How to cook spaghetti?

+63 votes
asked Oct 24, 2018 in Food & Drink by CelinaJarvis (250 points)
edited Nov 14, 2018
My four year old son just discovered the glorious delight of eating spaghetti. I don’t have a lot of cooking experience but I really want to cook the perfect spaghetti for him. Please help.

2 Answers

+11 votes
answered Jan 19, 2019 by KieranLoewen (380 points)
edited Jun 17, 2019
The perfect spaghetti starts with a perfectly cooked noodle. And by that, we mean totally cooked but firm noodles, not soggy or mushy.

First thing that you must do is to carefully measure the amount of water you use when boiling the spaghetti. In my case, the more water, the better. Remember that you must totally submerge the noodles in water. Also, make sure to use a large pot to boil the water. You don’t want an overly crowded pot when stirring the spaghetti as you cook.

Wait until the water is boiling briskly before dropping the spaghetti. Don’t be tempted to do a short cut and put the noodle before the water is hot enough. What you’ll get is soggy spaghetti because of sitting too long in the water. So be patient and wait until you have really hot water.

Some people suggest putting one table spoon of cooking oil into the water to prevent the spaghetti from sticking to each other. You can do that too if the noodles you bought are prone to sticking. What is important is to stir the noodles within the first 2 minutes after you dropped them in the water because that’s when they are more likely to stick.

Pinch the noodle with your fingers to check if it is cooked enough. I make sure to do this before the cooking time stated on the package just to play it safe. You don’t have to follow exactly the recommended cooking time, adjust it according to your preference.
+8 votes
answered Apr 24, 2019 by JMCLupita220 (360 points)
edited Jun 21, 2019
Don’t put oil in the water when cooking spaghetti! Oil prevents the flavor from getting absorbed by the noodles so what you’ll get is bland tasting pasta.

Oily spaghetti is the last thing you want to serve to your son, so keep the oil where it belongs – in the bottle. If you are concerned with the noodles sticking to each other, just keep a close watch while cooking them. Careful stirring and enough water shall suffice to produce perfectly cooked spaghetti. The water temperature is also very important because you don’t want the noodles sitting on the water longer than what is necessary.
commented Nov 2, 2015 by Joshua (870 points)
Thank you so much! I can tell you are an expert to answer how to cook spaghetti.
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