What's the purpose of a pasta pot?

[Anonymous]

I use my huge pasta pot occasionally, without the insert, for making chicken stock. For pasta, I use a pot about half the size and perfect for cooking a pound of pasta.

[Anonymous]

I'm shocked MIL served buttered pasta at a formal dinner party.

[Anonymous]

I bought a pasta pot just because it was a really great deal around Christmas, and love it. Yours sounds different though. Mine is just a regular pot (no insert) with holes in the lid on one side to drain water out when pasta is finished cooking. I use it as a regular pot more than for pasta, but it's great when I do cook pasta.

[Anonymous]

So there was nothing in the pot except water and you weren't allowed to use a lid to boil it? Did she think the water would be ruined by being boiled too fast?

[Anonymous]

Starchy vs. non-starchy pasta has been an argument for the ages. Some people like it rinsed, some do not. I would not rinse regular pasta but when I cook rice noodles, they have to be rinsed or they're a clumpy mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use my huge pasta pot occasionally, without the insert, for making chicken stock. For pasta, I use a pot about half the size and perfect for cooking a pound of pasta.

Chicken stock! That's actually a great use for it that I hadn't thought of. With the insert, I mean. You could just lift the chicken out.

Which reminds me of another time when mil watched me make chicken soup once and was like, that's how you make it? I bring a pot of water along with a whole chicken to a boil. Simmer for a couple hours. Take out the chicken and pull apart. Put bones back in and simmer bones longer. Then I scoop out all the bones with a fine mesh skimmer, then add the other ingredients and add back the chicken and cook.

I asked her how she made it, she says she first cuts up the raw chicken, with bones, into small pieces. Then boils the chicken with onion, celery, carrots. Then she gets cheese cloth and a colander and another pot to pour out everything, to make sure she gets all the little pieces of cut up bones, and throws the veggies away. Then removed the bones by hand from the cut up chicken. And then rinses the chicken to remove leftover bones. And adds the rest of ingredients in and cooks.

So many extra steps and cookware used. I avoid cutting raw chicken if possible because I'm lazy and a salmonella freak and hate cleaning it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked MIL served buttered pasta at a formal dinner party.

Our kids were there, so she wanted to make it for them. Which is just the type of hostess she is, she likes to make separate dishes for everyone's different tastes- a spicy and non spicy version of the same dish, different types of meats for people who have certain preferences. I'm a lazy hostess, I don't have the energy to do all that- for me, it's more like, here's the meal, eat it or not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So there was nothing in the pot except water and you weren't allowed to use a lid to boil it? Did she think the water would be ruined by being boiled too fast?

Yes I still don't understand this part. And I was scared to ask. When I asked for the lid, while the water was boiling, she said "no. You're not supposed to use a lid when you cook pasta." But I was just waiting for the water to boil. Which incidentally took about 25 minutes. Because it had no lid! I'm not sure what she was thinking.

[Anonymous]

The purpose of the pasta pot is to feed the people of Calabria and to teach Big Anthony a lesson. Also, Strega Nona is a little bit lazy and likes to have the pot do the work for her. Obvs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my mil's defense, I was helping her with the pasta at her house for a formal dinner, so I get that she wanted things done a certain way. She's old school and she likes to prepare things the "proper" way. I'm a shortcut kind of person and I love making one pot meals and I clean as I go. After my mil makes a meal, the kitchen looks like it exploded and it takes a major clean up afterwards. Just different styles of cooking.

I'm all for learning from her, but the pasta thing just boggled my mind and I wondered if there was reasoning to why she wanted it done that way. And I wondered if someone could simply explain to me the proper way I'm supposed to use a pasta pot. I can't ask her these things. She's horrible at explaining things - she's either secretive or acts like "how come you don't already know this, are you a comple idiot?" She doesn't say that but that's her tone.

And you guys did explain how to use the pasta pot so thank you. So you dump right into the serving bowl from the colander insert- that makes sense. And for some reason it never occurred to me to bring BOTH pots to the sink. And pior to this, I never knew you could rinse pasta. I always just did a quick drain in the sink and threw it back in the pot with a little leftover pasta water to keep it from sticking until I was ready to combine with the sauce.

Don't rinse the pasta, as others have already stated.


Also, pasta pots are nice if you're steaming vegetables, especially big batches or batches that take up a lot of space, like a bunch of asparagus, spinach, etc.

[Anonymous]

1. Most people don't use nearly enough water when cooking pasta.
2. They also don't salt the water enough.
3. You don't Drain the water from the pasta. You take the pasta from the water. Ergo having a pasta insert allows you to remove all the pasta the water in one go without dumping off the pasta water (at least some of which you will need for the sauce)
4. You don't dump the pasta back into the pot in which you just cooked it. You put it in the sauce to finish cooking so it picks up the flavor of the sauce, thickens it, and finished cooking the pasta.
5. You also add back some of the pasta cooking water which adds body to the sauce (due to the starch in the water), gives it a sheen (same), and sort of melts/melds everything together. In the last few minutes you also can then toss in fresh chopped herbs and grated (freshly done) cheese to taste.

