Over cooked pasta??!
Answers: What's a good way to tell if your pasta is done.......besides throwing it against the wall??
While whipping a piece of spaghetti at the wall might be a great way to blow off some steam, it isn’t the smartest way to find out if the pasta is al dente. “That’s a good way to know that your pasta is totally overdone. Instead, remove a piece from the water and taste it. (Check it every 30 seconds after the minimum suggested time is up.) Pasta should look slightly swollen with water and feel tender in your mouth, yet have a little bite to it. For thick pastas, such as rigatoni, you can cut a piece in half to check the center. The color should be uniform throughout; if there’s a white spot or ring in the middle, it needs to boil longer. Also, your water should never get too cloudy — that means it’s on the verge of going mushy. When you’re adding pasta to another dish or dressing it with sauce, you can err on the undercooked side. The pasta will continue to cook after you turn off the heat (so repeat overcooking offenders should turn off the stove early).
Just taste test until you get the degree of firmness you like.
Tasting a piece, of course! It's done when it still has a little 'bite' to it!!!
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Cool off a piece and taste it. If it is hard it is not done. If you like it, it is done. Everyone talks about "al dente" but I like mine a little on the soft side.
You want your pasta to be al dente. This normally takes 10-15 minutes depending on the pasta. Take a piece or a strand out then pull. If it has elasticity, it is done...if it is still crunchy cook it some more. The trick to not over-cooking pasta is to keep and eye on it. :)
Read the box and boil it for however long it says to boil it. Usually 8-10 minutes. Do not rinse it, just drain it.
al dente is overrated. nuke it.
just make sure its tender and not sticking together