy enough to recognize it, but if I pulled these penne at less than 11 or 12 minutes, I think they'd still be hard and chalky in the interior.

Hmmm...you know what, I was surprised in New York last February to have pasta three different times at three different restaurants and find that their idea of 'al dente' was actually where I would consider it slightly undercooked and in need of about one more minute cooking to reach a perfect 'al dente'. Theirs was like the texture to a perfect 17 minute risotto (not completely done in the center), and the consistency between the three restaurants convinced me that the experience wasn't a fluke: West Coast al dente is a little more cooked than East Coast al dente. Maybe by just a minute, but it's a critical minute. I've eaten pasta in Italy, btw, and not noticed any difference between that and what I knew.

Hey, let's Pal Cal this. De Cecco is in stores here, I'll buy the penne rigate and time it.

[quote="Gary Barlettano
My understanding is that salt lowers the freezing point of water and increases the boiling point such that a rolling boil of salt water is hotter than a rolling boil of water without salt. The proof is more or less that water stops boiling when you toss salt into it and must reach a higher temperture to come to a renewed boil.[/quote]

Technically, you are correct, but the addition of a Tbs or two of salt would have a negligible difference on the temperature. Check it out with a thermometer.

Some years ago, my wife and I were visiting my mother in PA. She made spaghetti for us. I complained that the spaghetti tasted mushy. Her reply? "I don't know why. I only cooked it for 20 minutes."

Generally speaking (depending on barometric pressure) unsalted water boils at around 198F at my home here at 7,100 feet above sea level. I had to learn to increase cooking times for pasta. It just felt so wrong at first.

I never rinse the pasta. Mostly I cook it by taste...and appearance followed by taste. I've also, when the recipe calls for it..started adding the pasta to the hot , still simmering sauce slightly under cooked and stirring it in. Letting the sauce finish cooking it.

I learned that watching Batali and it works really well. The hot pasta takes on the flavors of the sauce and finishes a perfect al dente...unless I screw up, of course.

Richard

[Jenise]

Richard, that's how I do it too--the starch on the pasta helps thicken and enrich the sauce. But for the same reason washing off the starch is a good step when you're not using the pasta right away.