I’ve always been one of the salt-your-water proponents, so it’s fun to see this! Delighted to be wrong. Would be fun to see the data plotted with individual rating points superimposed on a box plot to better capture variance.
Could be! But they could have standardized from cold water if that was the case. From my google research it seems that most people think it improves the texture, making it easier to achieve al dente.
I feel very validated in all the wacky ways I have made pasta in the past while people roll their eyes and bring up (now scientifically proven) bs pasta etiquette.
Interesting experiment. However, even as an experimentalist, I believe it lacks some theoretical background, particularly regarding the physical and chemical processes occurring when "farfalle" or "rigatoni" (my favorite pasta shapes, especially with Bolognese sauce or "cacio e pepe") transform from hard cylinders into delightful carriers of flavor.
The transformation involves starch in the pasta absorbing water, which occurs around 82°C (180°F). Therefore, there's no need to boil water! This concept was first mentioned by Benjamin Thompson in 1799, who noted that during boiling, heat is wasted on evaporation rather than raising the temperature.
Considering this, part of the experiment is already explained by established theory. A similar statement by Nobel Laureate G. Parisi (yes, Nobel Laureates are often questioned on various topics outside their expertise when they win the prize…) garnered headlines in Italy and abroad, meant to save energy and spare some (small...) money https://www.sciencealert.com/a-nobel-physicist-explained-how-to-cook-pasta-and-now-everybodys-angry
As a cooking aficionado, I use (salted) boiling water for practical reasons: boiling indicates that the critical temperature of 82°C has been reached, and the small but not negligible drop in temperature when the pasta is added will not bring the water below that temperature. I personally notice a significant difference between salted and unsalted water. However, I plan to conduct a small experiment to account for psychological biases in this perception.
I’m curious if the amount of salt used here was too low to make a difference in taste. I put a ton of salt in my pasta water — would using a tablespoon or more cause people to rate it higher? Guess I’ll have to host a pasta party!
Great work but have you considered the alternative hypothesis: all your friends are idiots. I mean, most people are idiots but maybe some experts can tell the difference between your pastas and maybe they will tell you all your experimental groups are disguising.
For real, that would be like the Stradivari violin study but for pastas (Fritz et al 2012). Tbh, I suspect the traditionally made pasta might be sensitive to your experiments. Your study also reminded me the old dumplings cooking wisdom: after boiling, you should add some cold water in the dumpling pot till boil again, repeat 3 times. There have been some discussions and experiments online about the reasoning and necessity of it, but all of them are in Chinese…
If you cook cold start, what is the recommended cooking time? Say that package directions are 8-10 minutes. ... ok, I googled that. Rough answer: 13 minutes.
Something I worry about with survey data is whether anyone ever rates anything a 1 or a 7, so I don't know whether a 0.5 diff matters as much as it would on say, Uber.
I see from the data that some people actually did give 1 and 7 ratings, I would love to see what ratings microwaved pasta would have got.
Now to the important question: How much time did cold start boiling save? How long did the water take to boil? How many minutes to equivalent texture?
Would be interesting to know how longer it took instead of the standard 8 minutes. I like to know how much time I should more or less wait, so that I can taste the pasta only around that time. That's why I usually boil the water, so that I can follow the minute reported.
I have also found that using just enough water to cover the pasta, and cooking it a simmer instead of full boil, works just fine.
Another trick - when making lasagna, you do not need to pre-cook the lasagna noodles, just put them in the dish raw, cover with the tomato sauce and the rest of your ingredients, and bake normally.
To clarify, when you did cold water start, did you cook with the heat on or off? I turn off the heat once the water reaches the boil. It takes much less time to cook overall, plus I don't have to be constantly observing the pot in case it boils over.
Do you need to stir more often when you do a cold water start? I always figured the boiling water helped stir things and keep the pasta from sticking to itself.
I can't imagine that any of this was hot and steaming?
No, it wasn’t. Which definitely could’ve impacted the study! Next time, I’ll make sure everything is fresh.
Sauce rules!
QED
I’ve always been one of the salt-your-water proponents, so it’s fun to see this! Delighted to be wrong. Would be fun to see the data plotted with individual rating points superimposed on a box plot to better capture variance.
I bet they tell you to boil the water first so directions can be standardized.
Could be! But they could have standardized from cold water if that was the case. From my google research it seems that most people think it improves the texture, making it easier to achieve al dente.
Heating is unstandardizable. Gas vs electric, pot size… there is a lot of variation in how long it will take to heat up.
