How to Cook Pasta Perfectly: Here's Everything You Need to Know

Summary by Krater

This video demonstrates the ideal technique for cooking pasta, explaining how to properly salt water, stir to prevent sticking, test for doneness, and reserve pasta water.

From the video

Answers: How do you cook the perfect pot of pasta?

• pasta cooking technique
• boiling pasta water
• salting pasta water
• pasta fork
• reserving pasta water

Ingredients

• 12 1/2 oz De Cecco Spaghetti
• 4 garlic cloves
• broken and deseeded hot chilies
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ~ 3 parsley bunches
• to taste salt

What it concludes

• Adding olive oil to boiling water does not prevent pasta from sticking and wastes olive oil.
• The correct ratio for boiling pasta is 4 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt per 1 pound of pasta.
• A pasta fork should be used instead of a wooden spoon to prevent pasta from clumping.
• Box timing instructions are almost always wrong, so you should taste the pasta to check for doneness.
• You should reserve about a cup of the cooking water before draining the pasta to help loosen thick sauces.
• Pasta should not be rinsed after draining so that the hot cooking water remains on the strands to help coat the sauce evenly.