“You can buy a good pasta but when you cook it yourself it has another feeling.” – Agnes Varda
Who doesn’t love pasta? It’s delicious and very versatile as well. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner. You can have it every day and for special occasions too.
No wonder cooking pasta is one of the first skills that we learn from home.
Now, learning how to cook pasta is both easy and hard. The steps are easy, but we also tend to make miscalculations and mistakes as well. Ending up with under cooked or soggy pasta is always a disappointment.
How do you cook your pasta?
Okay, we’re guessing that we all know the traditional and “proper” way to cook pasta. We may have learned it from our grandparents or even from our parents.
We all start by preparing a large pot of water and then we add a pinch of salt, and then the waiting game begins. We wait for that big pot of water to boil, and then we put our pasta.
Wait for a couple of minutes again, and then you throw all that water away. Sounds familiar?
However, don’t you sometimes think of all the water that’s wasted? Also, let’s not forget about the pasta sticking together. It’s a good thing we came across an article from Harold McGee, and his method of cooking pasta “perfectly” will surely surprise you.
Harold McGee is the author of the best-selling book “Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes.” In this book, he shares that he was able to discover and share a new way of cooking our favorite pasta.
This method is surely a game-changer.
So – are you excited to know how to cook pasta perfectly? Well, once you understand how McGee’s genius way of cooking works, you’ll never go back to the “traditional” way of cooking pasta again.
According to McGee, you start by placing your pasta into the empty, cold pan. Then you go ahead and pour about a quart and a half of cold water into your noodles, and then that’s that time you turn on the heat.
“Because the water is cold, the pasta won’t stick to itself at the very beginning, when it’s done, you have pasta that’s perfectly cooked,” McGee shares how his method works.
It does make sense, right?
Why use so much water and then wait for roughly 20 minutes for it to boil? On top of that, putting your pasta in boiling water causes it to stick together, then you have to wait again and you end up throwing that water away.
With McGee’s method, you will save time, water, energy and you will always have perfectly cooked pasta!
As a bonus, you will also have a small amount of thickened liquid or ‘pasta water’ that you can use for your sauce! Now that’s cooking efficiently and effectively!
If you’re convinced, then we know you are ready to give this genius pasta hack a try. Here’s the step-by-step procedure for that perfect al dente pasta.
You’ll just need a frying pan, pasta, water, and salt.
- First, get your favorite frying pan. Yes, not a pot but a frying pan!
- Put your favorite pasta in the pan. (No water)
- Now you start pouring about one-to-two quarts of cold water and add salt. (Not boiling water)
- Turn the heat on and let it cook for around 15-20 minutes.
- Remove your al dente pasta and don’t use the remaining thick pasta water for your sauce.
Enjoy!
If it worked perfectly for you, then don’t forget to share this with all your pasta-loving friends and family.
Watch the video below.
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