Have you ever been served pasta that stuck to your fork or your plate or was so sticky that you ended up with a solid piece of pasta that needed slicing?  We’ve all been there. It’s infuriating. Since it’s impossible to eat something like that, you find yourself sending it back in restaurant but when you’re visiting a friend, it’s really tricky. The only alternative is to drink so much that it eventually goes down but that means you can’t drive plus you’ll have a hangover from hell, so I though it was a good idea to make a quick list of do’s and don’ts and pray that

everyone I know reads it. Here we go.

To cook pasta al dente, keep this in mind try and you’ll never have to eat badly cooked pasta again. Nor will your guests. Whenever you make pasta at home make sure you do the following:

• Use decent flour
• Increase the proportion of egg in the recipe, if necessary
• Use the kneading knives on the food processor, if you have one
• Knead the pasta dough for a long while before putting it in the fridge to rest for at least one hour.
• When the pasta rises to the surface of the water it’s cooked.

When cooking commercial pasta remember the following:

• There is no point in adding oil or butter to the water but after straining, a splash of olive oil or a knob of butter will prevent the pasta from sticking.
• Cook the pasta into already boiling, salted water to reduce the cooking time and in so doing to minimize the loss of starch content.
• Do not cook pasta in mineral water because it becomes sticky – cook it in slightly acidic water (add a teaspoon of lemon juice) to prevent an awful gluey consistency.