The pasta does not like external/third-party kitchens due to the travel it has to do, and it does not like long heat keeping. If you cook and treat pasta the right way, you will not be able to enjoy pasta the way it is meant to be enjoyed.
How to choose the right pasta
Good pasta is always a bit more expensive. There is no good and cheap pasta. However, pasta is cheap, so even expensive pasta is cheap if you compare it with other raw food ingredients.
Opt for high-quality pasta, which costs a little more
Always choose a paste made from 100% durum wheat. It releases less starch which makes the pasta less sticky and gives a good al dente feel.
A good pasta is golden yellow in color. It is not white, not dark and not red in tone.
A good pasta has neither black nor white dots. Black dots come from the fact that the wheat is not separated from the core properly. White dots occur when the pasta dough is not sufficiently processed, which gives the pasta a tough and nutritious texture when eating it.
Good pasta also has no cracks. These occur if the manufacturer has cheated with the drying time. A crack causes the paste to lose shape or break completely.
Here’s how to cook pasta well
Okay, now we have selected a high-quality golden yellow pasta. Now it’s time to cook it. Pasta wants plenty of water when cooked, and the right amount of salt. Then it will be best.
7-100-1000 rule
In Italy, you use the 7-100-1000 rule. What does this mean? The 7-100-1000 rule is the ratio of the amount of salt, pasta, and water. So for 100 grams of pasta you should have one liter of water and seven grams of salt. Be sure to keep these proportions in the kitchen and do not cook too much pasta.
The maximum amount of pasta
We recommend that you cook a maximum of five kilos of pasta at a time. This means that you should have 0.35 kg of salt, 5 kg of pasta and 50 liters of water. There is no need for olive oil in the water, it just settles on the surface.
Express cooking, double cooking or hot holding
Express cooking is when you cook the pasta until it is ready and serve immediately. Good if you are going to cook a small amount of pasta and serve immediately.
Double boiling means that you stop cooking after half the cooking time and then quickly cool the pasta. Then it only takes a quick-cooking of 30-40 seconds before serving. Perfect for a quick à la carte meal.
Heating is the method that is often used in large kitchens where you serve several hundred dining guests at a time. Boil the pasta 75% of the cooking time, pour off the water and pour on a little oil. Let the pasta go into a 65-degree oven. You can now serve the pasta after 45 minutes or within the next 3-4 hours.
And remember. Serve the pasta al dente. It makes both you and the guest happy. Want to check if it is al dente? Break a pre-cooked pasta dish in the middle. If it has a small white core, then it is perfectly al dente.
Good luck now. And one more thing. Mix the sauce with the pasta before serving. It gets so much better, and it goes for less sauce.