We know that cooking pasta is not an easy task. You have to be aware of the amount of water that we must add and, above all, the cooking so that it is perfect. However, something so basic and that many of us have been misusing all our lives is the strainer. And it works. No one was born trained to know how all the artifacts that facilitate our existence work.
Everything happens once the water for the pasta boils, you incorporate it, add salt and a little olive oil, to remove it from the heat and cut its cooking finally, but before you must drain it or remove the water in which it was cooked.
How to use pasta pot with strainer
The correct way to use the strainer is to place it over the pasta cooking pot and instead of pouring the entire contents into the container, you should only use it as a barrier so that the water comes out of the pot.
In this way, you will not have to dump the pasta back and forth in the saucepan. You will save time adding the sauce and you will not mess up another container.
Drain the pasta without removing it from the pot
Although when cooking for the public, on television, at conferences, in cooking workshops … they try to do all the processes in the correct way possible, when you cook at home for yourself and for your closest environment, the thing usually changes. It is common to try to save time and dirty fewer kitchen pots and have less to clean. Without going any further, at home we do not use a strainer to drain the pasta, we drain it without removing it from the pot, putting the lid on without fitting, turning it over and letting the waterfall as a thread.
It is not the best way to drain pasta, nor the most comfortable, nor the safest … but it is a very fast way to do it. Also, it allows us to recover the cooking water that we will need later so that the sauce has the density and adhesion with the necessary pasta. As we mentioned, we do not recommend this system for various reasons, but you know, we all sin on some occasions of that of “do what I say, but not what I do.”
It is ideal for when a small quantity is made and a saucepan is used. In addition, it is necessary to have a strainer of the appropriate size to fit the saucepan.
Incidentally, it will serve to drain the pasta and for any vegetables, legumes, rice, or cooked in water. You can see it in the photo on these lines. The strainer is placed upside down in the saucepan so that the concave part is inside, so, when it is turned over to drain the pasta, it does not go to the strainer, it does exclusively filter to pass the liquid.
Complete the process
When carrying out this process, it is interesting to remember to recover the liquid necessary for the recipe in question or another culinary preparation. It must also be taken into account that the pasta returns drained to a hot pot and that it must be worked immediately so that it does not stick, you cannot leave the drained pasta in the hot pot while making the sauce, as if nothing.
At a minimum, it would have to be seasoned with extra virgin olive oil to grease it and that this fat film prevents the pasta from sticking and drying what it does not prevent is that the very heat that both the pasta and the saucepan have to continue cooking the pasta and stop being al dente when it is to be served. You already know that the pasta must finish cooking when the sauce is already prepared. Once the mixture is done, the diner must already be at the table waiting for the dish, or if it is the food for oneself, the pasta must be served and immediately to eat, the kitchen will be collected later.
You will already tell us if this trick on how to drain the pasta without removing it from the pot, using a strainer, but vice versa, it seems useful and practical. It will also be good to tell us what your tricks are in the kitchen to save time and dirty, less junk when nobody sees you.
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