Drop the pasta into the water and just leave it there, and it
will indeed stick to itself. But you know what? It’ll do that
even in a really big pot with lots of boiling water.
The problem is that excess starches on the pasta
immediately start to hydrate and jell together. But if you
rinse those starches off, dilute them, or allow them to cook
enough that they begin to set, the problem completely
disappears.
So the key is to stir the pasta a few times during the
critical first minute or two in order to rinse off excess starch
and make sure the pieces aren’t sticking together, until the
outer layers are fully cooked. After that, whether the pasta is
swimming in a hot tub of water or just barely covered,
absolutely no sticking occurs.
nandana
(Nandana)
#1