Tag: egg pasta

Cooking Pasta 101

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In the Pasta 101 article we went through the different types of pasta and the Italian traditions around it. Let’s now talk some more on how to cook pasta, and particularly dry pasta (‘pastasciutta’).

Let’s start with quantities. How much is one serving of pasta? It depends on the yield. Raw dried pasta absorbs plenty of water as it cooks, easily doubling in weight. Uncooked fresh pasta is instead already moist and only gains moderate weight with cooking.

In Italy, the typical serving per person (of uncooked pasta) is:

  • 70-80g, for regular dried durum semolina pasta (‘pasta di semola di grano duro’);
  • 50-60g, for for dried egg noodles (‘pasta all’uovo’);
  • 80-100g, for fresh pasta (‘pasta fresca’).
60g of dried tortiglioni (left) turn into 120g when cooked (right).
60g of egg fettuccine (left) turn into 140g when cooked (right).

In any case, these amounts are very contained with respect to North American standards. This is because pasta is usually just the first course of a meal, and it’s served without a side and never with bread. The amounts of pasta get even smaller when the sauce that is going to be used is particularly rich.

Let’s now talk about the cooking process. Most recipes say the pasta should be boiled in abundant salty water. But what does that mean? How abundant is ‘abundant’ and how salty is ‘salty’? The correct proportions are:

  • 10g of salt for every liter of water (½ Tbsp of salt for 4 cups of water), and
  • at least 1 liter of water for every 100g of pasta (3 ½ oz of pasta).

It’s important to note that, despite common misconceptions, the amount of salt is not proportional to the amount of pasta! It’s proportional to the amount of water used. For example, when making pasta for 4 people (250g), it’s necessary to have at least 2.5 liters of water; and, for 2.5 liters of water, it’s necessary to have 2 tablespoons of salt. This may seem like a lot of salt, but the pasta will retain only a relatively small amount of it; the rest of the salt will stay in the water. Besides, salty water also increases the temperature at which the starches gelatinize, making the pasta less likely to stick to itself. By the way, adding table salt at the end on the cooked pasta is not equivalent to boiling the pasta in salty water, as it wouldn’t be able to reach the pasta’s core.

The best way to get the water ready for cooking pasta is to put the pot with unsalted tap water on the stove at maximum heat, covered with a lid. When the water reaches a full boil, the salt is added and should dissolve almost immediately in a burst of bubbles. While dissolving, the salt absorbs energy causing the boil to be interrupted, but only momentarily. The reason why it’s not recommended to put the salt right away in the cold water is that it will dissolve more slowly, resting on the bottom of the pot and, over time, causing some corrosion. Rock salt is normally used in Italy because it is less likely to lump together and because it’s cheaper.

When the salty water is fully boiling, the lid has to be removed and needs to stay off while cooking the pasta (or the water will start foaming and spill over). Even without the lid, the water should maintain a full boil. This is very important because it guarantees a constant temperature (around 100°C), necessary to cook pasta properly. At lower temperatures, the pasta would take longer to cook, absorb more water and become gummy. This unfortunately is unavoidable at high altitudes, for instance at 3000m water boils at 90°C. While it’s true that salt increases the boiling temperature, at typical concentrations it only increases it by 0.17°C, which is absolutely negligible.

It’s now time to “throw” in the pasta (from the Italian saying: ‘buttare la pasta’). Even though the bubbling movement of plenty of fully boiling and salty water is sufficient to keep the pasta separate and cook uniformly, it’s still important to stir the pasta for the first minute of cooking. Some sources suggest adding olive oil to the water to prevent sticking – this is generally unnecessary and actually not recommended as the pasta will be coated with grease and this will prevent the sauce from sticking to it.

