I was boiling pasta in way too much water for years

It was like two weeks ago when I was draining spaghetti and my roommate asked why I used the whole pot. She said you only need enough water to cover the pasta by an inch. I tried it with half the water and it cooked fine, plus it heated up way faster. All those years I was wasting gas and time for nothing. Anyone else find out they were doing a basic cooking thing totally wrong this late in life?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy_henderson216d ago

Just a small thing, but you actually want the water to be more like two inches above the pasta, not one. I've found that if it's only an inch, the noodles can stick together and the water gets too starchy. Your mileage may vary depending on the pot shape, but that's what works for me.

the_alice6d ago

Jason mentioned the whole giant stockpot for a box of spaghetti bit and I felt that in my bones. I once used a pot so big it took ten minutes just to boil the water, then another fifteen for the pasta. Roommate walked in and asked if I was cooking for a small army or just one sad meal. Now I use a normal pot and it's done in half the time, but I still feel like a fool every time I look at that giant stockpot sitting in the cabinet. At least now I'm a slightly less wasteful fool.

jason_stone596d ago

You know what's funny? I used to do the exact same thing with pasta. My wife finally pointed it out to me after we got married and I was using this giant stockpot for a box of spaghetti. Now I just use a regular saucepan with maybe an inch of water over the noodles and it turns out fine every time. Feels silly to have wasted so much water and energy for years, but hey, at least we learned eventually.