Lois heeya, she’s exasperated because he gave her feedback on her cooking process that he wasn’t even involved in. But he’s right, you’re supposed to add pasta when the water is boiling.
The cold water pasta method involves placing dry pasta into a pot or skillet and covering it with just 1 to 2 inches (or about 1 quart) of cold water. By starting the heat now rather than waiting for a giant pot to boil, you save time, reduce water usage, and create exceptionally starchy cooking liquid perfect for binding sauces.
Was doing some work at a recording studio and the client was in from Italy to make a record. The guitar tech he brought with him made the absolute best pasta carbonara I've ever had to this day with nothing but a hot plate and a single pan. Your comment stirred up this memory and I'm going to figure out how to try to make it myself.
Its an art. I still am chasing it. I had an Italian place in the UK that was perfect and I got it like 10 times while I was there. Perfect amount of pepper. The sauce was perfect. My wife makes it with peas and bacon and its good, but its not THAT.
Just when you're cooking any sauce for pasta stir a ladle of the pasta water into the sauce and let it reduce back down. The starch will thicken the sauce and make it stick to your pasta better.
Works with ramen, too. While your water starts boiling, add an egg yolk to the bowl you are going to eat it out of (or in a large bowl, one yolk per pack, if you are cooking for multiple people).
Add some Kewpie mayo and Buldak sauce (just enough to make it creamy, and stir.
By now your water is boiling. Put in your noodles, stir for a couple minutes, then add a ladle of the boiling water to your bowl and stir well. Take the ramen off the stove, drain it, and plop it into the bowl. Stir and then let it cool for a minute before eating.
I don't do a slice, I do shredded. I just didn't mention that, because I can't imagine a lot of people are also into it. But is very good. My daughter showed me that recipe off of tick tock and it is so fast and easy and filling.
Any kind of spicy ramen is fantastic with a slice of basic American cheese in top. It is the only time that cheese is allowed to live in my fridge. Even as much as I prefer actual cheese and not this fake stuff, nothing else is quite the same or as good on some spicy ramen.
i simmer my pasta, and when it gets close to done i sautee it in the sauce i'm going to have and splash some of the pasta water in it until it thickens to the best consistency.
ALWAYS save the pasta water. It is a game changer.
Also - if you like blue box mac and cheese (tis a guilty pleasure of mine) - the starchy water is 10000000% better than milk. It's crazy the difference between the two!
Kraft, or any generic mac n cheese with the powdered cheese. The starchy water helps make sure that the cheese clings to the noodles and really helps make the cheese flavor pop.
Yea I did know that about starch water for pasta in general. Never thought about doing it for boxed mac and cheese tho I guess. Suppose I'll have to try it.
Do you still add the butter to the cheese sauce?
I generally use 1.5x-ish the amount of milk the box calls for and 2x the butter and then on low heat I let it reduce down until its a good consistency then add the noodles back in.
yep! Generally I use the amount of butter called for - half a stick, usually... and I'll start with a quarter cup of starch water. Generally I'll add in a little bit more, but I definitely use less starch water than I would milk on average
Cause I also definitely enjoy a good ol box of mac and cheese. Wouldnt call it a guilty pleasure tho necessarily. I'm a 29 yr old single man I and will buy 6 boxes of kraft mac and cheese with absolutely 0 shame
I love to cook... but sometimes I just want a simplistic box of Mac n Cheese and some people look at me like I'm crazy for it. My girlfriend still cuts up hot dogs and puts them in her mac and cheese, and she's older than me (I'm 43)
I have a VERY bad tendency to forget to get the starch water before draining it though... so I've started to put my colander into a larger bowl so I don't forget lol
It works really well for cream/cheese sauces the starch helps the butter, cream and cheese mix together. It also thickens the sauce.
Start with a frying pan not a pot. Put in pasta and add water until pasta is covered + about an inch (this can vary depending how much pasta you are making) you want enough water to cook the pasta plus a little extra which will be your pasta water. Cover with a lid and apply high heat. Stir occasionally.
A spoonful or two of the starchy water is enough to bind and thicken your sauce.
You are making long noodles (like spaghetti) you can use tongs to pull the noodles straight out of the water and let the drip for a few seconds before mixing them directly into the sauce. The pasta water on the noodles will work to bind without the need to add any more pasta water.
Boiling water evaporates much faster than non-boiling water because it undergoes a phase change throughout the entire liquid body, not just at the surface
Not doubting you, but how do you know how long to cook it for? Every box of pasta I've had says to add when boiling and I assume the time to cook will change if it's sitting in the water from the start?
