Cooking pasta. Oil in the water or not?

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
I suspect that less oil is in order there...

But genrally, I don't bother. If you cook it properly, it doesn't matter.
 

fldsfslmn

excremental futurism
For me, the idea of boiling oil is repellent. I have, however, done this in the past, and found that the worry—whether or not the chemical properties of the oil were changing to become TRANS FAT—was too much to bear.

The starch that exists on the pasta in its cooked form is integral to achieving optimal sauce adhesion. Starch is the glue!
 
O

Omaar

Guest
According to Wikipedia :

"Some people also add a few drops of vegetable oil to the water, in order to reduce foaming and the risk of spillovers."

from here

"If you are holding the pasta for any length of time, it’s a good idea to toss it with a very small quantity of olive or canola oil to keep it from sticking together. Don’t use so much that it will keep your sauce from adhering to the pasta. You can also save a bit of the pasta cooking water to re-moisten it."

However Popular myths and mistakes?

The mosy common mistakes when cooking pasta is:
adding oil to the water
adding salt to the water
and then ‘refreshing’ it under running water
All are totally unnecessary and can actually spoil the pasta. To cook any pasta properly use the following tips:
Firstly, never add oil to the cooking water, it is a waste of good oil, adds extra oil to the diet and does not prevent it from sticking anyway
Do not add salt to the water: some chefs say it actually cause fresh pasta to toughen. Even if it doesn't, you are only adding salt to your diet and there will no doubt be plenty of that in your sauce anyway
Use a large a pot as possible with plenty of boiling water; this water should be rapidly boiling. Ever noticed the Italians always do this when you see them on TV, in movies etc? "

That's the first time I've heard anyone suggest that you shouldn't use salt during cooking. Has anyone else heard this?
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
I've read that the reason to add salt to the water when cooking rice is to actually prevent it from boiling over, rather than to season.

As for 'refreshing', it entirely dpends on the pasta. Some pasta (speciality fresh stuff) needs to be rinsed out (!)cos of the level of starch build up.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
I think rinse outs have to bring on increased toughness, surely. :D ;)

I've used a little oil on pasta or noodles at times when the rest of the meal is nowhere near ready, to stop it from becoming one massive clump.

But yeah, no salt and no oil when cooking.
 

Yoghurt Sothoth

Lord of the files
Omaar said:
Firstly, never add oil to the cooking water, it is a waste of good oil, adds extra oil to the diet and does not prevent it from sticking anyway

digtbk.gif
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
michael said:
I think rinse outs have to bring on increased toughness, surely. :D ;)

So a lot of DnB kids would have you believe... but really, they're all pussycats.

But yeah, no salt and no oil when cooking.

Pasta surely? You add oil and salt to other cooking? How about the sauce?
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Melchior said:
Pasta surely? You add oil and salt to other cooking? How about the sauce?
Yep, just referring to pasta. Occasionally after cooking, but not when cooking.

I think the vast majority of cooking I do involves oil. Generally something in a meal will get fried!
 

Trollbass

Member
sorry to state what may be obvious

i think the salt is to lower the boiling point so it cooks better. the oil is to stop is sticking so much. definitely loads of water to reduce the starch build up and i always rinse a little. if you don't it becomes mass of stuck pasta.

not sure if this is the 'correct' way but it is the way of my elders, which is good enough for me :)

hmm food.

Trollbass

PS: another good food questions is: why do we have fresh mussles all year now, what happened to them being unavailable in summer?
 

Yoghurt Sothoth

Lord of the files
Trollbass said:
sorry to state what may be obvious

i think the salt is to lower the boiling point so it cooks better. the oil is to stop is sticking so much. definitely loads of water to reduce the starch build up and i always rinse a little. if you don't it becomes mass of stuck pasta.

not sure if this is the 'correct' way but it is the way of my elders, which is good enough for me :)

hmm food.

Trollbass

PS: another good food questions is: why do we have fresh mussles all year now, what happened to them being unavailable in summer?

My dear friend, adding salt will certainly lower the freezing point, but it will raise the boiling point, which is why the sea doesn't boil away in the Summer.
 

Trollbass

Member
Yoghurt Sothoth said:
My dear friend, adding salt will certainly lower the freezing point, but it will raise the boiling point, which is why the sea doesn't boil away in the Summer.

Too true, thank you for spotting that one, though maybe boiling away is going a little far...

That will teach me for having dismissed science so young. Well at least i don't try to challenge that correction :)

Thank you again old boy :D

T.
 

Gerard

Well-known member
michael said:
.

I think the vast majority of cooking I do involves oil. Generally something in a meal will get fried!

As does the majority of mine. When you fry with Olive Oil does the oil become "bad"?


I hope not.
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
OK, i'm italian, I should know!:

1 Oil in the water? Are you crazy? Nobody in italy never ever use to put oil in the water. You can obviously put some oil in the pasta after is coocked and is out of water, if you like it.

2 salt in the water is for add taste to pasta, expecially in south italy, were salt is used even to make bread. if you don't like too much taste there is anyway enough salt in the sauce and if you hate salt just don't use it. warning: too much salt is orrible, be careful!!

3 pasta never become a mess if is of good quality and if is not overcooked. Anyway use large pot with lots of water and add pasta only to boiling water, not before.

hope it help!

francesco
 
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nonseq

Well-known member
francesco said:
2 salt in the water is for add flavour to pasta, expecially in south italy, were salt is used even to make bread.
I believe salt is an ingredient of all normal bread. At least here in the Netherlands salt is put in almost all bread. Saltless bread is for patients on a diet and everybody hates the strange taste.
 

Elan

Blackbird
Adding oil to water is unnecessary; to keep your pasta from sticking, stir it around, and don't overcook it. As long as it's hot it keeps 'cooking' so you might want to stir it again once it's in the sieve.

Adding a bit of salt to anything you're boiling improves the taste of it, whether it's pasta or potatoes; however, you'd have to add a ton of salt to shorten the cooking time, too much for anyone's taste (this I read in a scientific cookbook). If you are worried about sodium you can make your own sauce and control your salt intake that way.

As for good crusty bread, I love to dip it in olive oil with some freshly ground pepper on top!
 

D84

Well-known member
francesco said:
OK, i'm italian, I should know!:

1 Oil in the water? Are you crazy? Nobody in italy never ever use to put oil in the water. You can obviously put some oil in the pasta after is coocked and is out of water, if you like it.
...
3 pasta never become a mess if is of good quality and if is not overcooked. Anyway use large pot with lots of water and add pasta only to boiling water, not before.

I agree with Francesco, I sometimes put oil in my pasta especially if I've over-cooked it or if the pasta isn't that good quality and it needs rescuing.

I also like cooking it the Greek way (called "tziganizmeno" pasta) which is accoridng to mum:

* after boiling the normal way, strain the pasta and empty the pot
* then add a bit of olive oil and butter (or just oil or butter) to the empty pot and let it melt/heat.
* add the pasta stirring quickly so it doesn't stick to the pot etc and stir in some grated Greek mizithra cheese (it's a kind of Greek salty hard dried ricotta) and serve with some sauce you prepared earlier.

Yeah it's a bit fattening but hey... enjoy :cool:
 
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