When should you salt pasta water? How much?
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Date: 2021-08-16
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Comments and reviews: 8
Catherine
It was always really interesting to me that people experience a noticeable, undesirable difference when pasta cooking water isn't salted! I grew up eating primarily Chinese food so, my pasta comfort food is in a pleasantly salted, flavoured broth/soup rather than sauced
In my teenage years, I started exploring more Western-style cooking and developed a particular appreciation for Italian pasta in tomato-based sauces. Never salted my boiling water, because I didn't know I was supposed to, and it never even occurred to me that it might taste unpleasant. Hell, I snack on the unsalted, unsauced noodles! Tastes great to me, and I cook for friends who grew up eating Italian pasta regularly who have never mentioned it as a problem (but of course, they'll point out that I haven't salted the water if they happen to be standing in the kitchen with me.
Anyway, just to say that I don't think that pasta cooked in plain water is inherently unpleasant, but I definitely believe that people who grew up eating pasta cooked in salted water would find something off with pasta cooked differently. You do you! I prefer to have the increased control over how salty my finished dish ends up when I add pasta water to my sauce.
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It was always really interesting to me that people experience a noticeable, undesirable difference when pasta cooking water isn't salted! I grew up eating primarily Chinese food so, my pasta comfort food is in a pleasantly salted, flavoured broth/soup rather than sauced
In my teenage years, I started exploring more Western-style cooking and developed a particular appreciation for Italian pasta in tomato-based sauces. Never salted my boiling water, because I didn't know I was supposed to, and it never even occurred to me that it might taste unpleasant. Hell, I snack on the unsalted, unsauced noodles! Tastes great to me, and I cook for friends who grew up eating Italian pasta regularly who have never mentioned it as a problem (but of course, they'll point out that I haven't salted the water if they happen to be standing in the kitchen with me.
Anyway, just to say that I don't think that pasta cooked in plain water is inherently unpleasant, but I definitely believe that people who grew up eating pasta cooked in salted water would find something off with pasta cooked differently. You do you! I prefer to have the increased control over how salty my finished dish ends up when I add pasta water to my sauce.
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viki
The salty as the sea advice is just an old guideline that stuck through time, and it should ONLY be followed if you are using fresh pasta or if there isnt going to be any salt/cheese in the sauce or the finished dish. In the end, it is simply easier to put a small pinch of salt per portion in the water and then adjust after you have mixed in the cheese and sauce together, even if we are talking about fresh noodles.
As a side note, I have encountered different salts that have MUCH lower sodium content, for example refined salt from the Alps that has added iodine. I believe I have heard as well from my grandparents that they used to salt things much more heavily back then than they do now, sometimes the food they have is quite oversalted even if they did not intend for it to be, they simply add how much they are used to over the years. Perhaps in order to get a cheaper product/make a more stable chemical compound salt companies nowadays artificially add more sodium to the final product? Even though I have studied some chemistry and I have no clue how that would be done. Coincidentally, the notion that the water should be heavily salted may stem from the fact that salt back then simply was not as salty
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The salty as the sea advice is just an old guideline that stuck through time, and it should ONLY be followed if you are using fresh pasta or if there isnt going to be any salt/cheese in the sauce or the finished dish. In the end, it is simply easier to put a small pinch of salt per portion in the water and then adjust after you have mixed in the cheese and sauce together, even if we are talking about fresh noodles.
As a side note, I have encountered different salts that have MUCH lower sodium content, for example refined salt from the Alps that has added iodine. I believe I have heard as well from my grandparents that they used to salt things much more heavily back then than they do now, sometimes the food they have is quite oversalted even if they did not intend for it to be, they simply add how much they are used to over the years. Perhaps in order to get a cheaper product/make a more stable chemical compound salt companies nowadays artificially add more sodium to the final product? Even though I have studied some chemistry and I have no clue how that would be done. Coincidentally, the notion that the water should be heavily salted may stem from the fact that salt back then simply was not as salty
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Mariusz
I believe in Kenji method of putting pasta in a pot or a pan, covering in cold water and then bringing it all to a boil. I find it making no noticeable difference and makes you waste much less water and energy on heating it (as long as you stirr it and dont let it stick to the bottom of the pot. When it comes to salting pasta, I once tried not salting the water at all and only using salty sauce and for me it didnt taste quite right HOWEVER I knew I did something different and maybe that altered my judgement. Who knows. Mby next time I should try a blind test. Maybe you should too? I also suppose that it makes less and less difference the thinner the pasta, I feel like for for example spaghetti it shouldnt be noticeable.
