Spectacular Spaghetti

Have you ever noticed how wonderful spaghetti can be? I mean seriously, spaghetti not only tastes good, it is easy to make, and it is wonderfully inexpensive. What better meal can you really have, on a tight budget, than spaghetti? However, if you are looking to make some truly spectacular spaghetti, you will have to do a few certain things.

These won't be expensive things, but rather certain steps that you will need to take, in order for your spaghetti to turn out perfect. Before continuing, there is one thing that you need to know. This method for making spectacular spaghetti will only make passing reference to any type of sauce. The reason for this is that spaghetti can be served with all kinds of different sauces, and that is something that should be left up to you the cook. Rather, we will be discussing the actual cooking of the pasta itself.

When attempting to cook spectacular spaghetti, there are a few key points that you will need to pay attention to. If you understand how these key points interact with each other, than you can understand how to make some spaghetti that you can really be proud of. You will notice, that each of these key points are areas that most typically have problems with when making or cooking pasta in general, and spaghetti in particular.

1. Cooking time. Everyone knows that you put uncooked spaghetti noodles into rapidly boiling hot water, and allow them to sit there for several minutes until they are soft. However, what many people do not know is that there really is no set cooking time. Rather, what you should do is continually stir the pasta as it cooks, and periodically check it. If the noodles appear to be done, double check by flinging one against your refrigerator; if the noodle sticks, then it is finished cooking.
2. Equipment used. Many times, the mistake lies not in your cooking, but in the equipment that you use. Once your noodles are finished cooking, you need to drain them completely. This does not mean that you simply slide the pot cover over a little bit, and get out as much of the water as you can. Rather it means that you actually place a strainer into your sink, pour the noodles and water into it, and then give gravity a little time to work. Once it looks like most of the cooking water has left the noodles, shake the strainer once or twice to ensure that all your water has been removed.
3. Rinsing properly. While not strictly necessary, rinsing spaghetti noodles is something that many people do incorrectly. If you find it necessary to rinse your spaghetti noodles, then do it in a quick manner. Do not allow your noodles to sit under cold water for very long, or you will end up chilling the noodles, and cause them to shrink. Instead, give all of your noodles a quick once over with the cool water, and then shake them a couple of times to get rid of that water.