Does anyone else prefer their pasta slightly overcooked?

Depends. Al dente for fettuccini, or a robust sauce like puttanesca.

Softer for a more finely textured, sweeter sauce.

I only like al dente pasta in lasagne but it isn't my preference.

No.

I don’t eat pasta anymore because carbs, but I’ll do a bite here and there if it looks good. My BIL made a mac and cheese with bloated flabby overcooked pasta and I almost gagged on it.

Lasagna is about the only pasta I don’t expect to be al dente.

[quote] Does anyone else prefer their pasta slightly overcooked?

I just made some pasta in one of those extrusion machines. It came out OK, but I really wasn't sure how long to cook it. I tasted it several times and it always seemed sort of "done," because it started out as soft before it was cooked.

I prefer it mushy.

OP’s favorite restaurant is Olive Garden

OP types middle class slob. I bet you had parents with names like Norm and Janet, ate TV dinners, and wore clipon ties. We have no need for your plebeian kind. Fuck off, we don't need anymore proletarian cocksuckers here.

I don't like al dente nor mushy. I just want it done to a point where I can eat it w/o a crunch.

From the Wisconsin Swedish-American Cookbook, definitions:

"al dente". Italian for not cooked enough.

Yes, OP. If I wanted to eat rubber bands, I'd buy them.

I have a friend who thinks "al dente" means "still the texture of uncooked teeth." I like mine cooked more than that, but never mushy.

[gasp!]

Not "mushy" but definitely more cooked than "al dente". I agree with #10 ("al dente". Italian for not cooked enough).

I like mine almost over-cooked. Rice too. I especially like baked pasta or pasta in soups. With al dente I feel like it breaks up in your mouth and your teeth are trying to chase all these little hard pieces. And then you just swallow it and it seems like it’s not chewed throughly. Same with oatmeal. I’m just weird I guess.

[quote]With al dente I feel like it breaks up in your mouth and your teeth are trying to chase all these little hard pieces.

I think that's called not-quite-al dente.

My SIL is Italian and cooks her pasta so that it's still chewy. I hate that. I like my pasta softer than that, as in there's no white line of flour when you break a piece in half.

So many lower middle class bores...how far the DL hath fallen

I do not like over cooked pasta. It's one of the signs of a good cook is if they know how to cook pasta. Homemade pasta only needs to be in boiling water for a few minutes, if that. And regular pasta cooked al dente will not have that white color line when cut in half. And as someone up thread said, lasagna noodles are about the only pasta that can be not al dente.

Why don't all you soft pasta eaters just kill me now? Just tear my guts out and bury me in the cold ground. And then piss on my grave. Seriously, what are you people trying to do to me here?

Real men eat it right out of,the box.

The battle between whats "al dente"and whats "mush"continues.....everybody has different rules to define that....we will never all agree,let it go OP

Oh, go read about football, r22. Or soaps. You are hereby banished from "Food, Italian."

Al dente is for peasants.

I like it somewhere between al dente and overcooked. For mac and cheese, I probably wouldn't mind a little overcooked.

DLers eat pasta? *gasp*

R10 As I suspected. I always thought it was Italian for "pretentious" or "Rachel Ray Chic"

R25 "I like it somewhere between al dente and overcooked."

So, cooked?

OP is the devil incarnate

No. Just no.

I once had a guy in Naples named Al Dente. He never got fully hard, though.

[R23]....i hate football and pretentious twats who try and dictate what is exceptable in somebody else's kitchen. I thought that died with Julie Child....rolls eyes ,leave s thread

[quote]I thought that died with Julie Child

Oddly enough I was pretty cool about what you do in your kitchen, even telling people to buy canned goods and frozen foods because the quality was as good as fresh ingredients and cost much less. And don't get me started on "prime" cuts of meat.

[quote]exceptable

"Exceptable"?

I cook it quite underdone, then finish for a minute in the sauce, still slightly underdone.

I couldn't possibly eat spaghetti, do I look Italian?

This thread stinks of garlic and cheap wine.

R37, is that a bad thing, lol?

This thread is full of stained wife beaters and gold chains.

It should stick to the wall.

I like everything cooked to the point that I can suck it up with a straw. Fine dining at its best.

R8, are you the hysterical little nothing who pops up on threads with overwrought, nasty comments about everything? You're a tiresome creature.

LOL R41

you know, pasta boxes have a little number printed on them. it's the number of minutes pasta should be in the boiling water for the perfect result. cook a minute or two less if you want it al dente, one or two more if you dont know shit about italian cucina. it's not rocket science. and yes, of course lasagne can never be al dente, duh.

R44 What do Italians think about breaking spaghetti in half before you put them into the pot? It's much easier to eat them that way but I imagine Italians would be clutching their cornicellos at the sheer thought of doing something like that.

I lived in Italy for awhile and loved the al dente style.

I live in America and occasionally like the limp, overcooked spaghetti-o thing.

Both have their pleasures.

R45, we don't care. It's just kind of funny because that's something you'd do for small children.

Or a small pot.

It's just water and flour R44, don't glorify it. And anyways, the Chinese invented it and you guys stole it.

Fresh pasta is ok al dente. Dry pasta needs a bit more cooking.

R49 types gook

Who cares who invented pasta - it was Italians who perfected it and brought it worldwide fame.

R51 correct. Slants and panda huggers like r49 take note.

A small portion, to be polite, with cheese.