Pasta Boil-Over!

[daveamkrayoguy]

Heard on my usually annoying, but sometimes interesting morning radio program on my way to work that if you place a wooden spoon over boiling water (even instead of the lid) that the water actually stays in the pan...

--And you can eliminate ALL of the water boiling all-over the top of your stove...

So is it true, that I'd lessened even just the nuisance of water stains, and completely took away the horror of what would usually happen in the 2nd picture, by just doing this:...?

-- Dave

 

[frigilux]

I've heard of the wooden spoon trick, but never actually tried it out. Nice spaghetti and meatballs meal!

I rarely eat pasta anymore (not by choice) but tried Barilla's 'Ready Pasta' and it wasn't bad. Both the spirals and penne are a little smaller than traditional pasta, but wow, is it convenient. A minute in the microwave and it's ready.

 

[johnrk]

Barilla/wooden spoons

Guy, you can have my serving of that Barilla Ready Pasta. I'm not a big pasta eater but the ads on YT were driving me nuts so I bought every type sold at my H-E-B. I found them all to be rubbery, not 'al dente', and quite slick. I may be prejudiced, though, as I've made fresh pasta in my Bosch for 35 years. Coming from here in Texas in the middle of rice country, though, we had rice for supper, not pasta, and we were a steak and seafood family. In fact, I don't remember my mother ever fixing spaghetti or anything like that. So it may just be me.

I've always shied away from wooden spoons; they just seem porous to me and impossible to get really clean. Over the years when I've had them I've soaked them periodically in bleach to try to get them thoroughly clean. These days I use commercial Rubbermaid.

One trick I've used for many years for the boiling over problem, outside the drop of oil solution, is to place one of my splatter shields for a fry pan over the top of the pot. This stops most of the problem but if it's severe foaming, it doesn't.

 

[philcobendixduo]

After years of "Pasta Boil Over"....

......when cooking pasta, I found a simple solution.
Instead of leaving the burner on the highest setting after the water returns to a boil after adding the dry pasta, turn it down to a slightly lower setting like medium high.
Problem solved! The pasta still "boils" and cooks in the same amount of time without boiling over.

Never add oil to the pasta cooking water. This will "coat" the pasta and prevent the sauce from adhering to it.

I LOVE pasta!

 

[cadman]

Yep, turning the heat down once you hit boil saves a lot of mess!

I haven't bought Barilla since the chairman offered up this telling remark a couple years ago:

"I would never do [a commercial] with a homosexual couple, not for lack of respect but because we don't agree with them," said Guido Barilla, according to a Reuters translation. "Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role. … If [gays] don't like it, they can go eat another brand."

Apparently the boycott affected their bottom line, forcing an apology and reversal. Either way, I'll stick with Creamette.

 

[johnrk]

Barilla

Didn't know that--amazing how ignorant companies can be with offending people to whom they're supposed to be selling.

Even better--make your own pasta. It's not hard and it tastes so much better than any of the store-bought stuff, especially the dried.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

And to go off-topic on Wooden Spoons:

Well, I was wondering "how does this really work?"--but I see, the solution is to lower the heat, once the boiling starts, just for lower heat-settings to cook the pasta in the same amount of time, so, that, I've routinely done...

As for the cleanliness of wooden spoons, I have that one and a couple more, and even a few others, that came with baking mixes, so other than possibly experimenting with the mixes directions, those spoons have never gotten much use (my daughter fascinated with them, maybe helped me mix something with just one)...

Oh, but if you go back to my childhood, then, there was the large wooden spoon my mother spanked me & my sister with--until it broke one night on her behind (and she didn't even have anything tucked back there in her pants)...

Me, doubting a fellow-classmate's similar punishment ("it's for punishment", quoted my mom, maybe on my questioning why I never saw it go into a pot, pan or mixing bowl--before retiring it) by his father using a belt, said "Oh, that thing SMARTS!--And I can tell you: Once you got whipped with THAT, you never did a baaaa-dddd, thing in that haaaauuuuusssseee ever again!"--Yeh, that's the way he'd talked, and again, it was me doubting a slab o' leather had anything on a hunk o' wood...

