Know Your Pasta
Cooking Skills: Pasta 1
Chapter 1 · Know Your Pasta
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The basics
Dried pasta is made from just two things: durum wheat semolina (a hard wheat that is high in protein) and water. The dough is pushed through shaped holes, then slowly dried. Durum is used because it keeps its shape and a little firmness when boiled, where soft wheat flour would turn to paste. Pasta should be tender but not mushy, which cooks call al dente, "to the tooth".
| Shape | Examples | Best with |
|---|---|---|
| Long strands | Spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelle | Smooth sauces, oil, light tomato, seafood |
| Tubes | Penne, rigatoni, macaroni | Chunky, thick or baked sauces; the sauce gets inside |
| Twists and bows | Fusilli, farfalle | Pesto, vegetable and cream sauces; pasta salad |
| Shells and cups | Conchiglie, orecchiette | Chunky sauces, peas, small pieces; they scoop |
| Tiny pasta | Orzo, ditalini | Soups and stews (chapter 8) |
The golden rule of matching is that thin sauces suit long pasta, because they coat the strands, and thick or chunky sauces suit short, hollow or twisted pasta, which trap them. But no police will arrest you for ignoring it.
- Read the packet. It tells you the cooking time. Start tasting about 2 minutes before it.
- Bronze-cut pasta is pushed through bronze dies and has a rough, matt surface that holds sauce better than smooth, shiny pasta. It costs a little more.
- Wholewheat pasta has more fibre, a nuttier taste and a chewier bite. It is a good healthy swap, especially with strong sauces.
- Store dry pasta in a cool, dry cupboard. It keeps for a year or more.
Try it
Pasta with butter and parmesan (your baseline)
Everything in this course is compared with this. It has almost nothing in it, so you can taste the pasta itself and how well you cooked it. Chapter 2 explains the cooking method in detail; for now, follow the steps.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g dried penne or spaghetti
- 1 litre water
- 1 tsp salt
- 15 g butter
- 15 g parmesan, finely grated
- 1 pinch black pepper
- Bring the water to a rolling boil in a medium pan. Add the salt, then the pasta, and stir well for the first 30 seconds so the pieces don't stick.
- Boil, uncovered, for the time on the packet minus 1 minute. Then bite a piece: it should be tender with the faintest firmness in the centre.
- Scoop out a small mugful of the cooking water, then drain the pasta in a colander. Don't rinse it.
- Return the pasta to the pan off the heat. Add the butter, the parmesan, a splash (about 2 tablespoons) of the cooking water and the pepper. Toss for 20 seconds until glossy.
- Taste it before adding anything else.
The shape tasting plate
Five common shapes, each cooked the same plain way and tossed in a little olive oil, then lined up on a plate. Buy the smallest packets, because you will use them all through this course.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 30 g dried spaghetti
- 30 g dried penne
- 30 g dried fusilli
- 30 g dried farfalle
- 30 g dried conchiglie (medium shells)
- 2.5 litres water, split between the pans (500 ml each)
- 1 pinch salt per pan
- 1 tbsp olive oil, for tossing
- Put 500 ml of water and a pinch of salt in each of five small pans (or cook in two or three rounds). Bring to the boil.
- Add each shape to its own pan, stir, and set a timer for the shortest time on its packet (or the times in the table below), then test a piece a minute later.
- Drain each, toss with a few drops of olive oil so the pieces don't stick together, and arrange on one plate.
- Look at each: how it is shaped, how thick, how hollow. Taste each plain, then press a piece with the back of a fork to see how much "bite" it has.
- Write what you notice in the tasting-notes table.
Cooking times (check your packet)
| Shape | Dry weight | Boil for |
|---|---|---|
| Spaghetti | 30 g | 9 to 11 min |
| Penne | 30 g | 10 to 12 min |
| Fusilli (twists) | 30 g | 10 to 12 min |
| Farfalle (bows) | 30 g | 9 to 11 min |
| Conchiglie (shells) | 30 g | 10 to 12 min |
One sauce, two shapes
The same simple tomato sauce on a long shape and a twisted one. Pasta shape is not only decoration: it decides how much sauce each mouthful carries.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 75 g dried spaghetti
- 75 g dried fusilli
- 200 ml tomato passata (for both)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 4 basil leaves, torn
- 1 pinch salt and sugar
- Warm the oil in a small pan over a low heat. Add the garlic for 30 seconds, then the passata, the salt and sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes and stir in the basil.
- Boil the spaghetti and the fusilli in separate pans of salted water until tender (see the tasting plate for times). Drain, keeping a little cooking water.
- Divide the sauce between the two pans. Toss each pasta with its half of the sauce and a splash of cooking water over a low heat for 1 minute.
- Eat a forkful of each, and look at how much sauce is left on the plate.
Experiments
Salted or unsalted water
Does salting the water really change anything?
- Cook two lots of 50 g spaghetti in 700 ml of water, one with 1 teaspoon of salt in the water and one with no salt.
- Drain both and eat them plain, with nothing on them, side by side.
Look for: The unsalted pasta tastes flat, however good the sauce. Only a small part of the salt ends up in the pasta, but it makes the difference. Notice that adding salt later doesn't give the same result.
Wholewheat or white
Is the healthier pasta worth it?
- Cook 50 g of white penne and 50 g of wholewheat penne in separate pans of salted water. The wholewheat usually needs 1 to 2 minutes longer.
- Eat each with a little butter and parmesan, and then with a spoonful of tomato sauce.
Look for: The wholewheat has a nuttier taste and a chewier texture. With plain butter it stands out. With a strong tomato sauce it is hard to tell apart.
Smooth or rough
Does the surface of the pasta matter?
- If you can find both, buy a standard dried pasta and a bronze-cut one of the same shape. Cook them in the same way.
- Toss each with the same amount of tomato sauce, and notice how much sauce stays on the pasta and how much is left on the plate.
Look for: Bronze-cut pasta has a rougher surface and holds more sauce. If you can only find one kind, look at the surface of your pasta under a light: smooth and shiny, or dull and slightly rough?
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butter and parmesan baseline | ||||
| Spaghetti | ||||
| Penne | ||||
| Fusilli | ||||
| Farfalle | ||||
| Conchiglie | ||||
| Salted vs unsalted | ||||
| Wholewheat vs white |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pasta stuck together in a clump | Pan too small, or not stirred at the start | Use a bigger pan with plenty of water; stir for the first minute |
| Bland pasta | No salt in the water | Add a teaspoon of salt per litre when the water boils |
| Soft and gluey | Overcooked | Taste earlier; drain 1 minute before the packet time and finish in the sauce |
| Hard, chalky core | Undercooked | Cook a minute longer and bite again |
| Spaghetti sticking out of the pan | It hasn't softened yet | Push it down with a wooden spoon after 30 seconds; don't snap it |
| Sauce slides off | Smooth pasta, or pasta rinsed, or sauce too thin | Don't rinse; finish pasta in the sauce with a splash of cooking water |
- I can name the main pasta shapes and what they suit.
- I know what al dente means and how to test for it.
- I can measure a sensible portion of dry pasta.
- I know why the water must be salted.
- I have a baseline bowl of plain pasta to compare everything with.