The ULTIMATE Secret to Great Spaghetti

1) When boiling the pasta, boil it until it's al dente (or to your liking). Pull out a few strands and taste test after 10m. Directions say 10m.It usually takes longer.

2) After straining, put pasta back in pot then add some butter, olive oil and then the sauce. Stir. The pasta will soak up all that flavor and make it creamy and smooth. Do not ladle the sauce over dry pasta when presenting.

3) Grate a little fresh parmesano reggiano over the top.

4) Share with your significant other and prepare to make a baby.

Pro-Tip. Run a little garlic thru a press and add to butter for extra kick.

Best Pasta here (don't use Angel hair pasta)

a reply to: NightVision

A splash of the pasta cooking water will add to the texture of the sauce due to the starches that came off the pasta.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Amen, brother! Thnk you I'll try that.

a reply to: NightVision

I've seen that technique before.
I honestly prefer my sauce spread over the top of the cooked spaghetti and not mixed in.
My wife prefers your method.

Now just to clarify im not some box mix heathen...
I make my own scampi and Alfredo sauces so im not an in-cultured fool...haha

I also prefer the angle hair pasta...

The fad is al-dente. Been studying food chemistry for a while and discovered years ago that al dente as related to pasta is not really good for us. Just because the younger generation thinks it is better does not mean it is. Anhydrate pasta chemistry can cause side effects if it is consumed too much.

But if people think it is perfectly safe, the medical industry needs income and I would rather they get their money from the fools who didn't pay attention to their ancestors knowledge. I think of pasta as Italian, and all of the old Italians I know or knew said that pasta needs to be well cooked. Sl dente was not considered acceptable to them.

Same with cooking green beans, make sure to cook them till they are tender. It is a different bad chemistry, but they call that al dente too.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I think of pasta as Italian, and all of the old Italians I know or knew said that pasta needs to be well cooked.

Not sure which Italians you are speaking to but al dente is the way you get pretty much all pasta in Italy.

a reply to: rickymouse

I can understand why cooking vegetables longer would change the chemical makeup but pasta seems odd.

It is literally one ingredient..wheat.
I wonder what changes?

a reply to: NightVision

The real secret is fresh pasta and not that dried stuff for hard times

a reply to: NightVision

great tips, also for a bit of art deco, forget woodchip

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: rickymouse
I think of pasta as Italian, and all of the old Italians I know or knew said that pasta needs to be well cooked.

Not sure which Italians you are speaking to but al dente is the way you get pretty much all pasta in Italy.

Yeah, the fad started there too twenty to thirty years ago. I learned this from old Italian people, then researched what chemicals they were implying might have been altered. I was surprised when I found that the old Italians were right in their belief that pasta should be cooked more than al-dente. Only a few of those old Italians I discussed this with are still alive anymore, most lived well into their eighties and nineties and were healthy up till they died.

If you make pasta from scratch and use undried fresh noodles, the problem is not as much of a concern.

We make quite a bit of our pasta using recipes I got from Italian people over the years, but still are buying seventy percent of our pasta from the store. My pasta machine came from a rummage sale of an old Italian I knew who made excellent cudighi and other Italian sausages the old way. I knew lots of old Italians, we discussed food quite often. When I informed them that they were right with avoiding undercooked pasta from researching the food chemistry, they said that the young don't listen and they will pay for not listening.

My last name may be Italian like, but I am a Finn.

a reply to: NightVision
Pull out pasta a few strands throw against wall if it sticks then its done .

a reply to: rickymouse

Maybe I should clarify. I basically over-cook my pasta. I don't like it chewy. I just boil it until I can bite thru it with ease. Apologoies for any confusion.

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: NightVision

The real secret is fresh pasta and not that dried stuff for hard times

I have no doubt about that. But damn, making yer own pasta is labor intensive!

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: NightVision

The real secret is fresh pasta and not that dried stuff for hard times

If you dry a fruit or seed, what preserves it is an ite or an ide. Sulfur containing chemistries contain sulfites or sulfides when dried. Nitrogen based chemistries make nitrites or nitrides when dried. Flour contains sulfur and nitrogen chemistries, these chemistries make it so flour can be stored a real long time when dry. There are also some problematic chemistries caused by starches when dehydrated. But if properly done, and cooked properly these bad properties are neutralized in the process.

An occasional el-dente dish is not going to hurt anyone, but if you eat it more than occasionally, it can lead to cronic health problems.

a reply to: NightVision

With a pasta maker it's fine. And absolutely worth it.

a reply to: rickymouse

Well if you make it yourself you get to play with the ingredients and the possibilities are endless.

originally posted by: NightVision
a reply to: rickymouse

Maybe I should clarify. I basically over-cook my pasta. I don't like it chewy. I just boil it until I can bite thru it with ease. Apologoies for any confusion.

I know lots of people who eat it want it slightly chewy. Old people call that kind of pasta a screwup, but the young have now started calling it el-dente and superior to properly cooked pasta. You do not want it mushy either, but most of the young around here are making it chewey and saying that is the best way to have it. When I say young, I include many people under forty years old. My own kids are doing this and are following misinformation created by their generation.

originally posted by: NightVision

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: NightVision

The real secret is fresh pasta and not that dried stuff for hard times

I have no doubt about that. But damn, making yer own pasta is labor intensive!

Actually making pasta does not take much time at all, to make enough for your supper takes about ten minutes total. I have the pasta roller/cutter, but you can use a rolling pin and one of those three or four wheel cutters, we used those for years. The pasta machine is good when making lots of homemade pasta, we hang it from hangers on washed plastic clothes hangers hanging on the kitchen cabinet knobs overnight. My granddaughter comes over once in a while and we make a lot of it. She also goes to her mother inlaws house and makes pasta there with their family.

We use free range local eggs and organic whole wheat white flour to make our noodles. Also we use sea salt in the recipe. Depending on what we are using, sometimes we add some semolina flour to the mix, but organic semolina is expensive. We do buy three quarters of our noodles from the store though, but I make lots of soups to bring over to the kids and grandkids families.

I always thought 'al Dente' was french for 'undercooked'

if I want chewy I get some jerky. stringbeans and pasta should not be chewy.

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: rickymouse

Well if you make it yourself you get to play with the ingredients and the possibilities are endless.

Making it with local eggs where the chicken run around in the yard really increases the taste of the noodles. Also the organic white whole wheat flour is better, glyphosate and pesticides can give pasta a bitter taste.

Using good ingredients makes it taste better, but it makes it more expensive, you wind up paying as much as if you buy creamettes on sale just in the ingredients when using good stuff.