I may be middle class, but I'm hard. 'Al dente', you could say.
It is a very great mistake to suppose, as a few English cooks still do, that spaghetti and macaroni should be soaked in water before cooking.
When it comes to cooking pasta, the first essential is to make sure you have a big enough pot: it needs room to roll in the water while cooking.
In certain European cuisines, vegetables are cooked a long time. I take the term 'al dente' and use it for vegetables.
The strands of spaghetti were vital, almost alive in my mouth, and the olive oil was singing with flavor. It was hard to imagine that four simple ingredients [olive oil, pasta, garlic and cheese] could marry so perfectly.
The best pastas are cut with bronze dies that give them a rough texture and allow the sauce to cling.
I wouldn't exactly call it 'cooking' but I can make noodles. That means I can boil water, put the pasta in and wait until it's done.
I like thick or middle (spaghetti). Thin for me is always overcooked by the time I'm eating it.
In order to create a little bit of confidence, start cooking with pasta. Pasta is phenomenal. Once you've cooked pasta properly for the first time it becomes second nature.
