• AgnosticMammal@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      The pasta water helps thicken the sauce and makes it more stickier, same way the cornstarch water slurry works.

        • Jakdracula@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Well, you only use a bit of the pasta water, it depends how much tomato sauce you’re making.

          Pull out about a cup of the pasta water.
          Dump the pasta. Don’t rinse the pasta, ever.

          Now either slowly pour in a bit of the pasta water into the sauce, stir it, look at it, there should be a sheen. The pasta water makes the red sauce very silky.

          Or, take a frying pan, turn the heat on. Add butter and olive oil. When the butter gets melted, dump diced veggies (or not) into the pan. Cook the vegetables to almost desired tenderness. Dump garlic in for no more than one minute.
          Dump some pasta water in, just a little, and throw the pasta on top. Mix it up. After a short time, 15 seconds maybe, pour the red sauce on top of the spaghetti and veggies, stir.
          After about a minute or so, add pasta water, just a bit. Stir. Taste. Is it shiny and silky? If not add a little more water. Repeat until it’s tasty.

          • Player2@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Rinsing the pasta is fine for making a cold pasta salad or something like that, removing the free starch stops it from sticking. But for a dish with sauce, definitely don’t rinse.

        • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          The sauce itself should be quite thick before adding the pasta water. I let my bolognese reduce for at least an hour and a half before starting to boil water for the pasta.