(And I'll leave you with "that I would be a bad parent bragging about the use of mine (hint: I take it off) than actually using it...")

-- Dave

 

[twintubdexter]

I may forgive but never forget...

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I remember very well Guido Barilla running off his bigoted mouth. Although I love pasta anything I rarely prepare it. I've never tasted all that much difference between brand name pasta and store brands. It all seems like very inexpensive stuff anyway. Of course I have uneducated taste buds that are too old to learn anything new.</span>

 

[johnrk]

twintubdexter

Good for you! I'm not gay but I am intelligent, and that's as stupid a statement as I'm gonna hear out of a businessman. I have certain brands that I avoid for one reason or another, and I have long memory...

Best wishes from Texas, where we're not all fans of Ted Cruz...

 

[DADoES]

 
I routinely run my wooden spoons in the dishwasher.  They've suffered no ill effects and ought to be reasonably clean.

 

[appnut]

I eat whole wheat pasta 100% of the time.  If I could find a home made recipe with as many fiber grams / servings of dry/boxed, I'd probably make it. 

 

[johnrk]

to appnut

Do you ever grind your own grains? I've been doing it since the 70's. If you're really into grains it's the only way to go. Easy and much, much more economical--and you know what you're getting. I buy most of my wheat from either Pleasant Hill Grain or Wheat Montana. There is nothing like the fragrance of wheat berries freshly ground--nothing like the junk in the store.

Have you ever made seitan (wheat meat)? I learned how to do it from the Mormons in the 70's, still do it on occasion. You can do it the easy (and expensive) way by just buying gluten flour, or better yet, grind your own wheat and do it. There are bunches of good videos on YT showing it. I've had seitan in Chinese restaurants that I'd swear was meat.

I've routinely also ground my own field corn (NOT sweet corn) for cornbread. Some people actually grind the field corn that you buy to feed deer, but that stuff's nasty. There are many places online where you can buy good field corn. Once you've had fresh cornmeal, you'll understand why the junk in the store doesn't take like corn: it's rancid. A good health food store will keep its ground cornmeal refrigerated or frozen, just as it will with whole wheat flour.

I also like grinding dried beans into recipes to add fiber and protein. If you have any interest, PM me.

 

[lordkenmore]

I typically buy whole wheat pasta. I often go with organic if reasonably priced. I usually buy the cheapest option that meets my desires that day. I can't honestly say I've ever noted much of a difference between standard grocery store pasta brands. Except, of course, the price...

 

 

[lordkenmore]

I've also made pasta from scratch (25+ years ago). It was quite good as I recall, but more effort than I'm willing to invest these days.

 

[frigilux]

Barilla Ready Pasta: After a minute in the microwave, I pour it into a wide 4-cup Pyrex measure, add sauce and vegetables/meat, stir in a few tablespoons of water, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 3-4 minutes until bubbly-hot. It improves the texture of the pasta. Having said that, there is absolutely no denying the quality does not approach that of a top-notch dried pasta (De Cecco, for instance) or homemade.

 

[joeekaitis]

If it's a short pasta . . .

 

 

. . . like penne, mostaciolli, fusilli or rigatoni, I no-boil bake it in an Infinite Circulon 6-quart chef pan.  The stockpot and colander get the day off.

 

[ea56]

I cook my past like this now too Joe, in the sauce, but I usually do mine on the stovetop. But I also make my Lasagna this way now too, but of course in the oven. You just need to add about 50% additional water or other liquid to your sauce. I think that any pasta with a tomato based sauce tastes much better cooked in the sauce, rather than cooed separately and adding the sauce latter. Its a great time saver and less clean up too.
Eddie

 

[joeekaitis]

But, never, ever, EVER . . .

. . . break spaghetti before boiling it and NEVER cut it with a knife when you eat it.

Bad luck, you understand.

Well, OK, you can break 3-foot long spaghetti ONCE. If you can’t handle 18-inch spaghetti, open a can of Spaghetti-Os.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Maybe the way the wooden spoon works is that if you are cooking pasta on a gas stove, you have to turn down the heat after you place the wooden spoon over the pot to avoid charring the wood. The smoke would get your attention right away.