Pasta has long ceased to be a purely Italian dish and has taken root well both in the whole world and in our country in particular, and even the word "al dente" will not surprise anyone.
To pour or not?
But in addition to al dente and the classic formula "10 g of salt per 100 g of pasta per 1 l. water" - by the way, if you have not heard of it, be sure to remember - there is another nuance in cooking pasta. Namely, the water that remains after that. Many of us do not attach much importance to it and simply drain it. Would you be surprised to learn that restaurants that serve pasta never do this?
First, in such establishments, pasta is usually cooked in the same water, portion by portion, without changing it. Secondly, this water is used not only for cooking, but also for preparing the sauce with which the pasta is served. So what is it like, and why is it better to add the water in which it was cooked to the pasta sauce? Let's find out.
Let's start with the fact that the technology of preparing sauce, especially if it is done in parallel with cooking pasta, not to mention other household chores, does not allow you to get an absolutely identical result every time. A slightly different amount of sauce, a slightly different fire under the pan — all this leads to the fact that the thickness of the finished sauce is slightly different every time. It doesn't happen otherwise if you cook "by eye".
More later. Properly cooked pasta, thrown in a colander and then added to the sauce, will "drink" part of the liquid from it, absorbing it into itself, and thereby change its consistency again.
What is the secret?
By and large, the differences between just water and the water in which the pasta was cooked are not so many, but they are all important:
- firstly, it is hot - you don't have to wait for the sauce to heat up again;
- secondly, it is already salted - you will not have to re-season the sauce, which has already been corrected with spices;
- thirdly, during the cooking of the pasta, part of the starch passed into the water, which means that the water will enhance the taste of the pasta itself, make the sauce "envelop" it, and connect them into one whole.
The action algorithm is quite simple. Before draining the water in which the pasta was cooked, scoop up a cup of this water and save it just in case. If it is too thick after you add the pasta to the sauce, add a little water and stir. If the sauce is too thin, you can, again, add water, and then boil it a little - the water will evaporate, unlike starch, which will make the sauce thicker.