Food Journey: Less is More?

What if there's a way of cooking pasta that is faster, using less energy (electricity/gas), with less water, less salt, and improves the flavor of your pasta dish overall?

I never thought about cooking pasta any other way. There was one way in my mind: Take a large pot of water, salt it, boil it and add pasta. Cook. Drain. Done.

So this epiphany of sorts about cooking pasta just happened to catch my eye and in doing so got me thinking about conventional wisdom. I had always thought there was one way of cooking pasta or at least one right way of cooking pasta, so I went with it.  This well written article by cookbook author J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, "The Food Lab: A New Way to Cook Pasta?" is highly recommended to learn all you need to know about breaking conventional wisdom (at least when it has to do with cooking pasta!).

Let's Talk Traditional Pasta

I learned to cook pasta in the same way we all probably learned to cook our noodles:
1. Boil a large pot of water
2. Salt the water heavily (should taste like ocean water, I've heard)
3. Add pasta, maybe giving it a quick stir at the beginning to prevent sticking
4. Cook until al dente (basically go by what the package tells you, checking for desired doneness starting a few minutes before suggested cook time)

There's nothing wrong with this method and although I'm not a chef, I've been happy with how my pasta has turned out over the years.

That said, I couldn't help but be intrigued by this completely foreign idea... that less water may be more!

Less (Water) is More!?

So, here are the most common reasons for using a large pot of water to cook pasta:
1. Large volumes of water keep its temperature better than smaller volumes, which lends to a quicker re-boil after adding the pasta.
2. Large volumes of water when at a constant boil agitates the pasta, keeping them separated and therefore cooking more evenly.
3. Smaller volumes of water create water that is too starchy and pasta will stick when draining.
4. This is the way pasta has always been cooked.

Kenji Lopez explains why those reasons above don't hold water in his article, so check it out here if you want to learn more.

The "How To"

At this point, I'm sure you already know the punch line: there's another way to cook pasta. The good news is that it's fairly straight forward too.

There are two important factors:
1. For any amount of pasta, use 1.8 times its weight in water. Harold McGee (from his book On Food and Cooking) tells us that pasta absorbs water at 1.6-1.8 times is weight and therefore this is the minimum amount of water you need to cook pasta.

2. The temperature of the water needs to reach 180 F (82 C). This is the point at which the proteins in the pasta break down and starches can efficiently absorb water. It's basically when the water begins to simmer.

Ingredients (for example):
400g   Pasta (dried)
720mL   Water
Pinch of Salt

How to:
1. Place pasta, water and salt in a pot on the stove.
2. Turn on the heat, allow it come up to a simmer (approximately 180 F) and stir to help the pasta not stick).
3. Put a lid on and turn off the heat.
4. Let the pasta cook for the suggested time on the pasta package, checking a few minutes before the timer goes off for preferred doneness.
5. Pour off and save excess pasta (starch) water to add to your finished pasta as needed. 

A few caveats:
・Fresh pasta doesn't work with this method because it lacks the protein structure.
・Long shaped pasta (i.e., spaghetti, fettucine) still needs a large pot of water to be completely submerged from the beginning of the process

My Own Experience

Although I was skeptical at the beginning, the pasta cooked beautifully even with this little amount of water. After ten minutes, the pasta was nicely al dente and ready to be sauced. Since there was only a small amount of water left in the pot, I added the pasta and all of the water from the pot to a vegetable pesto and it incorporated well (see photo below).

Cooking pasta with this method makes a very flavorful pasta. Plus this small amount of water made the pasta easier to handle.

I think I'll be using this way of cooking pasta from here on out. Let me know if you try this cooking method or have any suggestions. I hope we can learn together!

References

McGee, H. (2004). On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Scribner, New York, NY.

López-Alt, J. (2019, November 01). A New Way to Cook Pasta?: The Food Lab. https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab.html

López-Alt, J. (2015) The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, NY.