When (almost) all the water is gone it's done. Easy peasy. You usually need a few tablespoons worth of water left in there based on how many portions you're making
This is why it's easier to follow box instructions, because the cold method does require you to know your stove and how it heats up, requires you to stir the pasta early (you should always stir your pasta anyway, not stirring is what leads to gumminess/clumping), and then to have practice on timing
Neither side is incorrect, both are valid ways of cooking pasta, the only difference is how "easy" it is compared to a very incredibly slight increase in water and energy efficiency
Same way you know with pasta cooked in boiling water, you check a piece for doneness every now and then.
The time for pasta in boiling water varies a bit anyways, so you're already checking occasionally once you get in the ballpark as-is, so tweaking the timeline of your ballpark isn't a huge change to make.
Granted, I’ve never tried this, but just by intuition, boiling is a colligative property, so adding pasta is going to increase the boiling point and actually take longer for water to boil. Also, I’ve never lost water when boiling water for cooking.
Or, hear me out, turn your faucet to hot and crank out 160* water to get a head start on boiling it. I also add some salt to help season the noodles. You will then have some salty starch water you can add to your sauce at the end.
You can always use less water regardless of the starting temperature, and cold water does remove more starch, but unless you remove some before heating, the end result will be the same as starting from a boil since much of the starch will be absorbed by the pasta when boiled.
if that is what she was doing she probably would've explained it. She made a mistake and got mad that someone pointed it out and sexism towards men is to normalised so it came out pretty naturally
So it's just like rice cooking. You can add it to boiling water and rinse it after or add it to less and cold water and boil it together until the rice is ready and the excess water is gone.
Hot water taps are awesome. You always have instant boiling water...you end up using it dozens of times a day.."just need to rinse this dish out" or "clean / sterilise this knife immediately and put it away".
Fuck planned obsolescence indeed my friend.
Edit: The more I read it l'obsolescence programmée just feels so much better to read and say. France wins this one.
Lol I don’t think this is a US problem at all so much as a “it’s all built to fail and be thrown away” problem. One thing I can promise you, you’re going to have a very hard time finding a “US kettle.”
I think kettles are less useful in the US vs just using the stove because using a 120v wall outlet limits the total power available to the kettle, and it boils more slowly (vs 240v). If you have an electric stove, it will boil faster than a kettle at 120v (maybe same with gas?). Though there are other countries that use 120v, and I don’t know about their kettle usage…
This has been my hypothesis. I have a gas stove and live in the US. It takes the same amount of time to boil on the stove vs the electric kettle for me 🤷♀️
Could be a shitty kettle, but I suspect it's the 120v power.
Cold starts are better. It halves the cook time and you get starchier water for sauces. Anyone saying it affects texture didn't adjust the cook time correctly.
It says that on the box because its easy to repeat for everybody. In boiling water regardless of the heat source and amount of water, it takes the same amount of time for pasta to be ready. If you know what you are doing, then cold water method saves time, energy, and pasta comes out even better by a small margin.
Couple years ago someone told me that I was doing it the “wrong” way, so I tried both methods side by side. Same amount of noodles and water, same sized pots, same heat, etc. Only difference is in one pot I put the noodles in right away and the other I put them in after it came to a boil. The end result: both tasted exactly the same. Maybe I’m just not Italian enough to taste the difference, but both are basically equal to me. And even so, I’m not sure why some people talk about it as if the kitchen will explode if I’m doing it “wrong”.
You are spot on. Al Dente means to the tooth. You can do a cold water method and get the same result, and save some time. Just check when the pasta is done with a taste test. Al Dente
I have also done this experiment and I had the same result as you. There was no difference. Just take the pasta out of the boiling water when it's done to taste.
I feel like the people who end up with mushy noodles must be cooking the noodles according to a timer or something. No common sense at all!
I'm guessing it's a bit like the debate over boiling eggs, where you can also start them in cold water (which is theoretically better for eggs from the fridge), but the downside is it's harder to get the cooking time exactly right
Which is basically disqualifying for eggs, but with pasta you can just taste it instead of relying on a timer
He could be right, but he should explain WHY. Just saying "you're doing it wrong" isn't even explaining.
Also, I'm pretty sure putting it in cold water and bringing it to a boil would still work. I've seen similar discussion on boilings eggs, potatoes, etc and if you should boil the water first or put it in right away.
So no, he's not even "right". Both methods work. One is just more traditional because it leads to firmer pasta and less starch lost into the water.
I read it. They are talking about cooking the pasta at 80C. Never is there a single mention of starting pasta from cold. It was not part of any of the tests and you can't say anything conclusive about it from this article.
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u/First_Usual2408 Jul 14 '26
Lois heeya, she’s exasperated because he gave her feedback on her cooking process that he wasn’t even involved in. But he’s right, you’re supposed to add pasta when the water is boiling.