If you are planning on cooking the lobster linguine recipe shown in this video, you may want some helpful hints for ensuring that the pasta part of the dish will be cooked to perfection!
Therefore, below we have included some basic tips for helping you to achieve that perfectly cooked pasta!
Tips for making perfect pasta
In many of our kitchens, pasta, including linguine, has become a pantry staple. After all, what’s not to love about pasta? There are endless possibilities for how to cook it as long as you stick to a few simple guidelines. These helpful cooking tips will help you to avoid a pasta mishap.
Make sure to use a pot that is large enough.
It has been found that pasta can expand in volume by as much as three times its original size when cooked. Thus, you will want to ensure that you leave plenty of space in your pot.
Make sure you use plenty of water.
For every 12 pounds of pasta, it is recommended that you fill your pot with at least 2 quarts of water. By doing this, you will be able to prevent your pasta from sticking together when it is cooking (which is not what we want).
The pasta water should be seasoned with salt.
When the pot has been filled with water, use a generous amount of salt to season it. You don’t have to worry, all of the salt will not be absorbed by the pasta. Additionally, it will not enhance the boiling process of your cooking water! When the pasta is cooked, adding salt will make the results much more savory and flavorful. But how much salt do you need to add? A lot of people say you should make the water taste like the sea has been added.
Don’t use any oil.
In the past, you may have heard that adding oil to the cooking water is a good way to prevent the pasta from sticking. How true is that? It might be true, but it will do more harm than good. Any oil that remains on your pasta after it’s been drained may in fact prevent the sauce from properly absorbing.
It is first necessary to bring the water to a boil.
Add your pasta to the boiling water only after it has reached a rapid, aggressive boil. You can get sticky, gummy noodles if the pasta is thrown into the water too early, when the water is not hot enough. Have patience, my friend.
Stir immediately – and every few minutes after that.
After you add the pasta to your pot, give it a good stir to break up any initial clumps that may have formed. After that, stir every couple minutes to ensure that it keeps broken up and ensures an even cooking process.
Please do not rely solely on the cooking time written on your pasta’s package.
There are many factors that play into how quickly pasta cooks, so make sure you check for doneness regularly and early. While biting into the pasta, you want it to feel firm and slightly resistant (almost springy) to the touch. When it sticks to your teeth during chewing, it’s not ready to eat. Moreover, you should forgo the temptation to throw spaghetti against the wall in order to see if it sticks. Despite how much fun that may be, it doesn’t tell you anything about the condition in which your noodles are in.
Cook your pasta until it is just before al dente.
The pasta continues to cook even after it has been drained, so it is advisable to remove it from the stovetop just before it reaches the al dente stage. It is extremely important for thin pastas like angel hair as well as pastas that will be baked with a sauce, such as lasagna.
Reserve the pasta water at the end of the cooking process.
Before draining your pasta, reserve a cup of the water used to cook it. If you follow this method, you will have starchy cooking water on hand so that you can adjust the consistency of the pasta sauce after everything is mixed together.
Make sure you do not rinse your pasta after it has been drained.
You may think it’s logical to run cold water over your piping hot pasta, but that is not a good idea. There’s a risk of losing the tasty starch that helps the sauce cling to it later on if you do it this way.