On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 16:03:53 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

>In rec.food.cooking, cristina <siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE > wrote:
>
>> Pasta cooking 101
>
>> Bring water to a boil in a large pot, at least 3 litres of water.
>> Add a good handful of sea salt.
>
>A handful!? Really?

I've heard that the water is supposed to be as salty as the sea.
Having never had seawater, that's a little vague ;>

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Curly Sue wrote:
> On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 16:03:53 +0000 (UTC),
> wrote:
>
>> In rec.food.cooking, cristina <siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> Pasta cooking 101
>>
>>> Bring water to a boil in a large pot, at least 3 litres of water.
>>> Add a good handful of sea salt.
>>
>> A handful!? Really?
>
> I've heard that the water is supposed to be as salty as the sea.
> Having never had seawater, that's a little vague ;>
>
> Sue(tm)
> Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

I've accidentally gulped down seawater in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the
Indian Ocean. I can assure you, it's very salty! Hmm, that's why people
love 'sea salt' ?

Jill

The aphorism about salting the pasta water is a metaphor, but the many
people do put a lot of salt into the pasta water.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"Curly Sue" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 16:03:53 +0000 (UTC),
> wrote:
>
> >In rec.food.cooking, cristina <siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE >
wrote:
> >
> >> Pasta cooking 101
> >
> >> Bring water to a boil in a large pot, at least 3 litres of water.
> >> Add a good handful of sea salt.
> >
> >A handful!? Really?
>
> I've heard that the water is supposed to be as salty as the sea.
> Having never had seawater, that's a little vague ;>
>
> Sue(tm)
> Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

In article >,
"Louis Cohen" > wrote:

> The aphorism about salting the pasta water is a metaphor, but the many
> people do put a lot of salt into the pasta water.
>
>

Not _this_ people... ick!
If I want to flavor my pasta, I'll just boil it in some bullion broth.
Knorr cubes are handy dandy. ;-)

But, they are also very high in salt, so fresh made stock is better.

I just don't cook with a lot of salt for numerous reasons. I'd much
rather add a little salt at the end if the recipe needs it, or even at
the table and let folks add their own.

K.

--
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katra at centurytel dot net>,,<
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

Curly Sue wrote:
>
> On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 16:03:53 +0000 (UTC),
> wrote:

> >A handful!? Really?
>
> I've heard that the water is supposed to be as salty as the sea.
> Having never had seawater, that's a little vague ;>
>
Never swam in the sea? Sea water is enough to burn my eyes and nose.
Maybe the poster has small fists.
If I put a ladelful back in the pan, I'd get watery sauce.

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 17:27:33 -0800, kalanamak >
wrote:

>Curly Sue wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 16:03:53 +0000 (UTC),
>> wrote:
>
>> >A handful!? Really?
>>
>> I've heard that the water is supposed to be as salty as the sea.
>> Having never had seawater, that's a little vague ;>
>>
>Never swam in the sea? Sea water is enough to burn my eyes and nose.
>Maybe the poster has small fists.


>If I put a ladelful back in the pan, I'd get watery sauce.

Yeah, I've never understood that.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

kalanamak wrote:
> Curly Sue wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 16:03:53 +0000 (UTC),
>> wrote:
>
>>> A handful!? Really?
>>
>> I've heard that the water is supposed to be as salty as the sea.
>> Having never had seawater, that's a little vague ;>
>>
> Never swam in the sea? Sea water is enough to burn my eyes and nose.
> Maybe the poster has small fists.
> If I put a ladelful back in the pan, I'd get watery sauce.

Nope, don't have small hands. If you use enough water the pasta will not be
salty, just taste correct. At least that is the way it is here in Italy.
If I did not salt the water enough I would get the common "è sciocco" which
means it didn't have enough salt. Adding more salt to the sauce just makes
the dish salty not flavorful.

About the ladle of water, depends on for how many people but for 4 people (1
pound of pasta) a ladle is right. If you have a watery sauce that means the
pasta is overcooked and couldn't absorb any more. If you remove the pasta
when it is almost al dente and then add the sauce then the water and let it
cook for the last minute, the water gets absorbed.

Every time I give advice on cooking pasta people have the same somments.
Every time I teach someone how to cook pasta and they taste the results they
comment instead on how the pasta tastes delicious. Many people come to
Italy and love the pasta they get here but when they get back home they can
never figure out why it doesn't taste as good. If you follow my steps it
will taste as good.

Cristina
--
Info on Moving to Italy and Driving in Italy
http://www.cristinasweb.com

On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 09:28:54 +0100, "cristina" <siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE
> wrote:

>About the ladle of water, depends on for how many people but for 4 people (1
>pound of pasta) a ladle is right. If you have a watery sauce that means the
>pasta is overcooked and couldn't absorb any more. If you remove the pasta
>when it is almost al dente and then add the sauce then the water and let it
>cook for the last minute, the water gets absorbed.

"Almost al dente." That makes more sense. Most of the recipes I see
say to cook pasta al dente because that is the point at which it
should be eaten. In that case, cooking it further in the sauce would
then make it not al dente.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!