With Mom gone I've taken over a lot of the cooking, actually all of it. Dad had a partial plate removed for adjustment today so I was going to make him spaghetti, but I'm not sure how. It's been a while. As I recall Mom used to fill a pan with water, drop in about a teaspon of Wesson oil, let it boil, break the dry spaghetti, drop it in and cook the sauce (Hunts, Meat) separately and then serve them in two separate bowls. That sound about right to anyone? Thanks, Mark

You need to be a member of Captain Comics to add comments!

Join Captain Comics

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  •  I do the noodles and sauce/meat separate and then let people put as much as sauce as they like on the noodles.

  • Yep, that's what she did. I'm finding more and more that there were a lot of questions that I never thought to ask. I don't like Spaghetie you see. Now I'd eat a ton of it if I could ask her about it.

  • That's a standard method, but not the best way.  Of course, it's all a matter of taste, but here's what I would recommend.

    The sauce is your call.  Like most things, the more you pay for it, the better quality it usually is.  There are quite a few flavours out there, now, as well.  Roasted garlic, basil tomato, fra diavolo, and others.

    Cook the meat in a skillet.  My preference is half ground sirloin, half ground chuck.  The sirloin is leaner, which is better for you, and the ground chuck adds enough fat to make it tasty.  Once you've cooked the meat to your liking---I prefer rare-to-medium rare myself---add the sauce.  Stir and let simmer.  Again, it's a matter of taste, but I don't bother with tomato paste.  It makes the sauce much too thick for my tastes.  Let the meat do the thickening.

    While the sauce and meat is simmering in the skillet, prepare your pot for the pasta.  Don't bother with the oil.  I know, I know, it's a common suggestion; but it really adds nothing in terms of taste or preparation.  But you do want to add three or four healthy dashes of salt to the water---sea salt or kosher salt is best; but any salt helps the water boil faster and it seasons the pasta.

    Once the water is to a boil, snap the pasta in half and add it to the water.  Be careful of an overflow---the water will react with the starch in the pasta.  It's best if you originally filled the pot only two-thirds full with water.  Don't worry if the pasta sticks out of the water at the top; it will boil down.

    If, despite your best efforts---and it happens to me often---the water starts to rise above the pot and spill out, simply turn the heat down until the water recedes, then bring it back to a boil.  You may have to do this a number of times---drop the heat and then raise it, again.  It won't hurt the cooking of the pasta, but it will affect your cooking time.   That's why I cannot give you a set "X number of minutes" to cook the pasta.  After six or seven minutes, draw a few strands of the pasta out and check how well it's cooked.  And keep checking it every minute or so thereafter.  Be careful.  Boil it too long and it will be mushy.

    Most pasta afficionados will tell you to stop the boil and drain the water once the pasta is al dente---soft but still with a firmness to the bite.  My recommendation---and this is tricky---is to stop the boil and drain the water just before the pasta is al dente.  It's a tough call, so don't worry too much if you stop the boil and drain it when it is al dente.  It's one of those rather-be-safe-than-sorry things.

    The reason I bring it out just before al dente is---once the pasta is in the collender, dump it directly into the skillet with the sauce and mix it thoroughly with the sauce.  None of this "two separate bowls for the sauce and pasta" stuff.  Adding the pasta directly into the simmering sauce does a couple of things.

    One:  it cooks the pasta a bit more, which is why I try to stop the boil just before al dente.  Mixing the pasta with the simmering sauce will then bring it to al dente.  (If you stopped the boil when the pasta was al dente, don't worry, the extra cooking from the sauce won't hurt it appreciably.

    Two:  adding the pasta directly to the sauce allows the pasta to absorb the sauce.  Pasta is porous and will draw in the flavour of the sauce.

    If you turn the heat on the skillet to its lowest setting, after you've mixed the sauce and pasta, then you should be in good shape.  That will keep it sufficiently heated until you can transfer the dish into a serving bowl.  Or you can do what we do here at Casa Benson; we just fill our plates straight from the skillet.

    Again, it's all a matter of taste.  This is what works for me.

