Pasta is one of the easiest dishes to cook, right? But it’s actually easy to get it totally wrong.
Here, we’ve uncovered the five simple tricks chefs use to cook the perfect bowl of pasta, so you can get it right every time.
1. Add salt to the pot of boiling water.
2. When you first add pasta to the water, don’t add any oil. Many people believe this helps separate the pasta, but all it does is make the noodles slippery, and prevents the sauce from mixing properly later on.
3. To keep the pasta from clumping together, stir the pasta with a pair of tongs (or a spoon) as soon as you add it to the water. Continue to stir the pasta occasionally to prevent it from sticking.
4. When you drain the pasta, don’t attempt to rid the pot of every last bit of water. Instead, save a cup of reserved liquid for mixing with the pasta sauce.
5. Finally, don’t rinse the pasta with water, as it will strip the noodles of their natural starches, resulting in a watery and less flavourful dish.
After a good pasta recipe? Click here.
This article originally appeared on Better Homes and Gardens.
Writer
Rebecca Lowrey Boyd
With a first-class Honours degree in English, Rebecca Lowrey Boyd is best known as the founder of Wee Birdy (weebirdy.com), a London-based blog devoted to London shopping, design and style. It was named one of the Top 100 Blogs in the World by the Sunday Times (UK), and was listed on Times Online's Best 50 Design Blogs in the World. It has also featured in many international magazines including British Vogue, British Cosmopolitan, Australian Cosmopolitan, Inside Out, Shop Til You Drop and Home Beautiful. During her time in London, Rebecca was also Deputy Shopping & Style Editor at Time Out London. She is also the former editor of Bride to Be, Cosmopolitan Bride, Cosmopolitan Pregnancy and Cosmopolitan Hair & Beauty magazines, as well as Digital Managing Editor on bhg.com.au, an associate editor on Home Beautiful magazine, Acting Digital Managing Editor on Homes to Love and Digital Managing Editor on Gourmet Traveller. A design nerd and keen birder, she can usually be found poring over Pinterest, knee-deep in Bunnings or sticky-beaking at modernist homes in Sydney’s bushburbia.