There. All said nicely and with no undertone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my mil's defense, I was helping her with the pasta at her house for a formal dinner, so I get that she wanted things done a certain way. She's old school and she likes to prepare things the "proper" way. I'm a shortcut kind of person and I love making one pot meals and I clean as I go. After my mil makes a meal, the kitchen looks like it exploded and it takes a major clean up afterwards. Just different styles of cooking.

I'm all for learning from her, but the pasta thing just boggled my mind and I wondered if there was reasoning to why she wanted it done that way. And I wondered if someone could simply explain to me the proper way I'm supposed to use a pasta pot. I can't ask her these things. She's horrible at explaining things - she's either secretive or acts like "how come you don't already know this, are you a comple idiot?" She doesn't say that but that's her tone.

And you guys did explain how to use the pasta pot so thank you. So you dump right into the serving bowl from the colander insert- that makes sense. And for some reason it never occurred to me to bring BOTH pots to the sink. And pior to this, I never knew you could rinse pasta. I always just did a quick drain in the sink and threw it back in the pot with a little leftover pasta water to keep it from sticking until I was ready to combine with the sauce.

Don't rinse the pasta, as others have already stated.

This will not steam anything since the vegetables will be sitting in the water.


Also, pasta pots are nice if you're steaming vegetables, especially big batches or batches that take up a lot of space, like a bunch of asparagus, spinach, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Most people don't use nearly enough water when cooking pasta.
2. They also don't salt the water enough.
3. You don't Drain the water from the pasta. You take the pasta from the water. Ergo having a pasta insert allows you to remove all the pasta the water in one go without dumping off the pasta water (at least some of which you will need for the sauce)
4. You don't dump the pasta back into the pot in which you just cooked it. You put it in the sauce to finish cooking so it picks up the flavor of the sauce, thickens it, and finished cooking the pasta.
5. You also add back some of the pasta cooking water which adds body to the sauce (due to the starch in the water), gives it a sheen (same), and sort of melts/melds everything together. In the last few minutes you also can then toss in fresh chopped herbs and grated (freshly done) cheese to taste.

There. All said nicely and with no undertone.

Thanks PP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my mil's defense, I was helping her with the pasta at her house for a formal dinner, so I get that she wanted things done a certain way. She's old school and she likes to prepare things the "proper" way. I'm a shortcut kind of person and I love making one pot meals and I clean as I go. After my mil makes a meal, the kitchen looks like it exploded and it takes a major clean up afterwards. Just different styles of cooking.

I'm all for learning from her, but the pasta thing just boggled my mind and I wondered if there was reasoning to why she wanted it done that way. And I wondered if someone could simply explain to me the proper way I'm supposed to use a pasta pot. I can't ask her these things. She's horrible at explaining things - she's either secretive or acts like "how come you don't already know this, are you a comple idiot?" She doesn't say that but that's her tone.

And you guys did explain how to use the pasta pot so thank you. So you dump right into the serving bowl from the colander insert- that makes sense. And for some reason it never occurred to me to bring BOTH pots to the sink. And pior to this, I never knew you could rinse pasta. I always just did a quick drain in the sink and threw it back in the pot with a little leftover pasta water to keep it from sticking until I was ready to combine with the sauce.

Don't rinse the pasta, as others have already stated.

This will not steam anything since the vegetables will be sitting in the water.


Also, pasta pots are nice if you're steaming vegetables, especially big batches or batches that take up a lot of space, like a bunch of asparagus, spinach, etc.

pp you're responding to here.


Obviously if you fill the pot up, you'd get boiled instead of steamed vegetables.


You only add an inch or two of water. Enough so that it fills the space between the strainer insert and the actual pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought a pasta pot just because it was a really great deal around Christmas, and love it. Yours sounds different though. Mine is just a regular pot (no insert) with holes in the lid on one side to drain water out when pasta is finished cooking. I use it as a regular pot more than for pasta, but it's great when I do cook pasta.

As a "shortcut lady", this is what you want to use when MIL is not around. I have had a Circulon version that I use frequently because it is such a time and labor saver. One pot with a locking strainer/colander lid. You put the lid on the pot after turning off the heat. You turn the lid to lock it, carry the pot to the sink and pour the water out through the holes. Then your pasta is ready to put on a large platter or you can just add sauce to the pot. Only two pieces to wash. I see that there is a 5-quart version from Bialetti and a large pot from Farberware. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007TDQSW0/ref=pd_aw_sbs_79_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=5171M05t%2BtL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL100_SR100%2C100_&refRID=04G0JD5R7B7PGK0SGTGS