center 40–60% (somewhat moister than
freshly baked bread). Pasta is sometimes
cooked just short of this point and then
finished in the sauce that will dress it.
Cooking Water It’s generally recommended
that pasta be cooked in 10 or more times its
weight of vigorously boiling water (around 5
quarts or liters water per pound/500 gm). This
allows for the pasta’s absorption of 1.6–1.8
times its weight, and leaves plenty to dilute
the starch that escapes during cooking, and to
separate the noodles from each other so that
they cook evenly and without sticking. Hard
water — water that is alkaline and contains
calcium and magnesium ions — increases
both cooking losses and stickiness in noodles
(it probably weakens the protein-starch film at
the noodle surface, and the ions act as a glue
to bond noodle surfaces to each other). Most
city tap water has been made alkaline to
reduce pipe corrosion, so pasta cooking water