How do you cook your spaghetti and sauce?

[Anonymous]

I’ve always cooked the noodles and sauce separately. I’ve heard/seen this is wrong! Do you cook the sauce and noodles together in the same pot?

[Anonymous]

Boil spaghetti with salt umtil pliable
Drain but keep water
Put spaghetti and sauce in a wok to finish cooking. Add pasta water as needed

[Anonymous]

Depends what I am doing. If it's like Sunday gravy I cook separately. Or jar of sauce for the kids or a quick dinner.

If it is a dish where I made a pan sauce of any kind I cook to 1 min short of al dente, reserve pasta water and drain and then toss the pasta in the sauce adding water slowly to make it glossy and coat the pasta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boil spaghetti with salt umtil pliable
Drain but keep water
Put spaghetti and sauce in a wok to finish cooking. Add pasta water as needed

This is what I do too.

I've heard of/tasted 1 pot pasta dishes and cooking the pasta in the sauce, but it doesn't turn out the same IMO. Definitely not better tasting, and I think it takes longer too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boil spaghetti with salt umtil pliable
Drain but keep water
Put spaghetti and sauce in a wok to finish cooking. Add pasta water as needed

So not the full time as said on the box?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boil spaghetti with salt umtil pliable
Drain but keep water
Put spaghetti and sauce in a wok to finish cooking. Add pasta water as needed

This is what I do too.

I've heard of/tasted 1 pot pasta dishes and cooking the pasta in the sauce, but it doesn't turn out the same IMO. Definitely not better tasting, and I think it takes longer too.

I should clarify that I don't use a wok, but a pot. Same process though.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all! I’ll give these a try

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boil spaghetti with salt umtil pliable
Drain but keep water
Put spaghetti and sauce in a wok to finish cooking. Add pasta water as needed

So not the full time as said on the box?

The total cooking time is probably the same as the al dente time on the box

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends what I am doing. If it's like Sunday gravy I cook separately. Or jar of sauce for the kids or a quick dinner.

If it is a dish where I made a pan sauce of any kind I cook to 1 min short of al dente, reserve pasta water and drain and then toss the pasta in the sauce adding water slowly to make it glossy and coat the pasta.

This is the right answer, exactly.

[Anonymous]

Separate until both done. Then I toss sauce and pasta together and add pasta water if too dry. THEN serve.
I’ve known people who serve the pasta and sauce separately, they put a pile of plain pasta on their individual plate then a ladle of sauce on top

[Anonymous]

I cook them separately, although sometimes I will drain the pasta and add it to the sauce to finish off the last minute of cooking. I always save the pasta water in case things need to be thinned out a bit.

[Anonymous]

I used to cook separately, but lately have started just throwing the spaghetti into the sauce to cook. It's so much simpler, but I don't like it as much myself. I like very little sauce and this way I have no control of that.

[Anonymous]

My regular/traditional sauce is made separately and served over spaghetti noodles. However, I also make a similar dish that my family calls "American Goulash" that is essentially a one-pot dish of meat sauce with elbow noodles cooked in it.

[Anonymous]

I toss spaghetti into boiling water and then time it - I think it takes 8 minutes. Then I pour it into a strainer, from there, into a dish. Meanwhile I'm cooking meat to brown it with seasoning. Once I put the spaghetti into boiling water, I pour tomato sauce over the meat, turn the heat way down, and let them simmer. When the spaghetti is in the dish, I pour the meat sauce over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boil spaghetti with salt umtil pliable
Drain but keep water
Put spaghetti and sauce in a wok to finish cooking. Add pasta water as needed

So not the full time as said on the box?

The total cooking time is probably the same as the al dente time on the box

IMHO, you just know after cooking it a few times. Every pasta is a little different and you know your preference. The time on the box is a rough estimate.