QOTD: When do you start the timer on dry pasta?
Directions typically say something like "boil water, add pasta, return to boil, boil for 7 minutes." But it's always ambiguous as to when the 7 minutes actually begin. Is it when you add the pasta? Or is it after the water has returned to a boil? What constitutes the level of "boilingness" that starts the cooking process? Will a burble suffice? Or violent, full-foaming action?
Mark Bittman cautions against taking any printed cooking times seriously, and prefers to just sample the pasta for doneness. I personally dislike this method, as I'm a terrible judge, I tend to only take it out when it's mushy, and then it continues cooking and becomes waterlogged and overdone.
My feeling is that pasta isn't a product that can be "cooked to taste" like other dishes. Rather, it is a product that has been desiccated for transport, and you're not so much "preparing it" as you are "reviving it." Therefore, the manufacturer should understand better than me how much water and time it takes to restore the product to the way it was when they originally manufactured it, and how they intend it to be consumed.
Since I tend to overcook anyway, I generally start the timer as soon as the pasta goes in, or even before. Sometimes I turn off the heat when the timer expires, and let the pasta sit in the boiling water for a little bit longer before I drain it.
Mark Bittman cautions against taking any printed cooking times seriously, and prefers to just sample the pasta for doneness. I personally dislike this method, as I'm a terrible judge, I tend to only take it out when it's mushy, and then it continues cooking and becomes waterlogged and overdone.
My feeling is that pasta isn't a product that can be "cooked to taste" like other dishes. Rather, it is a product that has been desiccated for transport, and you're not so much "preparing it" as you are "reviving it." Therefore, the manufacturer should understand better than me how much water and time it takes to restore the product to the way it was when they originally manufactured it, and how they intend it to be consumed.
Since I tend to overcook anyway, I generally start the timer as soon as the pasta goes in, or even before. Sometimes I turn off the heat when the timer expires, and let the pasta sit in the boiling water for a little bit longer before I drain it.