To Drain Pasta or Not?

You’re walking on dangerous ground, OP.

Gurl...

Just an innocent question, huh?

I can hardly wait for fond recollections of dear old Italian grandmothers to come pouring in. They always do.

If I'm cooking something easy to hold back with a wooden spoon, like filled ravioli or tortelini, I just do that and pour excess water from the cooking pot. Long pastas and tiny ones, I use a colander. I *am* Middle Class, so it's no worry for me.

I don't believe in a proper way to do most things.

I just use pasta tongs and remove pasta from the water, shake a few times and then put it on the plate. I'd probably use a colander but I don't own one.

Jack Lemmon in The Apartment was creative about it

I use tongs for long pasta like fettucine and spaghetti and a spider for short cuts like ziti and penne. The colander takes up too much space in the dishwasher. I also like my pasta water hot in case I need some to finish the dish. If I were going straight from the pot into a plate, I'd use a colander. But I never do that. I always finish my pasta in the sauce.

Obviously, this is correct. It's like the Easy Button. Why not do things the easy way if the outcome is going to be the same?

We rather think that Mrs Patmore has that one all sorted out . . .

I rather think that Mrs. Patmore did not ever make pasta.

Have I told you that I have a cat named Mrs. Patmore?

Only Americans use a spoon to twirl their pasta. The rest of the world uses the fork, sometimes against the edge of the plate.

r10, You may indeed be correct; tell me about the cat :)

And I was once at a cocktail party with Laura Carmichael, Phyllis Logan, and Jim Carter. Laura Carmichael is really quite pretty in person.

This thread will end in tears.

And I was once at a cocktail party with Laura Carmichael, Phyllis Logan, and Jim Carter. Laura Carmichael is really quite pretty in person.

R13 No one gives a shit.

DL would only be impressed if you said you were once at a cocktail party with Lucille Carmichael.

[quote] No one gives a shit.

Do you speak for the entire DataLounge community?

I give a shit.

I use a colander unless it’s big chunky pasta and then I use this giant spoon that’s practically a colander. I dip a cup in for pasta water before draining.

And you know what? I use soap on my cast iron sometimes, too.

Italians usa a scolapasta.

If draining pasta makes me middle class I oughta start with that, I'll climb socially!

[quote]Only Americans use a spoon to twirl their pasta.

Sono americano, ma non uso il cucchiaio.

I actually use uncooked pasta to dry my wet colander!

[quote]Italians usa a scolapasta.

No, not necessarily. The last time I was in Italy visiting my family, my cousin used tongs to get the pasta out of the water.

How does anyone use a spoon to twirl their pasta. I'm American, and I use my fork, like everyone I know, unless they are very young or very old. Then if they use a spoon they still don't twirl the pasta they cut it up and eat it like soup.

I put a plate over the pot, hold it over the sink and drain the water out!

As a proportionate otter, I prefer polenta to maintain my ability to look down and see everything.

I only use organic rice spaghetti. Over the years I experimented and found the best way to drain it is pour the water and pasta into a metal mesh strainer (not plastic, only trash uses plastic) then pour kettle boiled hot water over it to get out the extra crap. This way the pasta is still piping hot when you eat it.

Jesus K Ryste! You're getting the cooking water off the noodles. Who gives a fat rat's ass how you do it?

I use an Oxo collander with a handle. It takes all of 10 seconds to dump the pasta in after cooking, and then put it back in the pot.

As long as you save some pasta water and finish with the sauce it does not fucking matter. The most disgusting thing is to overcook the pasta.

R29, when I was a kid I used to love my mom's spaghetti. However, after decades of traveling the world and learning how to cook for myself, I was horrified when my mom made spaghetti during a recent trip back home. Not only did she boil the pasta to cook it, she then drained it, poured in the sauce, and basically let it boil in the sauce for another 30 minutes. By the time it was done, the past was like mush (and the sauce was essentially reduced to tomato water). Yuck.

R30 What a huge cunt. Hope you dumped the bitch after that.

I love my mom, but I'll cut her some slack on her diminished culinary skills.

There's a reason the moment at :55 nearly started a war, OP.

It isn't how you drain it, it's how you eat it.

Ewwww.... CARBS!!!!

I feel attacked!

It's not time for me to eat again, I just ate Thursday!

[quote]Jesus K Ryste! You're getting the cooking water off the noodles. Who gives a fat rat's ass how you do it?

Because we had a big fight thread a few years ago about draining pasta, and OP Greg is bringing the topic up, hoping to get a huge reaction out of it.

It's the same thing behind all the mayo threads we had for a few years after the big mayo fight.

[quote] What I found out was that doing so is considered very middle-class.

I slurp the pasta water up through a straw.

I drain because I make enough for several meals, in different ways. And gasp! I put a little oil on it to prevent sticking since I usually make oil based dishes with it. You can bite me hard if you don't like it.

The OP is that awful Gregg, not me.

Does anyone still eat a noodle?

Get a pasta pot with a strainer insert.

