The main focus of the at-home experiments was adhesion, namely how spaghetti strands move laterally and adhere to one another when one lifts cooked pasta off the plate. According to Tawfick, the phenomenon is similar to the “Cheerio effect,” wherein the final few delicious little “O”s in a bowl cluster together and either drift to the center or the outer edges.
The majority of packaged dried pastas have cooking instructions that suggest cooking for 8 to 10 minutes, but this is a vague method that can cause a lot of variation in the cooked pasta’s consistency. The UIUC physicists discovered, among other things, that one does not need to follow the age-old custom of tossing a cooked strand against the wall to determine when spaghetti is perfectly al dente—although doing so may require less setup. Instead, they developed a straightforward method that only requires a ruler. (And, yes, horrified Italians, the tasting approach also functions admirably. But wheres the fun in that?).
Two MIT mathematicians came up with a helpful trick in 2018, which Ars reported on. They twisted the spaghetti at 270 degrees before slowly bringing the two ends together to break it in two. The twist lessens the snap-back effect and releases pent-up energy in the strand to prevent further breaks as it twists back and unwinds to its original straightness.
There have been a surprisingly large number of scientific papers seeking to understand the various properties of spaghetti, both cooking and eating it—the mechanics of slurping the pasta into ones mouth, for instance, or spitting it out (aka, the “reverse spaghetti problem”). The most well-known is the question of how to get dry spaghetti strands to break neatly in two, rather than three or more scattered pieces.
In 2020, University of California, Berkeley physicists gave a comprehensive explanation of why spaghetti will begin to sag as it softens in boiling water. After that, it gradually descends to the pot’s bottom, where it will curl back on itself to create a U shape.
Thank goodness, years of spaghetti-making experience have taught me a trick that will prevent spaghetti roulette and ensure that the spaghetti cooks just right.
One of those foods from college that keeps you full with the least amount of money and effort is spaghetti. However, determining when spaghetti is done can be difficult if you’re not a seasoned chef.
Why? Well, my goal to drink more water this year was changed to one to drink filtered water, use it for cooking, and wash fruits and vegetables as well after looking at my own water source.
I’ve never really understood how to know when spaghetti is done. So I’d guess. On one occasion, I’d cook the spaghetti for 8 minutes. On another, 10 minutes. It was like spaghetti roulette.
You don’t need any tools to install one. With the help of the useful adapters that came in the package, I was able to get it up and running in just five minutes.
