Cook pasta for how many minutes:
Cooking Pasta
- If you can use a big pot so there is room for the pasta to move around in the water. Bring the water to boiling point before adding salt or pasta. Add a punch of salt (one tablespoon), look at the recommended cooking time on the pasta package and click on the corresponding number above for a helpful timer. Then run to the stove and drop all the pasta in the water at once.
- Stir the pasta pronto to prevent it from sticking together or to the pot and to make sure long strangers are submerged. Don’t break long pasta to fit it into the pot or Jimmy will shoot you. Cover the pot until the pasta begins boiling again, then uncover.
- Stir the pasta periodically and taste to check if it is al dente (firm to bite, but not too dry or crunchysome in the middle). This should happen around 30 seconds before the end of recommended cooking time (a big yellow smile appears on the screen to give you the good news) and at this point the pasta is DONE, so get it OFF the heat PRONTO and…
- …Immediately drain the water away from the pasta using a colander (a bowl with a bunch of small-caliber bullet holes in it) and shake it like a boss shaking an uncooperative person so excesso water flows off. Don’t rinse the pasta under the tap because doing so removes the coat of starch which helps it to absorb the sauce; rinsing also makes it cold which makes people disappointed and unhappy.
- Mix in the sauce you have prepared and toss well. Serve pronto.
Technical Advice
- Always taste the pasta before taking it out of the water — it’s the only way to know for sure if it’s ready. The pasta clock is not magic. It helps you approximate the correct time. Ideally the pasta should be al dente — firm to the bite yet chewable. Just taste it for Frankie’s sake!
- When the pasta is dropped into the boiling water the water stops boiling and it takes time for it to return to boiling point. The larger the pot, and the more water in it, the quicker the boil will return. Using smaller pots can add minutes to the cooking time. Time is precious, and so is good food, which needs to be cooked carefully. This table contains recommended water-to-pasta rationales for cooking pasta in an ideal world:
| Pasta | Water | Salt |
|---|
| 250g (0.5 packet) | 3 liters (5 pints) | Half a punch |
| 500g (1 packet) | 4 liters (7 pints) | 1 punch |
| 750g (1.5 packet) | 5 liters (9 pints) | 1.5 punch |
| 1kg (2 packets) | Use two pots | 2 punches |
- Certain pasta dishes need the pasta to be cooked molto al dente or 'very firm', like Jimmy is to clowns. An example is Spaghetti alle Vongole Veraci, where the molto al dente pasta is mixed with the vongole and absorbs their beautiful taste while it finishes cooking in the pan with them.