The water you boiled the pasta on is not the “pasta sauce”.
Anon needs cooking advice
Submitted 5 months ago by Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works to greentext@sh.itjust.works
https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/5389f2a8-b87f-4c12-97a2-7e3cad82a44d.jpeg
Comments
JakenVeina@lemm.ee 5 months ago
It won’t be quite the same as having salted the pasta and the sauce, while cooking it, but “salvageable”, absolutely.
Faresh@lemmy.ml 5 months ago
How is it different from salting after?
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Salt does not penetrate as much and just does not add as much flavour
JakenVeina@lemm.ee 5 months ago
When it comes to something like meat, the biggest thing is that the salt can penetrate into the meat itself, rather than just sit on the surface. Same goes for things like potatoes or pasta.
Other than that, I couldn’t really tell you, on a technical level, but you can be sure it boils down to “chemical reactions.”
If you’re curious or skeptical, you can experiment pretty easily. Make a batch of tomato sauce, and seprate it into two portions. Salt one before simmering it for a few hours, and the other one after. Most people will be able to taste the difference.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Srsly?
This reminds me of a roommate my sister had, who asked her what went into a grilled cheese sandwich. She said just two pieces of bread and a slice of cheese. She came into the kitchen a few minutes later to find the roommate staring at the uncooked sandwich on a plate. “Something wrong?” she asked. Roommate answered, “Is this supposed to melt the cheese?”
PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Sounds like she’s qualified to be Trump’s next director of the FDA.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Especially if she’s a billionaire now lol.
aeshna_cyanea@lemm.ee 5 months ago
me
RustyShackleford@literature.cafe 5 months ago
You can also just add and stir in soy sauce. But add in garlic, some onion powder and chili paste for flavor.
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Finding soy sauce was like discovering a cheat code irl. Haven’t found a dish yet that isn’t improved by some combination of soy sauce, chili sauce, and/or lemon juice
BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 5 months ago
Soy sauce and fermented food in general are full of umami flavor.
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Pro tip: if you want your food to taste saltier but you’ve already salted it, throw a bit of lemon juice in there. Oftentimes when your mouth tells you it’s not salty enough, what it actually needs is a bit of acid
Doxin@pawb.social 5 months ago
Same thing if the food tastes too greasy or fatty. Lemon juice isn’t a bad go-to for whenever you go “this dish is missing something, but what?”
drasglaf@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
I usually cook without much salt because you can always add more, but you can never remove it. This way everyone can eat each meal to their liking.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
But the salt absorbing into the pasta will be a bit different than being part of the sauce. If it’s a common issue that people you’re cooking for want less salt, fine I guess. If not, salt the water when you cook pasta.
drasglaf@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Yes, pasta is one exception, I always cook it with more salt and no one has complained. I’m usually the one who wants less salty meals.
Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 5 months ago
Where’s the MSG?
Krauerking@lemy.lol 5 months ago
The tomatoes
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
That’s in the salt category.
TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 5 months ago
So is crystal meth. Mama TemperamentalAnomaly used to add just pinch to her gravy and it was magic.
Infomatics90@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
you need to add salt to the boiling water, but if you are trying to cut your sodium intake don’t do this. also please make pasta sauce from scratch. don’t buy pre mixed, just buy plain “passata” and add your own stuff. its a million times better.
snail_hunter@programming.dev 5 months ago
I don’t remember the exact numbers (and am not a doctor) but the vast majority of the average person’s daily sodium intake comes from processed foods, not home cooking.
FinalRemix@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Yup. Table salt or spice lives are usually nothing compared to the frozen food that’s 30% of your daily intake per serving.
Infomatics90@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
huh. yeah I can see the logic. I’ve been trying to cut processed foods as much as possible but not there yet.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
also please make pasta sauce from scratch.
As someone who frequently makes sauce from scratch, a hunk of ground beef or Italian sausage and a jar of Rao’s will absolutely get the job done on a busy weeknight when I can’t be bothered with chopping up a bunch of veggies. Plain passata and your own stuff is not “a million times better”.
pufferfisherpowder@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It’s literally only better if you have skill and, imo, time. You can’t make a good tomato sauce in like 10min from scratch, fight me
Infomatics90@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
what pasta sauce are you making? that’s overkill man.
all you need is
- passata
- olive oil
- garlic
- onions
- oregeno
buy pre cut frozen onions and pre minced garlic. this is how we italian-Canadians make pasta sauce from home overseas
Valmond@lemmy.world 5 months ago
So you want the person who can’t even cook pasta to do his own sauce?
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Salt is one of those things that works even on raw stuff, go wild
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
Salt often tastes different when added during cooking vs after
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 5 months ago
Yes, but if you stir it into a warm sauce it will mostly dissolve and it will still substantially improve it compared to no salt at all.
Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 5 months ago
If you forget to salt the pasta water, there’s no way of making it taste as if you had. And even if the salt dissolves well in the sauce, it won’t permeate whatever chunky things there might be in the sauce as if you’d salted a lit bit every step of the way. But yeah, it’ll be ok, even if it won’t be as good as it would have been. (I know you didn’t say it would be the same, just wanted to add).
GhiLA@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Sauce is a different matter.
But yeah, if you didn’t salt that yeast dough, you aren’t going to be making it better right before it goes into the oven.
Eiri@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Once i completely forgot the salt in my bread. It was disgustingly bland; like, I couldn’t believe a teaspoon of salt would have such a massive effect.
But I actually salvaged it by putting salt on every slice of toast I made with that loaf.
It worked out okay!
MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 5 months ago
Btw, carbonara tastes better if you add the bacon and garlic to the pasta and water instead of the sauce after.
Adm_Drummer@lemmy.world 5 months ago
What the fuck? Boiled garlic and bacon?
Get the pancetta nice and crispy in the pan, add the garlic in the final minute before finishing. Add your pasta (2 minutes under al dente) fresh out of the water into the hot pan with as much carry over liquid as you can, toss like your life depends on it (it does.), cut the heat, then add your mixed yolks, parm and fresh black pepper. Allow the carryover heat to thicken the sauce along with vigourous stirring to get the starches emulsified with the egg and cheese. Add more cracked pepper to your taste. Maybe a pinch of crushed chilis. Add pasta water and stir to reach your desired texture.
Don’t fucking boil your bacon and garlic.
engagewithzorp@lemmy.world 5 months ago
No