How to boil spaghetti
Cook spaghetti for 8-9 minutes after the water starts to boil.
Put spaghetti in a pot with salted boiling water, dipped in the pot (so they do not singe), stir spaghetti once again after 2-3 minutes, boil for more 7 minutes, then taste.
Barilla n.1 (Capellini) spaghetti are cooked for 5 minutes, Barilla Spaghettini n.3 (Spaghettini) are cooked for 5 minutes, Barilla n.5 are cooked for 8 minutes, Barilla n. 7 (Spaghettoni) are cooked for 11 minutes, Barilla n.13 (Bavette) are cooked for 8 minutes.
How to boil spaghetti
1. It is better to cook spaghetti in a large wide pot and in plenty of water - no less than 2 litres of water for 200 grams of spaghetti.
You should take in account that 100 grams of dry spaghetti make up two servings of spaghetti, as it increases in weight in 3 times during boiling.
2. Put a pot with water on high heat and bring water to boiling.
3. Add some salt (1 teaspoon of salt for 1 litre of water.
4. Put spaghetti in the boiling water. They should be put in a pot like a fan (or you may break in half, if spaghetti are too long), dent them a minute later to dip them in water.
Use a turner if it is convenient, or take dry edge of spaghetti by your hand and push soft part deeper in a pot.
5. Reduce the heat - it should be medium, to make water boiling but not scuming.
6. Boil spaghetti for 8-9 minutes without putting a lid on the pot.
7. Put spaghetti in a colander, leave for 3 minutes to drain water (you may shake the colander a bit to drain water and remove vapor).
8. Serve spaghetti hot or use in dishes with fork and spoon.
How to cook spaghetti in a multicooker
Spaghetti is usually cooked in a pot, however, if you haven't empty pot or a wide pot is need, multicooker will be helpful in cooking spaghetti.
1. Pour water in a multicooker, set to Pasta program for 7-10 minutes, depending on water amount to bring water to a boil.
2. Put spaghetti in a multicooker.
3. Add few drops of oil and salt, stir.
4. Boil spaghetti for 8-9 minutes after boiling.
Factelicious
To prevent spaghetti from sticking together
- Add one spoon of oil in cooking water so that spaghetti doesn't stick together.
- Stir spaghetti from time to time to prevent spaghetti sticking to a pot walls.
- Rinse cooked spaghetti only if it was overcooked or stuck together during boiling because of incorrect cooking time or low quality of spaghetti.
- If you plan to use spaghetti further in cooking and it is exposed to heat treatment, you may undercook the spaghetti for a couple of minutes. It becomes al dente, but will soften during further cooking.
- Put spaghetti in a colander after cooking and put the colander on a pot to let excess water drain away. It takes 3-4 minutes, and if you shake a colander or stir pasta - it takes 1 minute.
If you leave pasta over a pot for too long time, it may dry up, stick together and have bad taste. If you delay further cooking spaghetti for any reason, pour some oil in it, stir and cover with a lid.
What shall you do if spaghetti stuck together
1. If spaghetti stuck together at the beginning of cooking, it was put in unboiling water.
It is recommended to separate spaghetti from each other and bottom and wall of a pot using a spoon, add some oil and continue boiling.
2. If spaghetti stuck together when it was in a pot, you overdo to lay it in the pot and jammed it (slight press will be enough).
Hot wet spaghetti stuck together at once.
It is recommended to cut off and throw away the stuck part.
3. If spaghetti stuck together because of its quality or it was overcooked, you may do the following:
rinse cooked spaghetti thoroughly, drain water for two minutes and stir in a spoonful of oil.
Meanwhile, preheat a pan, pour some oil on it and put spaghetti.
Spaghetti will become more crumby due to oil and some extra heat treatment.
How to eat spaghetti
- Spaghetti are long and slippery, that's why it easy to eat it using a fork and spoon (in Italy, for example, people are used to eat spaghetti so they do it with a fork and do not shame to suck spaghetti with lips).
According to decorum, you should take a spoon with your left hand and pull several macaroni with a fork in your right hand, and leaning the fork on the spoon, wind spaghetti on the fork.
If 1-2 macaroni still hang over a fork, you may cut them with a spoon by the plate.
- It is more convenient to eat spaghetti from deep plate - there is a chance to wind several instead of one spaghetti on a fork.
Keep in mind that according to decorum one can wind 7-10 spaghetti on a fork.
- If you dislike to wind spaghetti on a fork, it is recommended to use an old proven method:
cut a portion of spaghetti with an edge of fork, draw spaghetti by the fork so that it lay on it, and put in your mouth.
- After boiling spaghetti, as a rule, are cooked with sauce.
If so, there is no need to rinse spaghetti and cooked pasta will take in sauce taste better.
- Cooked spaghetti become cold very quickly, that's why the plates where spaghetti will be served are usually warmed up beforehand.
Alternatively, you may heat up spaghetti in a pan with a small amount of oil.
- Italian restaurants cook spaghetti in special rectangular pots:
long spaghetti places whole there, sticking together, as well as its break, are excluded.