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1
Bring to a boil enough water to accommodate the pasta you intend to cook.
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2
Adding room temperature noodles to hot water drops the temperature of the water.
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3
If that temperature drop is too drastic, your pasta won't cook properly.
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4
The higher your water to noodle ratio, the less chance there is that the temperature drop will ruin your shot at the perfect pasta.
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5
You almost always want to cook pasta in heavily seasoned water.
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6
Add salt until it tastes about as salty as the sea.
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7
Certainly offensive to drink, but not unpleasant to taste.
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8
Add pasta to boiling water, and stir to separate.
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9
Some pasta shapes have a tendency to stick together while cooking.
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10
The only way to avoid this is with cautious stirring.
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11
Cook pasta until nearly edible.
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12
It should still have a slight bite to it, such that it would be unpleasant to eat as is.
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13
At this moment, using a kitchen spider or a pasta spoon, move the noodles from the boiling water into your waiting sauce.
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14
It is always advisable, when possible, to finish the cooking of a pasta in it's sauce.
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15
Keep in mind that a pasta, like a piece of meat, does not just stop cooking the moment it leaves the fire.
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16
There is a very small window of time during which it will be most enjoyably consumed.
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17
Your goal is for that window to open up at the very moment your pasta leaves the fork.