Also, as an engineer who knows quite a bit about thermodynamics I must admit you really did your homework, good job.
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I believe in Kenji method of putting pasta in a pot or a pan, covering in cold water and then bringing it all to a boil. I find it making no noticeable difference and makes you waste much less water and energy on heating it (as long as you stirr it and dont let it stick to the bottom of the pot. When it comes to salting pasta, I once tried not salting the water at all and only using salty sauce and for me it didnt taste quite right HOWEVER I knew I did something different and maybe that altered my judgement. Who knows. Mby next time I should try a blind test. Maybe you should too? I also suppose that it makes less and less difference the thinner the pasta, I feel like for for example spaghetti it shouldnt be noticeable.
Also, as an engineer who knows quite a bit about thermodynamics I must admit you really did your homework, good job.
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Jenn
i remember how i got on the salt boiling train early in life. we used to have pretty cheap steel cookware, and the surface had a habit of getting pitted when the salt was added to the cold water prior to being heated to boiling. i don't know what kind of conditions lead to this, but ever since i've just added it to the boiling water (or with the pasta because i'm that forgetful)
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i remember how i got on the salt boiling train early in life. we used to have pretty cheap steel cookware, and the surface had a habit of getting pitted when the salt was added to the cold water prior to being heated to boiling. i don't know what kind of conditions lead to this, but ever since i've just added it to the boiling water (or with the pasta because i'm that forgetful)
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Kevin
Heterogeneous nucleation that occurs at the cracks is energetically favorable for thermodynamic reasons that I forgot since grad school.
But I add a bunch of salt at the beginning because 1) I don't forget to add it, and 2) it tastes good. Most of the salt gets dumped out with the water, so you need to add more than you'd think to salt the pasta.
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Heterogeneous nucleation that occurs at the cracks is energetically favorable for thermodynamic reasons that I forgot since grad school.
But I add a bunch of salt at the beginning because 1) I don't forget to add it, and 2) it tastes good. Most of the salt gets dumped out with the water, so you need to add more than you'd think to salt the pasta.
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ajuicejemas
Although the temperature difference with salt vs no salt is totally negligible, I do wonder if cooking pasta past 100 deg c would make a difference? Of course water can't get that hot with normal boiling but perhaps pressure cooking might yield interesting results?
disclaimer: I'm not a chef and have no idea what I'm talking about!
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Although the temperature difference with salt vs no salt is totally negligible, I do wonder if cooking pasta past 100 deg c would make a difference? Of course water can't get that hot with normal boiling but perhaps pressure cooking might yield interesting results?
disclaimer: I'm not a chef and have no idea what I'm talking about!
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Dan
thought it was about salting just before draining the pasta and thought wuuuut. by the way. a trick when putting in spagetti is to take a handful grab with the other han and make a slight twist. then drop in the noodles. they will fall down in a circular pattern making them easier to go down when geting soft.
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thought it was about salting just before draining the pasta and thought wuuuut. by the way. a trick when putting in spagetti is to take a handful grab with the other han and make a slight twist. then drop in the noodles. they will fall down in a circular pattern making them easier to go down when geting soft.
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Bryan
Adam seems to imply that desolving salt breaks it down into sodium and chloride, that s not how desolving works correct? It s about breaking the sodium chloride pieces down into smaller pieces of sodium chloride? Is this also an endothermic reaction? I never paid attention in chem so someone let me know
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Adam seems to imply that desolving salt breaks it down into sodium and chloride, that s not how desolving works correct? It s about breaking the sodium chloride pieces down into smaller pieces of sodium chloride? Is this also an endothermic reaction? I never paid attention in chem so someone let me know
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