Many people think that the Italians gave birth to pasta, but the idea of the noodle is actually a Chinese invention that is over 4,000 years old. However, the Romans got hold of the stuff and added their own spin to it by changing the base ingredient from rice flour to semolina flour. Pasta-making has changed very little since, except for some automation brought about by pasta machines. However, there’s no need to worry about that as you can just buy it from the store.
However, if you struggle with cooking pasta properly, and want to learn how to cook the perfect pasta, check out the helpful tips below:
1. When the water starts to boil, lower the flame so that the bubbles are small. A big, rolling boil will destroy more delicate pasta such as tortellini or ravioli.
2. Never boil pasta in a covered pot, as it will quickly overflow. Quick tip: Leave your wooden spoon in the pot to prevent spillage.
3. Never put pasta in a pot that isn’t boiling, as this will only leave you with gooey and overdone pasta. Yuck!
4. It’s not a good idea to boil two different varieties of pasta together unless they’re similar in shape and size, due to varied cooking times.
5. Don’t rinse your pasta after it has been cooked. This is a terrible practice that has spread across the cooking world. That coating of starch that’s sitting on your pasta will help the tasty sauce stick to it. The only time you should consider rinsing your pasta is when using it in a cold dish.
6. Put the sauce on the pasta immediately after you drain it. The pasta cools down fast and will start sticking to each other without sauce or oil to keep them apart.
7. Heat the cooked pasta and sauce together for around 1 minute before serving. This helps ensure that the pasta really “grabs” the sauce.
Source: startcooking
Images: depositphotos