How long does the pasta need to cook? For packed dried pasta, what’s written on the box (e.g. ‘cottura 10 minuti’) is a very good indication, starting the timer at the moment when the pasta is added to the boiling water. At ideal conditions (fully boiling water at low altitudes), the time given on the box produces “al dente” pasta, which is still moderately firm and offers some resistance to the bite. Even Italians may find this slightly undercooked, but it’s especially recommended for all those recipes that require the pasta to be tossed back in the pan along with the sauce (adding a couple of minutes to the cooking time). Fresh pasta cooks much more quickly than dried pasta (in the order of a few minutes, versus about 10). In any case, it’s a good idea to taste the pasta before or at its cooking time to ensure it’s cooked properly.

As soon as the pasta is ready, it has to be rapidly drained in a colander, making sure to leave a small amount of the cooking water for extra moisture and also to help the sauce adhere to the pasta thanks to the dissolved starch. Pasta boilers with embedded colanders (where the pasta cooks directly into a colander which fits completely within the pot) can be very practical, but they are regularly used only in professional kitchens.

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Pasta 101 – A Primer on the Most Iconic Italian Food

Pasta is probably the most recognized Italian dish. And for good reasons. Pasta plays a fundamental part in the diet of every Italian – even daily! This article describes all main pasta types.

Italians like pasta because they know it’s a filling meal that is easy to digest, a great option for the lunch break. The scientific reason behind this is in the high percentage of carbohydrates that pasta contains, a source of ready-to-use energy. Most Italians don’t believe in low-carb diets, since pasta and bread are so entrenched in their culture, although they do know that the excess of carbohydrates will show on the scale.

Now that we have the Atkins debate out of the way (probably the most controversial debate that we will ever have on this blog), let’s talk about the different ways to classify pasta (limiting to its more basic forms, and leaving some of its variations, such as gnocchi or ravioli, for another post).

Short or Long

Pasta can be short (‘corta’) or long (‘lunga’). Examples of short kinds of pasta are: maccheroni , rigatoni, penne, rotini, farfalle. Examples of long kinds of pasta are: spaghetti , tagliatelle , linguine .
Even though subtle, the shape, size, and thickness of pasta affect its texture on the palate, and the way it takes the sauce (hence the flavor). Because of this, tradition tends to dictate whether to choose short or long based on the preparation, in some cases even calls for a specific cut (e.g. in the case of penne all’arrabbiata  – not arabiatta!).

The shortest kinds of pasta are usually eaten in broth (‘pasta in brodo’), as opposed to in dry preparations (‘pasta asciutta’). ‘Mac and cheese’ is an exception where a very short pasta is used in a dry dish – this, however, is not a traditional Italian recipe.

Long pasta typically poses some “mechanical difficulties” to those that are not used to eating it. The proper way to eat long pasta doesn’t involve cutting it with a knife! Instead, it consists in rolling the strings around the fork (by rotating it in the hand), optionally using a spoon as support (although this is not common in Italy). Long pasta is known to splash the person eating it, especially if tomato or oily sauces are used. That’s the main reason why in Italy it is not unusual to see people in restaurants wearing napkins around their necks.

Fresh or Dried

Pasta can be fresh (‘fresca’) or dried (‘secca’). Fresh pasta (either industrially made or hand made) is preserved by keeping it in the fridge in air-tight wrapping (and only lasts a few days). Dried pasta is industrially treated to remove its moisture and can be stored for quite a long time even if the box has been opened.

Because of its different texture and flavor, fresh pasta is considered more highly than the dried one, and on certain dishes, it’s almost mandatory. However, quality dried pasta has different properties that work well for certain dishes, and in every day’s cooking, it’s far more popular than the fresh one. Every Italian has their own favorite brand of dried pasta, and they are very loyal to it (the most popular ones are Voiello, Barilla, De Cecco).
Both dried and fresh pasta may or may not contain eggs. Egg pasta has a different flavor and texture that works well for some delicate preparations. Common cuts of egg pasta are tagliatelle, pappardelle, garganelli.

