"Pasta Express" ... Pasta hasn't come out right yet, What am I doing wrong?

Question

In case you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about by the name, I'm talking about the acryllic container that was being sold on TV for awhile. You are supposed to be able to pour boiling water into it with pasta and it cooks in the container. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I haven't had a batch come out right yet. What's been your experience? Any suggestions? Or should I just toss it and consider it a lesson learned?

LOL...That's what I was afraid ya'll would say, but Mom had bought one and said it was great. However, she is a crappy cook, so.....

Answer 1

There's not a lot of science involved in making pasta, but there are a few rules. That seems like a bad way to cook pasta if you ask me, though. It seems to me your pasta will either not be cooked enough (not hot enough water long enough) or will be sticky.

Forget the pasta express. This is what you need to cook pasta:

- A pot large enough to hold a decent amount of water, and your pasta. Don't try to cook in too small a pot.
- A large thing of garlic salt (found in the spice section)
- Some kind of strainer
- Something to stir with (preferably with a long enough handle - don't use a fork) - wooden spoons work quite well

And, whatever you want for sauce.

Now, what you do is:

Fill the pot about 60% full of water (pasta and boiling will make it rise)
Dump in a good amount of garlic salt - I don't measure it, but I would guess I put in a few tablespoons.
Bring to a boil (actually if you put the salt in after the boil it'll boil quicker, but I never do)
Put in your spaghetti or pasta
Stir it initially (some will stick to the bottom - you don't want that to happen).
Occasionally take one out and try it. It'll be a few minutes before the first is ready if you are using regular pasta.
When it's the way you like it, put on some oven mitts and dump the pasta into the waiting strainer (in the sink, obviously). As soon as it's drained, put the pasta in the bowl you want to serve it in and immediately put on the sauce you want (butter, or tomato sauce or whatever). If it's butter, use slices and it'll melt. If it's tomato sauce, it will help if you heated it up gently while the pasta was cooking.

A few notes: The reason you want plenty of water is that you need enough room for the pasta to boil separately without being too crammed, and to not have the heat drop quickly when you put it in, otherwise it'll stick together.

The reason you season the water with garlic salt is to give it extra flavor - it cooks into the pasta. Some people just use salt, but I think garlic salt is better. It's cheap, and you can find large ones in the spice section.

The reason you put the sauce on right away is that when pasta is still quite hot, the "pores" are open and receptive to bonding with other ingredients, like sauce. If you let it cool off, or douse it with cold water, or cook with oil added, like some recipes suggest, what happens is that the sauce won't adhere, either because of the oil, or the pores have closed, and the sauce slides off. So add sauce or butter while the pasta is still quite hot, before it gets to cool down.

Finally, the water needs to stay at a boil. You can turn it down to a low boil if it's spilling over, but it needs to be pretty close. Actually it needs to be enough that the pasta will float up as it cooks. If it sits at the bottom, the water is way too cool and you'll never get decent pasta.

Enjoy!

Answer 2

How is putting boiling water with pasta in a plastic container any easier/different from boiling it in a regular pot?

Consider it a lesson learned.

Answer 3

You did not see through that sham.??? :~)
oh sorry now had you fresh made the pasta yesterday
That piece of junk just might work
But if your like me I buy a years supply at 99 cents.
it takes 22 minuets of boiling to get to al dente.
I feel so bad
But you have a very tall storage container Now

Answer 4

cooking the pasta longer must be what's mandatory to make effective the pasta is softer. i might say to rather time it fairly than "take them out while they start to compliment the flow", and that i will wager it is going to likely be around 8-10 minutes.

Answer 5

Its a crappy producted and you just got scammed..break out the pot and do it right

Answer 6

If you don't understand a question, DON'T ANSWER IT! How hard is that to do?

Answer 7

never worked for me too..