Julie Bove wrote:
>
> Pasta needs salt when it is cooking. Otherwise it is just very bland.

You watch too much FoodTV. That's an old Italian grandma tale... if
pasta is eaten plain out of the pot then it needs cooking in salted
water but no one ever eats pasta plain right out of the pot... when
served sauced as is typical there'd be no way to taste whether pasta
was cooked in salted water or not. I more often eat pasta as a pasta
salad than with a typical sauce... pasta with a salad dressing
definitely needs no extra salt Cooking pasta in salted water makes as
much sense as salting Chinese restarant food... Chinese restaurants
have salt shaker on the table but I've never seen them used. Anyway I
grew up in a very Italian hood and ate more traditional pasta dinners
than I can count and no real Italian cooks pasta in salted water, they
don't even have salt shakers on the table, they serve grated cheese
instead. Real Italians don't even salt their eggs, they sprinkle
omelets and scrambled with grated cheese. I don't think there's an
Italian meal that doesn't include some kind of cheese.