Bóymoder Pasta Basics
Cooking
There are many ways to cook pasta, the objectively correct one is on a tall pot with a lot more water than pasta per volume.
At least 3-5x the volume of pasta in water, depending how much fits in your pot.
Add salt.
- If it's dry pasta, it'll take a while to cook, meaning it absorbs more of the salt, a generous pinch will do
- If it's fresh pasta, it'll take less time to cook, meaning less time ot absorb salt, for a big pot, add about a tablespoon
Figuring out how much salt to add will depend a lot on how you like it, try adding more or less whenever you make it and see what your prefer.
On high heat, bring the water up to a boil then add the pasta.
Stir so the pasta doesn't stick to each other or the bottom of the pan, once it's back to a boil, the movement of the water itself will cause the pasta to move around, preventing sticking.
Cook for.. however you want your pasta.
- If it's store bought dry pasta, the package usually contains instructions for how long to cook it to get al dente. Or cook it for longer until it's cooked throughout.
- If it's pasta you dryed yourself, bite into it occasionally to see how done it is.
- If it's fresh pasta, it'll usually be done in 2-6 minutes depending on how thick it is and how well you want it cooked.
Also note in some recipes you finish cooking the pasta on the sauce itself, it's common to see the pasta being cooked about ¾ of the way on the water then finish cooking to the consistency you want on the sauce.
Al dente
Al dente means 'to the tooth', it's pasta that is cooked to be chewy but have a firm bite on the inside.
This is what you'll find throughout italy, it's considered the traditional way of making pasta, but nothing is stopping you from cooking it completely :3
Shaping
There's many many many ways of shaping pasta (wikipedia list with the basic pasta shapes), here i'll teach you how to do the ones i like.
Gnocchi
These are simple small little square/rectangles of pasta.
- Use your hands to roll the dough into a snake about 1-3cm (0.3-1in) wide depending on how you want it
- Cut them into many small squares/rectangles
Cavatelli
Picture from wikimedia
Traditionally made with semolina doughs, these are gnocchis rolled on a table to create a groove.
- Press your thumb against the side of the gnocchi
- Press and roll and against the table (not floured, otherwise it's just going to slide).
It takes a little practice to get right at first but can be very fast to make.
Malloreddus (gnocchetti sardi)
Also traditionally made with semolina doughs, these are made similarly cavatelli expect instead of being rolled on a flat table, they are rolled on a small wooden board with ridges to create the groove of cavatelli with ridges on the other side, making it even better at catching sauce.
If you don't have a wooden board for malloreddus, you can also use a fork :3
Rolling pasta
A lot of pastas start the shaping process by rolling them out into a thin sheet.
For this you will need some sort of pasta roller, there are manual and electric ones, any will do.
No, your fragile little boymoder arms will not be able to roll a thin pasta dough with a rolling pin, pasta dough is a lot more tough than other doughs.
- Cut your dough to a reasonable size (this will be around a portion, if measured in grams ~150g)
- Press it down so it's thin enough to go into the thickest setting on your rolling machine
- Pass it through on the thickest setting, be gentle feeding the dough in and getting it out to not to stretch the dough
- Fold it in 3 and pass again on the thickest setting, now on the other side (do it more than once for better results :3)
- Make the thickness on the rolling machine one step lower and roll the dough, repeat until desired thickness
For the vast majority of pastas you'll be going all the way to the 2 lowest settings on the rolling machine, mostly dependent on how thick you personally like your pasta.
Long pastas
Long pastas start with rolling the pasta out until desired thickness for the pasta.
The easiest way to cut long pasta is to use a rolling machines with a cutting attachment (if yours doesn't have one you're quite unlucky, all the ones i've seen had them lol), flour your pasta sheets and pass through the pasta cutters.
Most machines come with 2 settings, one for fettuccine/tagliatelle, long thick (about 7mm) strips of pasta and spaghetti which you're probably familiar with :3
Another way to cut pasta is of course, without a machine
- Dusting your sheets generously, wouldn't want them to stick
- Then bit by bit fold your pasta onto its floured side (about 6cm/2in per fold), don't press on the pasta, just gently folder, you'll be unfolding it later
- Now take your tube of pasta and cut as desired
You can cut fettuccine/tagliatelle this way too
Thich (2-3cm/¾-1in) not too long pasta is called pappardelle.
Picture from wikimedia
Thin (2-3mm) long pasta is called tagliolini.
Once you cut the pasta, unfold, flour and move the around so they don't stick to each other.