Even experienced housewives make these mistakes when cooking pasta: which desperately spoils a simple dish

Let’s not be like the snobs who insist that real Italian pasta can only be freshly made. Italians have no problems preparing shelf-stable dry spaghetti and shaped pasta (the main thing is that grocery products are made from durum wheat and without unnecessary additives). If everything is done correctly, the dish will acquire the right consistency and will perfectly reveal its taste in the company of sauce, butter and cheese.

Italian restaurant chefs Lina Nicolai, Francesco Macei and Patrick Money explained the main mistakes that even advanced lovers of delicious homemade dishes can make when preparing pasta.

Italian chefs say that pasta water should “taste like the sea,” meaning distinctly salty. Throwing a few grains of salt into the pan is not an option. And be sure to use exactly the amount of water recommended by the pasta manufacturer in the information on the package, otherwise the balance of power will change and the cooking technology will not be respected.

Salted water has a higher boiling point, which is important for the organoleptic properties of the finished pasta.

It is important to add the pasta to the pan only after the salt is completely dissolved. Chefs advise against adding salt to pasta while cooking.

Salt adds flavor not only to the pasta itself, but also to the “liquid gold” – the water left after cooking (you don’t throw that down the sink, do you? ). This water is used to give the right consistency to the sauce.

If you place pasta in water that is just starting to boil, it will affect its density and taste: by waiting for it to boil, the pasta will absorb too much water and become too soft and sticky.

It is therefore important to take the right temperature: the boiling water in the pan must become pronounced and quite violent. Italian chefs believe that it is not necessary to “cook” the water and wait for it to boil for several minutes before adding the pasta. But if this happens, there will be no problem. The main thing is to make sure that too much water in the pan does not evaporate, as this would change the salt concentration and, furthermore, the changed amount of liquid might not be enough to cook the pasta in the pan. chosen shape.