I don’t care what anyone says, pasta can be a challenge and it is very easy to over cook. Over cooked pasta can ruin a whole meal just because of the texture. I am no expert as I have mentioned before but I do have some advice that may help….

First off pick a big cooking pot, if you use one that is to small the pasta won’t be able to move around while it’s cooking at it kills the texture because it all starts sticking together.

Next, salt your water!! If you don’t you water won’t boil as fast and it adds a lot of flavor to the noodle.

This is the critical part…the cooking time. Most noodles have a cooking time on the back of the box, ignore it, you need to depend on your taste for this one. Stir your noodles, if they are soft try one. You aren’t wanting a crunchy noodle but you do want it to have some resistance on the inside, if you cook it until it’s completely soft, it will be over cooked. You will just have to keep trying noodles until they are done, every minute or so once they start to get soft.

If you are going to be making good ole fashion spaghetti with a tomato sauce save some of the cooking water before you drain your noodles. I save about a cup to a cup and a half depending on how much I’m making.

Next drain the water, most people rinse at this point, if you are going to be adding your noodles to a sauce do not rinse, you want the starch to stay on the noodles, this is also why you saved the starchy water before you drained. Add you noodles to your sauce and stir around, add about a 1/4 cup of that water, it will help everything thicken and stick to your noodles but you don’t want to add too much or it will become watery and there will be no stickin to your noodles then! Don’t panic if you add a little too much, you can always cook it down a LITTLE once again you have to be carful not to make a soggy noodle!

That’s about as much advice as I have at this present time, if you have more questions feel free to ask!

Enjoy!

Remember to taste as you make!

May you never have a soggy noodle and you sauce always stick…