Pasta Water - Why Some Recipes Call for You to Save It
October 13, 2011
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Austin
• 0 Comments
Pasta Water - Why Some Recipes Call for You to Save It
Pasta is a staple at the American household dinner table. It is cheap, takes less than 10 minutes to make and can be eaten alone or in a variety of other dishes. Most people cook pasta the same way. Fill a pot with water, bring to a boil, add some salt and let it cook. Once the pasta is cooked to their liking, they drain the pasta water into the sink and move on to their meal. But, before you drain out that pasta water, save a few cups of it, it may come in handier than you think.
If you have ever taken a cooking class you may have heard your teacher talking about ways that you can use some of the pasta water to enhance your sauce or even use it in other meals all together. Saving your pasta water is just one of the many culinary secrets that you can pick up at a Texas culinary school.
Referred to as L'acqua di cottura in Italy, saving some of the water you use to cook your pasta comes in very handy, can be used for a variety of different recipes and has many applications. Most commonly adding some pasta water to your sauce and letting it reduce helps the sauce adhere to the pasta a bit better.
If you ever find that your pasta needs a little more moisture, pasta water is nice to have handy. Adding a little to your pasta after it’s cooked will loosen up the pasta and help to meld flavors together. When making plain pasta with basil, tomato, garlic, crushed red pepper, etc., it’s easy to add too much olive oil, or cheese or maybe even butter so that it's not dry. By saving the pasta water, it brings flavor together, adds moisture, and makes it creamy without adding too much oil or grease.
Some people use the pasta water in chilled pasta dishes, too, such as macaroni salad or pasta salads. Saving some pasta water lessens the need for so much mayonnaise or oil and vinegar, sometimes chilled pasta dries out a little, especially overnight, adding water instead of oil or mayo will reduce calories and help rehydrate dried out pasta.
Try to experiment with other uses for saved pasta water. If you find that you do not like the taste of the water in your sauce, you can always boil your vegetables in the left over water, let it cool down and water your plants with it or even add some of it to your dog’s food as a treat they are sure to love. If you really want to expand your horizons you can always enroll in a local cooking class to discover and share your ideas with others. Texas culinary schools are a great place for learning a variety of culinary techniques including the many uses for pasta water.
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin. Le Cordon Bleu College of CulinaryArts in Austin offers culinary arts and pâtisserie and baking training programs in Austin, Texas. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Austin for more information.
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