Just testing with your mouth every few minutes is provably the best way to get al dente.
I feel very validated in all the wacky ways I have made pasta in the past while people roll their eyes and bring up (now scientifically proven) bs pasta etiquette.
Just tell the haters you’re doing it for science!
Interesting experiment. However, even as an experimentalist, I believe it lacks some theoretical background, particularly regarding the physical and chemical processes occurring when "farfalle" or "rigatoni" (my favorite pasta shapes, especially with Bolognese sauce or "cacio e pepe") transform from hard cylinders into delightful carriers of flavor.
The transformation involves starch in the pasta absorbing water, which occurs around 82°C (180°F). Therefore, there's no need to boil water! This concept was first mentioned by Benjamin Thompson in 1799, who noted that during boiling, heat is wasted on evaporation rather than raising the temperature.
Considering this, part of the experiment is already explained by established theory. A similar statement by Nobel Laureate G. Parisi (yes, Nobel Laureates are often questioned on various topics outside their expertise when they win the prize…) garnered headlines in Italy and abroad, meant to save energy and spare some (small...) money https://www.sciencealert.com/a-nobel-physicist-explained-how-to-cook-pasta-and-now-everybodys-angry
Interestingly, Dario Bressanini made similar statements years earlier in his Bressanini Blog (in Italian, but easily translatable) https://bressanini-lescienze.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2017/02/07/la-cottura-della-pasta/comment-page-2/
As a cooking aficionado, I use (salted) boiling water for practical reasons: boiling indicates that the critical temperature of 82°C has been reached, and the small but not negligible drop in temperature when the pasta is added will not bring the water below that temperature. I personally notice a significant difference between salted and unsalted water. However, I plan to conduct a small experiment to account for psychological biases in this perception.
Thanks for this interesting test!
I look forward to an independent replication of the study at an Italian party in Italy.
I’m curious if the amount of salt used here was too low to make a difference in taste. I put a ton of salt in my pasta water — would using a tablespoon or more cause people to rate it higher? Guess I’ll have to host a pasta party!
Great work but have you considered the alternative hypothesis: all your friends are idiots. I mean, most people are idiots but maybe some experts can tell the difference between your pastas and maybe they will tell you all your experimental groups are disguising.
Hmmm could be interesting to hunt down some experts. Although, I think that these “pasta experts” probably aren’t eating dried box pasta.
For real, that would be like the Stradivari violin study but for pastas (Fritz et al 2012). Tbh, I suspect the traditionally made pasta might be sensitive to your experiments. Your study also reminded me the old dumplings cooking wisdom: after boiling, you should add some cold water in the dumpling pot till boil again, repeat 3 times. There have been some discussions and experiments online about the reasoning and necessity of it, but all of them are in Chinese…
If you cook cold start, what is the recommended cooking time? Say that package directions are 8-10 minutes. ... ok, I googled that. Rough answer: 13 minutes.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/cold-water-pasta
Yeah, and I think it took about 8 minutes to boil the water for the control batch so it definitely saves some time.
Nice experiment!
Something I worry about with survey data is whether anyone ever rates anything a 1 or a 7, so I don't know whether a 0.5 diff matters as much as it would on say, Uber.
I see from the data that some people actually did give 1 and 7 ratings, I would love to see what ratings microwaved pasta would have got.
Now to the important question: How much time did cold start boiling save? How long did the water take to boil? How many minutes to equivalent texture?
Also curious about time saved in the cold water condition!
Thanks for this post!
Would be interesting to know how longer it took instead of the standard 8 minutes. I like to know how much time I should more or less wait, so that I can taste the pasta only around that time. That's why I usually boil the water, so that I can follow the minute reported.
Do you remember how long to took the cold start to cook? I like this idea as a time saver but not if I need a sommelier!
I have also found that using just enough water to cover the pasta, and cooking it a simmer instead of full boil, works just fine.
Another trick - when making lasagna, you do not need to pre-cook the lasagna noodles, just put them in the dish raw, cover with the tomato sauce and the rest of your ingredients, and bake normally.
To clarify, when you did cold water start, did you cook with the heat on or off? I turn off the heat once the water reaches the boil. It takes much less time to cook overall, plus I don't have to be constantly observing the pot in case it boils over.
Do you need to stir more often when you do a cold water start? I always figured the boiling water helped stir things and keep the pasta from sticking to itself.
I believe I stirred both about the same amount. Every minute or so. It didn’t seem to make a difference from the control.