Anonymous wrote:Adding a drop or two of oil does keep the pot from boiling over.

On "Chopped" the judge who specializes in pasta (Scott Conant?) goes INSANE when chefs don't salt the pasta water.

Because it ruins the very starches your pasta needs on its surface. DON'T DO IT.

http://gizmodo.com/the-science-of-why-your-past-boils-over-1498537569

Adding a drop or two of oil does keep the pot from boiling over.

On "Chopped" the judge who specializes in pasta (Scott Conant?) goes INSANE when chefs don't salt the pasta water.

adding salt to cooking water raises boiling point, making pasta texture better, not just more salty.

adding oil to cooking water does nothing at all because oil floats on water and pasta, well, doesn't.

SCIENCE.

Salt in the water - I heard it was to prevent the water from boiling over too rapidly, but maybe that's wrong.

Anyway, butter and salt in cooked pasta tastes divine...

I substitute olive oil instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Italian here. Salting the pasta water means you can add less salt to the sauce.

I have no idea why your friends are adding butter. That's not something we normally do (unless it's for a specific sauce?).

People add salt to their sauce? Gosh I'm sure my Ragu has tons of sodium already! I've never even heard of that!

Italian PP here. I make all my sauces from scratch (although I do sometimes use canned tomatoes, they are the kind without salt added). So, yes, I need to add salt.

Definitely I would not add salt to jarred sauces -- they are always pretty salty already.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Italian here. Salting the pasta water means you can add less salt to the sauce.

I have no idea why your friends are adding butter. That's not something we normally do (unless it's for a specific sauce?).

People add salt to their sauce? Gosh I'm sure my Ragu has tons of sodium already! I've never even heard of that!

LOL! Are you being funny?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Italian here. Salting the pasta water means you can add less salt to the sauce.

I have no idea why your friends are adding butter. That's not something we normally do (unless it's for a specific sauce?).

People add salt to their sauce? Gosh I'm sure my Ragu has tons of sodium already! I've never even heard of that!

Bhahaha! Yes people who make their own sauce add salt to it.

Anonymous wrote:Italian here. Salting the pasta water means you can add less salt to the sauce.

I have no idea why your friends are adding butter. That's not something we normally do (unless it's for a specific sauce?).

People add salt to their sauce? Gosh I'm sure my Ragu has tons of sodium already! I've never even heard of that!

I think pasta tastes way better cooked in salted water.

I put butter in my kid's pasta after it's cooked and drained while it is sitting in a hot pot because it tastes good. I also do it because my kid could use some extra fat. If I am cooking for me and dh only, then I do not use butter. I have not been salting my pasta water, but I think I will start. Rachael Ray said that you should salt your pasta water.

Anonymous wrote:Italian here. Salting the pasta water means you can add less salt to the sauce.

I have no idea why your friends are adding butter. That's not something we normally do (unless it's for a specific sauce?).

This PP again. They are adding butter to the water?! No, no, no. That ruins the starchiness on the surface of the pasta and makes it not adhere to the sauce as well. NEVER put oil or butter or fat into your pasta water!

Salt, yes. A pretty generous handful. If you want to limit the salt in your diet (which actually isn't shown to be beneficial, but that's another story) cut back on eating out and processed food - that is where the salt is. It makes the pasta taste good, that's why! Good cooks will tell you to salt every stage of the cooking - not so you get more salt, but so that every piece is appropriately seasoned. If you add salt only at the end of a dish it isn't absorbed into everything...it is only on the surface, so to speak. On the butter, some people thing fat in the cooking water keeps the pasta from sticking, but it doesn't. And it probably just goes down the drain when you drain the pasta.

Italian here. Salting the pasta water means you can add less salt to the sauce.

I have no idea why your friends are adding butter. That's not something we normally do (unless it's for a specific sauce?).

Well, we don't need pasta in our diet either, but if you are going to eat it, you may as well make it taste nice.

I never put salt in te water when I'm boiling pasta. I also never mix in butter. My friends who are fancy cooks do both these things. Why? I can't taste a difference, and feel like we don't need more salt or fat in our diets.