Truth or myth: Pasta should always be cooked al dente or firm to the tooth.
The source of this myth seems to be transcontinental confusion. The American way of serving fully cooked pasta with sauce dolloped on top is different from the Italian way of serving pasta and sauce combined. In Italian recipes, the pasta is cooked twice: first in boiling water, and then again with seasonings or sauce, so leaving it slightly undercooked — al dente — in the first stage makes sense. You can always add more sauce or cooking water to finish cooking the pasta, but you can’t go back if it’s overcooked.
But the tenderness of your pasta is really up to you; even in Italy, there’s room for personal preference. Some people like a little resistance, and some pasta shapes are nice with a little bit of chew (hello, bucatini). Others want pasta to give way immediately. Remember that pasta will always cook a little more after it’s drained, so stop before it gets so soft that it will fall apart by the time it gets to the table. And it’s always a good idea to cook pasta to al dente when you’re going to bake it in a casserole.
Verdict: False. Cook to your preference.
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Truth or myth: Pasta needs to cook at a rolling boil the entire time.
In 2009, Harold McGee, a cooking scientist and Times columnist, enlisted the queens of Italian American cooking, Marcella Hazan and Lidia Bastianich, to test the tradition of keeping pasta at a boil. Since then, many experts have reproduced their results: It doesn’t make much difference whether the water is simmering or boiling. Dried pasta will cook through at any temperature from 180 degrees to 212 degrees. (Fresh pasta, especially stuffed ones like wontons and tortellini, should be cooked only at a simmer; the tumult of boiling can burst them open.)
What does make a difference is stirring. At the lower temperature, pasta has to be stirred at least every minute or so to distribute the sticky starch particles, which prevents clumping. Because a rolling boil moves the pasta in the pot, it does the stirring for you.
If you don’t mind paying constant attention to your pasta while it’s cooking, you can cook it at a lower temperature. But if you like to add it, stir it and then leave it alone until the timer goes off, keep it at the boil.
Verdict: Myth.
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Truth or myth: You should wait until the pasta water has reached a boil to add the salt.
This myth seems to date from a time when cooking pots were made of tin, aluminum and other metals easily corroded or pitted by salt. The idea was that adding salt to cold water could cause damage, because the undissolved salt sits on the bottom. But the amount of salt in pasta water — 1 heaping tablespoon per gallon — isn’t nearly enough to damage today’s pots and pans. That said, it’s a good idea not to let the salty pasta water cool in the pot after the cooking; the sooner you dump it out and rinse the pot, the easier it is to clean off the inevitable cloudy salt deposits.
Verdict: Myth. Add the salt any time you like.
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Truth or Myth: Salting pasta water makes the noodles cook faster.
It’s true that salt raises the boiling point of water, but not in a way that matters for pasta purposes. If you added enough salt to actually speed up the cooking, your pasta would be inedible.
Verdict: Myth.
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Truth or myth: Pasta cooking water should taste as salty as the ocean.
In my earlier article, I cooked eight batches of spaghetti at varying salt levels, ranging from none to Pacific Ocean to Mediterranean Sea (3 to 4 percent, or about half a cup of salt per gallon.) It turns out: Seawater is too salty.
As I worked my way up from a teaspoon to a tablespoon of kosher salt per gallon, the pasta was noticeably undersalted, and its flavor got lost in the finished dish. I most liked water that tasted as salty as a light chicken stock, or two tablespoons per gallon of water. (Here’s the piece in question, with an even more in-depth exploration.)