Boiled or Baked

Pasta can either be boiled in abundant salty water, or baked in the oven. When boiled pasta is ready, it is quickly drained and served with a sauce (for best results, boiled pasta should be added to the sauce while still in the pan and allowed to rest in it for a minute). The boiling time is extremely important as you want the pasta to be “al dente” (for commercial pasta, most Italians simply follow the cooking time on the box). The expression “al dente” literally means “to the tooth”, indicating that the cooked pasta should be firm enough to require it to be chewed. The chewing process makes al dente pasta easier to digest than overcooked pasta. Pasta can also be boiled in broth and served in the same broth.

Baked pasta, on the other hand, is filled or layered with other ingredients, covered in sauce, and baked in the oven. If dried pasta is used, it gets sometimes lightly pre-boiled before going in the oven. Examples are: cannelloni  (not caneloni!), or the world-famous lasagna  (plural: lasagne ).

Durum or Regular Wheat

Italian dried pasta is made exclusively with durum wheat semolina. Fresh pasta can be made of regular wheat semolina or even all-purpose flour. Durum semolina is high in gluten, and the pasta made from it holds the cooking much better, i.e. doesn’t overcook as easily as regular wheat pasta. Even the best durum pasta, however, don’t reheat well at all – no Italian would eat leftover pasta the next day. Baked pasta instead can be reheated (sometimes, Italians even bake their lasagnas intentionally the night before and warm them up the next day for a more uniform and intense flavor).

As mentioned, every boiled pasta is served with some kind of sauce, and the sauce has to be in a sufficient quantity to coat the pasta, and just a little more. It’s a common Italian habit to eat the sauce remaining in the plate with some bread. This operation is called ‘fare la scarpetta’, which literally means: doing the little shoe – shaping a chunk of bread like a small shoe and wipe the plate clean!

Regardless of the type of sauce used, grated Parmigiano (or in some cases aged Pecorino) is added (just before serving) pretty much to every pasta dish. A common exception is for sauces containing fish.

It is interesting to note that probably 50% of pasta sauces are traditionally vegetarian – this contributes to making Italy a vegetarian-friendly country.

Every Italian region has its own exclusive pasta sauce recipes, and it would be impossible to mention them all here. However, there are a few families of sauces that are popular all around Italy. Here is a list of them where every sauce is paired with its most typical cut of pasta.

  • Based on just olive oil, e.g.:
    • spaghetti ‘aglio, olio e peperoncino’ (with garlic and chili pepper)
    • linguine with shell fish or other seafood (usually with some garlic and white wine)
  • Based on tomato, e.g.:
    • tomato basil rotini
    • penne all’arrabbiata (spicy, with garlic and parsley)
    • creamy tomato farfalle (with heavy cream)
  • Pesto (basil, oil, pine nuts, Parmigiano), e.g.:
  • Just butter, e.g.:
    • pappardelle (also, ravioli) butter and sage
  • Based on meat, e.g.:
    • spaghetti al ragù (Bolognese)
    • tagliatelle ‘al cinghiale’ (with wild boar)
  • Based on cream, e.g.:
    • pappardelle with mushrooms
    • fettuccine with salmon
    • farfalle with ham and peas
  • Based on eggs, e.g.:
  • Based on cheese, e.g.:

Finally, I can’t help but mention the most common mistakes found in North America. You are likely not going to have an authentic Italian pasta dish if:

  • You are getting served preparations that in Italy don’t exist. For instance:
    • Alfredo sauce. In Italy, there are several cheese and butter sauces, but nothing called Alfredo.
    • Spaghetti with meatballs. There is some evidence of such a dish in some areas of southern Italy, but this dish is virtually extinct in Italy.
  • Your pasta is terribly overcooked – Italian pasta has to be “al dente”.
  • There is too much sauce – pasta is a dry dish, not a stew!
  • There is too much pasta – 80-100 grams (around 3 ounces) is the average amount.
  • Pasta is served with a side of salad or garlic toast – it just doesn’t happen in Italy (however, bread would be on the table).

Also, if you are making pasta at home, using pre-made sauces from a jar is a big no-no. You can buy some OK pre-made Italian sauces, but they don’t compare with the freshly made ones and don’t have a big market in Italy.

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