1. Boil the water
Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water to allow plenty of room for the pasta to move about freely in the pan.
2. Add the salt
Once the water begins to boil, add salt to the pasta water. This will season the pasta as it cooks. The perfect ratio is 7g of salt per 1L of water. The water should be salty, just like the ocean.
3. Don’t add oil
Save oil for the sauce – don’t add it to the pasta water! If you put oil in your pasta water it will prevent the sauce from sticking to the pasta once it's cooked.
4. Stir the pasta
Once you add the dried pasta to the boiling salted water, give the pasta a good stir for the first 60 seconds, to avoid pasta sticking together. Continue to stir the pasta only occasionally throughout the remaining cooking time.
5. Cook the sauce
If you are serving pasta in a sauce, cook the pasta in the water for 30 seconds less than the packet suggests, then cook the pasta for the final 30 seconds of cooking time in the hot sauce. This will ensure the pasta absorbs as much flavour as possible.
Now that you know how to boil the perfect pot of pasta, try this simply delicious recipe for spaghetti carbonara. Happy twirling!
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