Case and thread closed (for good)!

[quote[I only use organic rice spaghetti.

Those are rice noodles, not pasta.

R43 Fuck off, it says spaghetti on the package.

I don't care for pasta water on my plate and that is what you get with tongs or other utensils (and no, I won't stand there like a fool waiting for water to drop, drop, drop off the pasta for a minute or two each time I grab a handful). Draining the pasta is the effective way to go. And anyway, in some cases, I add a bit of butter to the drained pasta (putting the pasta back into the now waterless pot and add the butter to melt and mix it all up). Why, yes, I'm a fat whore. How did you know?

My secret shame: I used to rinse off pasta with cold water when it was done cooking!

R46 Then the pasta is cold when you eat it, brainiac.

Not when you pour heated sauce over it, R47.

R44 - IDGAF what it says. If it's made with rice flour it's a noodle, not pasta.

R45 - Using tongs or a spider presumes you know that the pasta goes either into a bowl or a pan for finishing with the sauce and then served. Someone should have explained to you. You are correct about going from the water directly on to a plate. Watery. Italians don't go directly to the plate.

R46 - I'm glad you stopped rinsing. Another dumb thing Americans were taught to do. You only do that for pasta salad. Don't put oil in the water if you do.

R49 Fuck off. Rice spaghetti is pasta. Get your cunt out of your mouth, dummy.

Get over yourself, R50. Saying it doesn't make it so.

Pasta?! Why a bunch of fat whores!

R51 Pretty clear your mama shat you out into a dank dark alley somewhere.

R53 Fortunately, my Italian-born mother taught me the difference between pasta and rice noodles, irrespective of it's packaging.

Pencil dick.

Use your lid and pour the excess water out, whilst trying not to spill out the pasta and getting a steam burn in the process.

Nothing about draining method but definitive on adding salt to boiling pasta, not rinsing under cold water, etc. I do same as r55.

I serve my pasta Fondue style. Guests are given a two-pronged fork and they just fish the slippery little pasta worms out of the boiling water, then dip in Marinara sauce and eat

No draining, no fuss, no muss

What’s the point of adding pasta water?

Genuine question - apparently I’m trash.

The starch in the pasta can thicken a sauce R58.

Thank you R59.

Not happy when a restaurant pasta arrives on the plate swimming in water. The only liquid should be tomato sauce.

Can I have your stuff OP?

You can stand to without the carbs OP.

After Ginny from Billing's arrest, trial, mistrial, re-trial, and eventual conviction, Muriel looked to replace her. How many interviews she conducted (some lasting a few hours with oddish delivery men coming and going) I do not remember.

Finally, she emerged from her office, victorius and happy. She'd finally found the right fit! An older gentleman, well spoken, very polite. On his first day he made pasta in the canteen. Muriel walked in just as he was draining the pasta.

What you've heard is true: she whipped out her machete and charged at him. He saw her out of the corner of his eye, and managed to escape, missing only the bottom of his R ear. Muriel wiped the bloody blade in the drained pasta, and left it there in the canteen. One of her corgis ate the partially severed ear, and threw it up later.

Since then we've had temps filling the Billing position. And btw, the fellow's name who drained the pasta? It was Vince; I swear to God.

OP, I hope this helps to answer your question.

R18, so is "scolapasta" Italian for "collander?"

Drain pasta? No. Just east it directly out of the cooking water.

*eat it directly out of the cooking water

Suck all the liquid out of each strand of that pasta with your mouth, tongue and throat until you transform long stalks back into their original rock-hard state, OP!

R65 - “so is "scolapasta" Italian for "collander?"

Yes, R65. I use mine to drain the pasta, AND empty it back into the pot.

As others mentioned above, I will not stand over a pot like a fool, tonging pasta out of the water. Fun fact: The pasta continues to cook in the water even after you shut the heat off. So, go ahead all of you insufferable “never-strain” queens, and enjoy your pasta that’s becoming more limp and mushy by the second. Fucking ridiculous. Strain your pasta. End of story.

Again with this?

Jesus, R69, how long does it take you to get pasta out of the pot using tongs? Are you woefully uncoordinated or cooking in a cauldron or something? There's nothing wrong with draining your pasta, but using tongs or a spider is hardly the deep sea fishing expedition you're making it out to be.

Don’t Jesus me, Mary Jane @R71. Do your research, I know I did.

Using a colander is by far the most widely used method to rid water from pasta. Not tongs, not spiders; a colander. Sorry, but like most, I am not keen on eating overcooked pasta because it’s been sitting in water any longer than it should, AND having excess water diluting whichever sauce I choose. So, take your insults and misinformation, and go fuck yourself. Preferably, with your wet tong.

r69

I stand with the Italians on most of those issues, R56. But they'll take garlic bread away from the pasta meal over my dead body.

I boil pasta to a hair short of al dente (level depending on whether I continue cooking or topping w/sauce, mixed into salads, etc.), because noticed noodles will continue softening even after removing from boiling water, especially penne, rigatoni & other tubular types