    Good luck!

  • The reason I don't add the sauce and noodles is that I don't care for spaghetti all that much. I make it because it's quick and easy. I prefer the noodles on the plain side and add some sauce to it for flavor. But the Commander is right mixing the two, if you like that sort of thing. As he says it's a matter of taste.

    As far as sauce goes I found I like the traditional flavor. There's a lot too choose from though.

  • Thanks commander, I'll try that next time. Have to say no to the salt though, my father is on a low salt diet.

  • I also make garlic bread when I make spaghetti. There's a lot of ways I to do it. What I do is slightly toast the bread first. Then I add butter or olive oil and either garlic salt or an Italian seasoning mix. I stick it in the oven on broil and let it go for a few minutes until the butter is melted and the bread is slightly more toasted.

  • It won't be fatal to leave out the salt, Mark.  The pasta will lose some edge, of course, but if you've made a flavourful sauce, not adding salt to the boiling water will hardly be noticed.

    As to the matter of keeping the sauce and the pasta separate to permit the diners to add sauce to taste, that's a respectable alternative if several people will be dining and you don't know their individual tastes, or their tastes are disparate.

    But if you know the tastes of your diners and they're pretty much in the same range---for example, here the Good Mrs. Benson and I like our sauce-level pretty much the same way---then you can adjust the amount of sauce when you initially prepare it in the skillet.  If everyone likes it light on the sauce, then only use half a jar in the skillet; if a lot of sauce is everyone's preference, then use a jar and a half.

    On the other hand, the way I look at it is, if you're getting a free spaghetti dinner from me, I'm going to prepare it in the way that makes it most flavourful---i.e., mixing the pasta and sauce together.

  • The Italians generally mix the pasta and the sauce before serving.  And generally they don't have too much sauce with it, so that it is not too 'wet'.  I suppose they depend on the pasta itself being quite tasty.

    I used to teach Italian students and socialise with them, so I was very interested to see how they did these things.  As the Commander says, you can adjust everything to suit your taste, but I'd say they set the baseline.

    The Italians generally scorn any sauce not made at home, but if they have to use a bought sauce, Barrilla seems to be top of the list.  It seems to be available all over the world, and its about the same price as other brands.  I reckon it's the best you can get.  In general when you are buying sauce or pasta, its best to go for whatever's made in Italy, if possible.

    They are fussy SOBs when it comes to their food, so the Italian-made stuff tends to be good.

    What about cheese?  I always put grated cheese on top of my pasta.  It's supposed to be parmesan cheese, but a good cheddar is tasty too, and the one I usually go for.  (Irish farmers love cheddar cheese, which might explain my preference.)

  • Cheese is probably on the forbidden list for us, but I'll check. I did ok with it, but didn't realize how much the sauce would splatter.

  • The other day, I saw one of those "lifehack" articles, that said the way to prevent a pot from boiling over is to place a wooden spoon across the top: http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hacks-21.jpg, See the whole collection here, at Viralnova: "2014 Is Going to be My Year Now That I Know These 89 Genius Soluti...

    If sodium intake is a concern, check the label on the sauces and choose one that is lower or lowest in sodium. You might have to choose a lesser-known brand over a well-known one, but the variation in sodium from one brand to the next is quite wide. Then again, some quality brands are lower in sodium.

    Actually, I would suggest checking the sodium levels on everything you buy. And check out Men's Health magazine's Eat This, Not That! series. The premise is that you can accomplish healthier eating simply by comparing basic products, the stuff you would eat anyway -- for example, Heinz ketchup and Hunt's ketchup -- and choosing the one that is lower in sodium, sugar, cholesterol, calories and fat. The Eat This, Not That books compare hundreds of products found at your grocery store in this way.

    There are some surprises. Men's Health favors foods that are not heavily processed, and thus recommends Oscar Mayer's low-sodium bacon over Louis Rich turkey bacon, or any turkey bacon. And Snapple iced teas are LOADED with sugar. Find out more at the Men's Health Eat This, Not That! page.

This reply was deleted.