Cooking Instructions
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Water – The more the better!
Take a large pot and fill with water. Allow 6 litres of water for every 500g of pasta as a minimum guide, but the more water you can boil the better, as pasta only sticks when cooked in too little water. Boil the water on a stove. You can place a lid on the pot to speed the process.
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Wait then add salt to flavour
Salt makes pasta taste better. Only add salt to boiling water, this is because salted water takes longer to boil than water alone, it’s therefore quicker to add salt after the water has already boiled. The quantity of salt you need to add is personal preference but 1 teaspoon per gallon of water is a good starting point.
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Boil Boil Boil
Adding salt will reduce the temperature of your water, therefore wait for your water to reach a rolling boil; this means a boil that you can’t stop by stirring.
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Slowly add pasta
Add the pasts slowly to the boiling salted water, ideally the water should not stop boiling. Check the pasta packet for cooking times and cook until slightly under the indicated time.
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To the bite
Allow your pasta to cook until it is ‘al dente’ (to the bite), the pasta should be slightly elastic with a little resistance in the centre of the pasta when you bite it. Once your pasta is cooked, drain in a colander.
Taste Tip - Flavour pasta inside out
Pasta is like a sponge, it absorbs the liquid in which it’s immersed. Cooking the pasta immersed in water is OK, but cooking pasta in sauce is better! The pasta will be flavoured by the sauce from the inside. Allow your pasta to be part cooked in water and finalised in sauce for best taste results.
Chefs Advice - Don't add olive oil
A commonly known pasta trick is to add olive oil to the water to prevent the pasta from sticking to the pan. Chefs discourage this, as olive oil prevents the pasta from absorbing and sticking to the pasta sauce. Occasionally stirring the pasta achieves the same as olive oil without the compromise on taste.
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