George wrote:
>
> Mark Thorson wrote:
> >
> > Exactly! Beats me why pasta does this, but there's
> > a certain amount of water needed to cook it properly.
> > Below that amount, you get a lot of starch dissolving
> > out of the pasta. I learned this when I was a college
> > student and trying to make pasta using an immersion
> > heater in a Pyrex measuring cup. Fried pastas like
> > ramen can be made this way, but real pasta can't.
>
> I suspect that the concentration of starch in the water is too high
> when using a small pot. So that leads to clumping and sticky films
> and attempts to fix it by dumping oil in the water.

I think it's more complex than that. It seems like
there's a threshold below which you get cloudy water,
films, and gluey pasta. But above that level everything
is fine. Not just a smaller amount of starch dissolving
out of the pasta, but practically none at all.