Overcooked or undercooked? Nail your pasta cooking!

Which is the best way to eat pasta?

• Culinary influences: In fact, everything depends on your pasta preferences and culinary influences. Depending on the regions of the world and the ingredients included in the culinary preparation, pasta is consumed differently around the world and will not have the same consistency.
• The two influences: In Europe, there are two major influence on this subject. Italians will tell you that the pasta must be firm and al dente, while the French prefer it to be melting in the mouth. In either case, the difficulty is to determine when the pasta is cooked.
• Starch: Did you know that taste and consistency of pasta is acquired during the cooking process indeed? In fact, the starch present in the pasta break down in the presence of water and that this process is accelerated during cooking?
• Cooking in water: In general, the cooking time varies depending on the type of pasta you consume.

Learn everything you need to know about cooking methods and cooking times.

✪ Half covered on low heat:

• Method: Cooking in boiling water (ie you have to immerse pasta directly in boiling water and never put it directly in cold water)
• Amount of water: Just enough water to cover the pasta

✪ Al dente on high heat:

•  Method: Hot water cooking (ie you have to immerse pasta directly in boiling water and never put it directly in cold water).
• Quantity of water: 1L per 100g of pasta . This amount of water is just enough to prevent the from pasta sticking together (because of too much starch in the water) or that your cooking water does not cool too much when you add your pasta.
• Drop of oil: Adding a drop of olive oil in your cooking water will thin the starch which forms foam when it thickens and hence avoid water overflowing.

►What is the best cooking time for pasta?

The major difference while cooking is the use of fresh or dried pasta.

• Dried pasta usually cooks for 8 to 15 minutes.
• Fresh pasta should only cook for about 3 minutes. Whether you make fresh homemade pasta or use fresh industrial pasta, note that when pasta plate starts to float to the surface and has changed color and consistency (from light yellow to lighter colours and firm and dry to soft), this will be an indication that your pasta is cooked.

• Our advices on the cooking times of dried pasta:From 8 to 15 minutes depending on the type of dried pasta and according to the preferences:
• Al dente (pasta that crunch under the tooth)
• Normal (firm pasta)
• Fondant (pasta that melts delicately in the mouth)
• The times indicated on the pasta packs are generally good indicators but not always. The best method is to always taste your pasta at the end of cooking with a fork and to trust your instinct. It is In general to obtain Al Dente Italian pasta, You only have to reduce the normal cooking time by 10 %.

• The final steps of cooking:

In any case, do not forget the dripping!

At the end of cooking, always drain your pasta in a colander. Avoid rinsing them under a stream of cold water. If you make a cold pasta recipe such as pasta salad, it is best to incorporate some fat after dripping, mix and let cool to room temperature.