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Some habits die hard. Take, for example, cooking pasta: our mothers and grandmothers always taught us to add a little salt to boiling water. And, from generation to generation, this tradition has been perpetuated without really understanding why. However, it turns out that this step, which we thought was essential, turns out to be somewhat useless. If you add salt at the end of cooking it is pure waste, because it will not affect the flavor of your spaghetti. If, however, you add salt to the pasta water at the beginning of cooking, the taste will be better. And if you thought until now that salt speeds up the boiling process, you were wrong. Turn the question around.
As with most popular culinary dishes, we often blindly follow some pre-established rules. What if we sometimes make mistakes without even realizing it? For years we have been told that adding a few pinches of salt, a clove of garlic or a few dried peppers to the pasta cooking water will make the difference in the preparation of our spaghetti, tagliatelle, fettuccine and other macaroni. But is it really as useful as we are led to believe?
Is salting the pasta cooking water useful or optional?
Without a doubt, when we prepare good Italian spaghetti, we all tend to season the cooking water. Systematically, we add spices, especially salt, without really knowing why. Popular beliefs are strong: some are convinced that it would have a great influence on the temperature of the water and that it promotes much faster boiling.
There is true and false. Salt water will indeed be hotter than fresh water, but the impact on cooking time is minimal (a few seconds for a reference cooking time of 8 minutes) and, on the other hand, salt water will take longer to boil than soft water. The moment you get dirty therefore does not matter at all.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the pasta doesn’t stick well to the salt we added to the pan. The reason is very simple: they probably don’t absorb enough water to make the seasoning worthwhile. As you can see, no matter what spices you add or even olive oil, the pasta doesn’t stick to anything and holds less water than you might imagine. Not to mention the fact that the starch granules do not dissolve completely, so the center of the dough remains more intact than the surface.
Finally, in terms of cuisine, opinions are quite mixed on the issue. While some believe that a spice broth in water will have little to no effects, other chefs believe that using salt has some significant benefits. In particular, preventing our dough from becoming too sticky. Nothing is more unpleasant than having spaghetti that has a mushy consistency and is difficult to separate on your plate. Salt itself has the ability to reduce the phenomenon of starch gelatinization.
And what about the flavor? Would salt give flavor to our pasta? Apparently yes. It is still necessary to dip the pinch of salt right at the beginning of cooking. According to specialists, the salt water will penetrate evenly into the pasta and bring them that touch of taste that they lack. But be careful, have a very light hand, because if you intend to put salt in the sauce, you risk having a dish that is too salty and inedible!
Cooking pasta: some common mistakes to avoid
· Do not respect the cooking time set by the manufacturer
Almost all of us tend to cook pasta blindly. And admit that it’s always random: sometimes al dente, sometimes overcooked. However, it will only take you a few seconds to check the optimal cooking time indicated on the package. To avoid unpleasant surprises, we strongly recommend following the manufacturer’s instructions. Note that the cooking time should be measured from the moment the water starts to boil.
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