Pasta has long been loved in our country by all gourmets and not only. In this article, I will outline in a fairly simple and detailed way all the principles and nuances that you should pay attention to when cooking this wonderful product.
1. Choosing delicious pasta
Wheat variety
The first thing you need to pay attention to is the type of wheat, if the packaging does not say that the product is made from durum wheat, this will mean that the pasta is both less tasty and less healthy.
Paste color
It should be with a dark yellowish tint without blotches, if you see that the color is pale or light yellow, most likely there will be nothing tasty in the pack.
Structure
Durum wheat flour and water are all you have to find in the composition, otherwise we will not eat pasta.
In this article, we do not take into account various pastes, such as: funcheza (rice), soba (buckwheat), udon (eggs), spelled spaghetti and others. Such pastes can contain a large number of ingredients provided by the technological process of production or traditionally included in the composition.
2. Preparation
Technology
Cook the pasta correctly in a ratio of 1/100/10, this is 1 liter of water per 100 g of pasta and, accordingly, 10 g of salt
It is not so convenient to use weights at home, so use the following simple rules and you will succeed.
Plenty of water
Do not take a small saucepan, if you cook more than 3 servings of pasta, it is better to take more than less.
Salt
Try water for salt, the salinity of the water will be transferred to the paste, if the water is very salty or fresh, then the paste will be the same.
3. How long to cook
Al dente or full cooking?
It's only your choice. If you are a gourmet and love "al dente", it is important to know that if the pasta is eaten immediately, then it should be removed when cooking on a tooth.
There is only one way to define this cooking, no matter how trivial, try it, as soon as it is pleasant to eat, it is ready.
If it is waiting for guests hot in large quantities (several servings in one container) without sauce, in a colander and even without water, the large mass will have enough heat to cook itself. In this case, take out the undercooked pasta a minute before cooking. Full cooking is always indicated on the packaging of a good paste, if you start from this information, then you should take it out one and a half minutes before the time recommended by the manufacturer.
If a lot of pasta is cooked, and the cooking is already sufficient, you should definitely rinse it with cold water, the water will take heat, of course, it must be drained and filled with vegetable oil in order to prevent sticking. This advice will save you from the boiled gummy mass and your guests will always be delighted with your dish. Later you will heat the pasta sauce and add it inside and once the pasta is hot you can serve the perfect pasta.
If you like full cooking, the recommendations are as follows:
- Accurately adhere to the cooking time recommended on the package. If there is a lot of pasta, and the guests will not sit down at the table soon, it is necessary to use the above technique to save the pasta, the procedure will be the same as for the al dente cooking pasta.
- The choice of cooking itself does not have to be referred to the term, what we call "al dente", depending on the type of flour, the manufacturer and the shape of the pasta, may fluctuate, but your feelings are the same. Either you like the cooking or not, you also need to look at the preferences of the guests. If you like al dente, this does not mean that conservative guests who do not eat in restaurants but prefer home cooking will be delighted.
