Al Dente

My room mate and I recently had a slight disagreement over cooking pasta and what it means to properly cook pasta. As all my Italian relatives will know, I've been raised with the expectation that pasta should be cooked al dente, from the Italian, literally meaning ' to the tooth'. This means the pasta has a little resistance, some spring still left in it.

We often share food, particularly pasta because it is easy to cook a large amount of it and silly to cook a very small amount. It's pretty much impossible to mess up pasta so for a while I was trying to figure out why something wasn't quite right when he made it. I finally realized it was just a bit too soft, a point he emphasized when he complained to me last week that I hadn't cooked it enough. I argued it was al dente and that's the way it was supposed to be, but he insisted it was undercooked. I suppose it's a matter of taste and what you grew up with. Eating some pasta he cooked tonight reminded me to write about it. We could also argue over sauce, but I admit I'm somewhat of a sauce snob so that's not even worth it.

For those who insist on getting their pasta just right, there's even a device to tell you when time is up. I'm not sure if anyone actually uses this but it's good for a laugh. Apparently this singing al dente timer will play opera for you after 7-9 minutes of cooking your pasta.

Yes, his name is Al and sadly he seems to no longer be available. Sad days.