How can I keep pasta from sticking to itself?
Whenever I boil pasta (specifically spaghetti), it always sticks to itself before I'm ready to use it. What can I do to avoid this without it becoming mushy (which happens if I keep it in the water)?
Of course, if I happen to have the sauce done by the time the pasta is ready and am ready to serve it, I can immediately add the sauce and it's a moot point. But I inevitably screw up the timing and have the pasta sitting there cooling, and then it becomes impossible to separate...
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twist the bunch of spaghetti slightly before putting it into the boiling the water. This way they will fall apart and do not stick together.
Also stir the pasta in the first two minutes of cooking (see).
My answer will be slightly off-topic, as the question is "how to prevent the phenomenon" rather than "how to fix it", but in my experience the best course of action is to add a little bit of water and drain just before serving if you want your pastas to not be a sticky mess. It just works perfectly, whereas with all preventive tricks you will still experience some mild stickiness.
By adding water, mixing and draining before using the pastas, what happens is that you once again dissolve the starch that was gluing everything. If you leave it to dry it will stick again, but serve immediately (or add sauce) and the starch won't have time to do its sticky business.
Many home cooks use a pot far too small for the quantity of pasta they cook. You should cook the noodles so they can swim freely, at least 5 qts per pound of pasta. Also, overcooking noodles makes them sticky and then stick to each other after draining.
Just cook the pasta a couple minutes later. I can't think of a sauce that couldn't sit there for a couple of minutes while the pasta finishes, should you mess up the timing. Even reduced cream sauces, you can always add a little pasta water should the sauec over-thicken.
Here are some of the notes I took at college about cooking pasta. I use these techniques in the workplace quiet often. It applies to dehydrated and fresh pasta.
Use 10Ltr of water to every 1kg pasta
Water should be boiling furiously before pasta is added
Water should be salted but not oiled
Place pasta in water all at once spread evenly
Water will drop in temperature to below boiling so keep agitating the pasta until it boils again
When pasta is cooked strain and quickly wash with water to remove starches
Spread out pasta on a large flat tray and lightly coat with vegetable oil
Place tray in cool room to dry.
At home you can skip the last two steps if you are serving immediately. The really important point here is that sticking pasta is caused by:
Not enough water or
Water not hot enough
And that you add the oil after the pasta has been cooked to stop it sticking. Adding oil to the cooking water has no desirable effect.
I usually add just a tablespoon of my sauce to the pasta.
In looking at this question again, it's specifically about dealing with the pasta being done before the sauce is.
The easiest technique is just to pull the pasta a minute or two before it's fully cooked, and then finish it the last few minutes in with the sauce, which will help to re-warm it, too.
If the sauce is already done, and you've fully cooked the pasta, but need to hold them both for a while, you can also just toss a little bit of sauce in with the pasta to help to lubricate it. It doesn't take a whole lot, just enough to coat the strands lightly, not so much that you'd leave it dripping in sauce.
Just follow these recommendations (Italian here):
Choose a well-known brand of Pasta.
Use a big pot with a lot of water, this is really important.
Stir pasta for a couple of minutes after pouring it in the hot water.
DO NOT put lemon juice please.
DO NOT put oil please.
Cook it with the proper timing (ex: 8 minutes for spaghetti).
Don't go blindly, use your tooth to feel the "al dente" thing.
Drain your pasta.
Please, DO NOT put your pasta under hot water.
Don't drain your pasta dry, but leave a little bit of hot water when you drain it.
Add virgin oil or sauces (not mandatory but I recommend it).
Add Parmesan (not mandatory but I recommend it, not for all kind of sauces though).
Pasta is ready and looks pretty yummy.
Bonus advice:
If you need to add sauces that need to be warmed, you could cook your pasta "al dente" and finish its cooking with your sauces inside a big pan.
Adding oil to the water may help prevent foaming, but not much else. It doesn't prevent the pasta from sticking. See this article on cooking pasta (linked in answers to a few other questions already):
The Food Lab: A New Way to Cook Pasta?
After draining it, mix in a little oil, that should prevent it from sticking.
If you have to add oil, either your pasta is not good enough or you are cooking for too long. Use Barilla if you can.
A good explanation from Barilla's website
Do not add oil to the water.
Olive oil does nothing for the taste of pasta. Barilla uses premium ingredients to guarantee the pasta's superior quality and performance. When poor-quality wheat is used, the pasta releases too much starch and sticks together causing the need for oil. This is not the case with Barilla® pasta.
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