Dried pasta cooked correctly is one of the most satisfying preparations in cooking. Cooked incorrectly — in insufficient water, undersalted, or drained too early or too late — it is one of the most disappointing. Hazan is emphatic on every parameter: the water quantity, the salt level, the timing, the al dente test, and the critical technique of never fully draining the pasta before combining it with the sauce.
**The water:** - 4–5 litres per 500g pasta. Not a negotiation. Insufficient water lowers the temperature too dramatically when the pasta is added, produces an outside-cooked, inside-raw result, and raises the starch concentration in the water to levels that make the pasta gummy. **The salt:** - Added when the water reaches a full boil — approximately 2 tablespoons per 5 litres (producing approximately a 1% salt solution). The pasta water should taste pleasantly salty — like a light broth. - The salt does not absorb into pasta in meaningful quantities if added correctly — its primary function is raising the boiling temperature slightly and preventing surface gelatinisation that produces gummy pasta. **The boil:** - Full, rolling boil throughout. Never reduce the heat after adding pasta. A vigorous boil keeps the pasta moving, preventing sticking and producing even cooking. - Never add oil to the pasta water — it coats the pasta and prevents sauce adhesion. **Al dente:** - The pasta should have a slight, pleasant resistance at the very centre of its cross-section when bitten — not raw-chalky, not soft-yielding, but a specific, clean firmness. - Test by biting a piece 2 minutes before the package time suggests — Hazan insists Italian packages invariably over-state the time. [VERIFY] Hazan's guidance on timing adjustment. - The white line test: cut a piece of pasta — a thin white line at the centre indicates 1–2 minutes of cooking remaining. No white line: pasta is cooked. Thick white line: significantly under. **The transfer:** - Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining. The starchy water is the liaison between pasta and sauce. - Do not fully drain — a small amount of pasta water retained with the pasta is desirable. - Finish the pasta in the sauce for 1–2 minutes: the starch from the pasta water thickens the sauce and the pasta absorbs the sauce's flavour at the surface level. Decisive moment: The 30 seconds before the correct al dente point. Hazan's pasta is always finished in the sauce — so the pasta goes into the sauce slightly under the target, finishes in the sauce's heat, and arrives at al dente at the moment of service rather than at the moment of draining.
Hazan