I have always heard that Italians cook their pasta too al dente, while Americans like their pasta softer, and I questioned why? It did not occur to me until I came to Rome that Italian pasta tastes so much better! "Cooking pasta" actually means to cook the pasta AND the sauce. Italians make their sauce from scratch, while most Americans just add marinara, meat, or alfredo sauce to their cooked pasta. Technically, in Italian cooking, that is the wrong way to "cook" pasta. Each kind of pasta has a cooking time, indicated on the package. If you cook pasta for less than the cooking time, then it will remain hard. If you go over the cooking time, it will become softer and softer. If you cook well beyond the cooking time, you have experienced al dente, how the Italians like to eat their pasta. and congratulations! "Al dente" means a little hard which can be reached by cooking the pasta for exactly the indicated cooking time. Americans prefer their pasta soft, so you may find on the package a cooking time that reflects”soft" pasta and advises you to cook the pasta for much more time than an Italian would. The first pasta dish I made was Spaghetti al Pomodoro e basicilico. We had some Italian students help us with cooking the sauce and pasta, but it was our first hands-on experience cooking Italian style pasta. We made the sauce from scratch, by cutting the tomatoes into halves and boiling them with olive oil and garlic until the right softness. The pasta boiled in a large pot for a period of time, and then I was the one to tell if it was "al dente." We poured the tomato sauce over the al dente spaghetti and then it was ready to be eaten. It was so yummy.
This picture shows the stages of how we made Spaghetti al Pomodoro. The noodles are cooking to "al dente." The tomatoes are cooking in olive oil and garlic. The third picture is the end product! Magnificent!
The term "al dente" comes from Italian and means "to the tooth" or "to the bite” this refers to the need to chew the pasta due to its firmness. If there is slight firmness in the inside of the pasta, you have reached "al dente." I actually prefer to have my pasta "al dente" instead of soft because I like the firmness/hard part of the pasta. It takes longer to chew which means I am enjoying my pasta taste longer. I would rather have my pasta a little harder than mushy and too soft to enjoy. The spaghetti al pomodoro Italian dish was so rich in flavor and I loved how the noodles and homemade sauce worked well together. Adding garlic and salt gave the sauce a kick which I really enjoyed.
Not only do I prefer al dente pasta, but I have also heard that pasta cooked al dente is easier to digest. Pasta that is cooked al dente has a lower glycemic index than pasta that is cooked soft. The glycemic index measures the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates that break down quickly during digestion and release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream have a high GI; and carbohydrates that break down more slowly, releasing glucose more gradually into the bloodstream, have a low GI which helps aid in digestion. Pasta made with semolina is made from cracked wheat and not finely ground flour so it has a moderate glycemic index. The reason for its slow digestion and steady release of energy is the entrapment of ungelatinized starch granules in a network of protein molecules in the pasta dough. If you overcook pasta it gets soft which means you have fully "gelatinized" those starch granules and turned pasta into an energy carrier with a higher glycemic index making it harder to digest.
Keep eating pasta, it’s good for you, and there are so many different flavors and textures to try! Lo amo al spaghetti!
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