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Pasta is easy to cook. All you have to do is open up a bag and pour as much as you want into salted, boiling water, bring it back up to a boil and wait until it is done. The tricky thing about pasta is cooking it to the right consistency.
Al dente, a firm but not hard texture with a small amount of "bite," is usually what is desired and is rarely achieved by following the instructions on the packaging. A more reliable method of cooking pasta is to let it boil for several minutes and then testing pieces of pasta at 30-60 second intervals until you reach your preferred consistency. For this to work, however, you have to stand over the stove the whole time, so another option, this time in the form of a gadget, might present the perfect solution. The Pasta Per'fect Timer is dropped into the pot along with your noodles and changes color according to the level of doneness of the pasta. It gives three indicators, from thin (angel hair) to thick (lasagna noodles) and it will only take a couple of batches before you find exactly the right level of donrness and can hit it every time.
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1-09-2007 @12:12PM Lenka said... After having performed the hover-over-the-pot-bite-test schtick for what seems like forever, this sounds like a handy gadget! There's a similar device on the market for boiling eggs to proper doneness that I've been using for years, too.
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1-08-2007 @8:57PM lisa said... So... then you have to stand over the stove watching the color of your pasta timer? I dunno, that might be one of those shortcuts that isn't, really. Like saying "GWB" for "George Washington Bridge" when it has the same number of syllables.
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1-09-2007 @5:29PM Diane said... For more pasta timing fun try the Al Dente - http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/tag/al-dente-personal-pasta-singer-215886.php. Al Dente is a personal pasta assistant you drop into pot of boiling water to activate. After 7, 9 and 11 minutes, he will break into operatic melody. The songs are "Triumphal March" from Aida; at 9 minutes, the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" from Nabucco; and at 11 minutes, "La Donna é mobile" from Rigoletto. It's a little pricey ($30), but it's really fun.
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1-08-2007 @9:14PM Lou said... I disagree. You don't cook pasta for "several minutes", then test it every 30 - 40 seconds. If the package says 10 minutes, you don't test after three; you test after eight. Then you test it every minute or so. Yes you might have to stand over the stove for as many as two minutes. Such is the price of pasta.
I also can't figure out how this device works. How does this "timer" know when my pasta is done? Does it know the brand I'm using? The amount of pasta?
What if I'm cooking shells, or rigatoni, or ziti, or orecchiette or... you get the picture. The pasta in the picture (looks like ziti with lines to me) is not covered. This device is as useless as the piece of plastic with the holes in it that's supposed to help you with pasta portions.
No, if you want to learn to cook pasta, learn to cook pasta; no amount of plastic gimmickry will help you.
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1-09-2007 @4:41PM ryan said... How does it account for fresh pasta vs. dried? There is a big difference in cooking time.
I doubt this device is much more than a heat activated timer that changes due to a chemical reaction.
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1-10-2007 @9:11AM calamari said... To the horror of pasta fussers everywhere, there's a very simple trick of getting al dente pasta. Put water in pot. Pour pasta into cold water. Turn heat on high. When the water boils violently, to the point of trying to boil over, the pasta is al dente.
The only non-filled pasta that has failed by this method are those frilly gladiola-shaped ones.
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