Why you don't need to empty the pasta water: the chefs' little secret

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

This simple ingredient will make your meals taste better.

During the boiling process, starch is released from the flour into the water. Therefore, after boiling the pasta, a whitish, cloudy liquid remains. Most people pour it down the sink. But not the chef. They call it "liquid gold". After all, it is this cloudy liquid that will help make the sauce thick and homogeneous. The Huffington Post described exactly how to use it.

Very often, instead of sauce, there is some kind of incomprehensible puddle on the plate. This happens because the water and oil in the mixture separate. This is where the pasta liquid comes in handy: it is needed for emulsification.

Emulsification is the process of combining two liquids into a homogeneous mixture that would not otherwise combine. The starch contained in the flour acts as an emulsifier and thickener. Just add a couple of tablespoons of pasta water to your sauce and stir slowly. The result is a thick, creamy consistency.

For sauces, you can use water not only from pasta, but also from lentils, beans, brown rice. All of them have a lot of starch.

There is one more plus of using this liquid. If the pasta is not rinsed after boiling, a layer of starch will remain on the pasta, which will hold it together with the sauce. Then the taste of your pasta will be even more harmonious. This trick will work with any sauce: tomato sauce, creamy Alfredo, and even pesto.

There are several methods to conserve water after boiling:

• Drain the pasta in a colander as usual, but drain the water into a bowl.
• Cook in a special saucepan with a built-in colander. This will make the process easier. Just remove the colander and the water will remain in the pot.
• Use tongs to remove long pasta like spaghetti and fettuccine from the water.
• Take out small pasta with a slotted spoon.

Try a life hack by making one of these sauces.