7 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Pasta

Pasta is the most popular Italian dish. As simple as this dish is to make, there are a few mistakes that people still make after years of experience cooking it.Pasta doesn’t just involve dumping pasta in a pan of hot water. The technique, procedure and certain tips will help you prevent making commonly made mistakes.

Here are the mistakes you should avoid to make that perfect dish of pasta:

1. Too small pot-Pasta should be made in a small pot. We can understand that waiting for a huge pot of water to boil can be a pain, but there is a reason behind this requirement.Once the pasta is added to the water, it lowers the temperature of the water. So if you are adding a ton of pasta to a tiny pot of hot water, chances are that your pasta is going to get all cold and clumpy because of the temperature of the water.Secondly your pasta water is bound to have a lot more starch that will stick to the pasta and make it all starchy.
2. Forgetting to add salt in the water-Salt is the most essential seasoning in our food. Don’t forget to add tons of salt to the water that the dried pasta is boiling in. Salt acts an abrasive and prevents the pasta from getting slimy and sticking to each other.Pasta without the flavor of salt is like bread without butter – bland.
3. Adding pasta before the water has come to a boil-Pasta should be added only after the water has come to a boil, otherwise it can lead to it becoming gummy and sticky due to low temperature.
4. Adding oil to the water-Many of us make this mistake. We think that by adding oil to the water, the pasta will not stick to each other. But as a matter of fact, the right boiling temperature and salt is enough to do wonders to prevent the pasta from sticking. Oil will only prevent the sauce from sticking to the pasta.
5. Not stirring the pasta-Pasta should be stirred in the pan at all times, as soon as it is entered and even while it is cooking, so as to prevent the pasta from clumping together.
6. Under or over cooking-Though people often swear by the number of minutes pasta takes to get cooked, the actual test of cooking pasta lies in tasting it.When tasting it should be firm. Remember that pasta continues to cook for a few minutes even after you drain it. So plan accordingly.
7. Rinsing pasta after it is cooked-Passing pasta through running cold water is said to help prevent it sticking. But actually you are washing away the flavor and even the starch that makes the sauce stick to it.

Hope these tips helped you understand the common mistakes we make while making pasta and how to avoid them. So get our your favorite Italian cookbook and make that pasta dish come alive.