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this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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It won't stick together like that if you actually wait for the water to come to a proper boil before you add the pasta
For small portions that probably will work. Plenty of times I’ve put pasta in only to have it stick if I don’t stir a little in the first minute or two. There’s just not enough room for the boiling to agitate the pasta enough to prevent sticking.
I think all you really need is a Knorr chicken stock cube.
For spaghetti? That kind of seems like a waste of a stock cube since most of that water is just going to get dumped at the end
It's a meme. Supposed master chef Marco Pierre white was chilling for Knorr and made a video advocating this
https://youtu.be/h2Ut1H659lU?si=6KnpQAYUg4ohy9wC
Yeah, but he's putting stock in the sauce not just throwing it into the water for boiling the pasta though
yes, this is the answer! patience! a proper boil that stays boiling until the pasta is done. no sticking ever. salt and oil are never needed in the cooking water.
You should still be salting your water. It does nothing to prevent the pasta sticking, but it does make it taste better.
I thought it was a texture thing. Otherwise, you could just add some salt to your sauce.
It's not the same effect. Then the sauce will be salted, and the pasta will maybe absorb some of that salt.
But, in my opinion, that's an inelegant solution.
I personally do not want any more salt in the pasta sauce than what's already in there. I do, however, want my pasta to take in a little salt from the water.
For those reasons, I add a little salt to my water as it's boiling
It changes the way the pasta itself tastes, and is very different from adding it it the sauce.
Sea water has a salinity of around 35g/kg.
No one wants pasta water as salty as the sea - although unsalted water doesn't sound much more appealing.
No one except everyone who wants their pasta to taste good. You need to add a ton of salt because most of it is going down the drain at the end.
Edit: ok, I stand corrected.
I think you underestimate how much salt that is.
What you just said is that you want to add in the range of 50-70g of salt depending on the size of your pan. That's too much salt
For fresh pasta yes, dried you don't need as much salt
I read that quote regularly. Any clue who it originates from? I think it's a romantic overstatement and does not hold as a general pasta rule. Salty pasta water is needed when you use a sauce or a pesto that has little salt in it. However, when using a particularly salty sauce or pesto, your end result can easily turn out too salty, if you put too much salt in the pasta water. When I make japanese miso-butter pasta for example, I don't put any salt in the boiling water, because combined with the miso-butter, that would make the end result way too salty.
I use 2 tablespoons per pound of pasta.
Knorr salt bullions sounds like a missed oppo.
Seawater is two teaspoons salt per cup of water. That's a little more than half a cup of salt per gallon of water. That is an unhealthy amount of salt.
Damn, you guys are missing out.
Pasta water should be as salty as the sea, and it has nothing to do with sticking.
I'll give you half as salty as the sea. not full hog
Nooo. You need the perfect amount of water so it reabsorbs it's own juices. Succulent Cannibalism.
A bit of oil helps too
Oil that floats to the top of the water? Don't see that helping much
All the oil is doing is helping the pan not boil over while on a high heat as it makes the formation of bubbles at the surface more difficult. So… it kind of helps because you can cook more easily at a high heat but yeah it does nothing for the pasta.
And of course as long as your cooking pot is large enough and you are actually being present, then there shouldn't be any risk of it boiling over and thus no need for any oil.
I think your comment is the source of a lot of people's problems with sticking pasta. If there pots aren't big enough and stove not powerful enough, a large amount of pasta can cool the water enough to stop the boiling and the pasta will stick if not stirred.
It eventually gets absorbed by the pasta and makes it creamier. Unless you have too much water.