Food
Actually al dente pasta: the technique everyone searches for
Water, salt, time and the pan finish. The trattoria method, without the snobbery.
6 min read
Al dente does not mean raw. It means the center gives a gentle resistance, not a hard white thread. The box usually overcooks by a minute — set a timer two minutes early and taste.
Plenty of water, salt like the sea (about 10 g per litre), and do not oil the water. Oil stops sauce from clinging. Stir the first 30 seconds so it does not stick.
The move that changes the plate: pull the pasta a minute early and finish it in the pan with the sauce and a ladle of cooking water. Emulsify. If it is soupy, raise the heat. If it is dry, add another splash.
Cheese at the end, heat off. Pecorino or parmesan seizes if it boils. A thread of raw olive oil at the table beats cream.
It is one of the most-searched recipes in Spanish and Italian. That is why it lives on FlexChar next to daily restaurant news, olive-oil prices and food trends arriving through RSS.