Pasta – al dente or not al dente?

Entire chapters can be written about pasta! After having eaten overcooked pasta over and over again, especially abroad, I would say that the biggest sin about pasta is probably overcooking it. Not only doesn’t it taste well, overcooked pasta is also harder to digest.

Even Barilla, being the biggest exporting brand of pasta ‘encourages’ (e.g. the packages sold in the US) indirectly to overcook it by stating a time frame as cooking time, instead of one exact time.

Have you ever seen or heard about the trick as to how to check if the pasta is ready to be eaten, by throwing one spaghetti against the wall? I wonder who invented that :)) And if it sticks on it, apparently it’s done! Ok, so now I would dare to add a little side note: When the pasta truly sticks on the wall like glue, it is not ready. But it is way overcooked. ;) Ok, seriously, set the timer, with the correct cooking time (if a time frame is given on the package, make sure to consider the shortest cooking time), and the pasta will be fine.

And, last advice: It’s very important that the water boils first, before throwing the pasta inside!