1. Reboil undercooked pasta
Re-boiling the pasta in water is the easiest thing to do if you just dumped the water and found that it’s still crunchy. In order to avoid overcooking the pasta, it’s crucial that you stay next to the stove the entire time and test it every 30 to 60 seconds. It’s best if you can salvage some of the salted water you just used. Otherwise, new water will work just fine.
How to fix undercooked pasta
It won’t ruin your day if your pasta turns out to be undercooked. These easy solutions can improve the situation and save your meal.
According to the always scientific explanations of Cooks Illustrated, pasta is starch thats been bonded together by proteins. As pasta cooks in a boiling pot of water, the starches take on liquid. And while some starch molecules explode after taking on too much water and then pour their component parts into the mix, the starches deeper inside of the pasta are less saturated. You could think of this as less cooked. This is precisely when the pasta has reached an al dente state.
In the end, that means that a piece of pasta should have just a hint of white in the middle when you bite into it to check if it is done. To avoid being overdone, it should have a light hue and a subtle difference. The pasta should be somewhat firm, but definitely not crunchy.
Maybe you’ve seen people test the doneness of pasta by tossing it against a wall. It’s likely that you’ve heard of this trick, whether you’ve attempted it yourself or laughed at others who did. Unfortunately, its all wrong. Rachael Ray points out that this method is actually a complete pasta myth, noting that pasta only becomes starchier and more sticky as it cooks. This indicates that overcooked pasta is unquestionably what sticks to the wall.
As the pasta cooks, pay special attention to it and begin testing it slightly before you believe it to be done. You shouldn’t need to bite into the pasta too many times to get it to the ideal al dente texture if you observe the color and cooking time.
But if you know what to look for in al dente pasta, you can save yourself some time (and at least a few bites into undercooked food). Though it won’t happen nearly as frequently and you won’t be throwing a handful of noodles at your kitchen wall, you will still need to taste the pasta to ensure that it has reached the right texture.
