I’m going to be trying this. Waiting for water to boil is embarrassingly frustrating.
Not dangerous, just yuck. The water in the teakettle tastes off when it’s been sitting too long…nsame with the hot water heater.
Putting capellini with a heavy ragu is just wrong. …as wrong as dressing lasagna with a light garlic sauce.
That’s an easy one. A) I prefer the thicker pasta for its toothsomeness. B) Visually, capellini have a subliminal wormy connotation. C) There’s some truth to the claim that we eat with our eyes. The more void space in the dish of pasta, the larger/more satisfying the portion appears to be. I cook just for myself, but find I get more servings per pound of regular spaghetti than thin - and even more with fusilli, ziti, etc.
Greygarious / Sunshine,
Exactly my point…tradeoffs.
You need certain pasta thisknesses and shapes for certain sauces and then the energy useage is secondary. People love to state how energy efficient is their primary concern until one of their pet peeves get caught in the vortex and then its a wink, a blink and a nod.
My friend has a pet peeve about a 100% full stop at a stop sign and yells at people yet he never signals when he changes lanes.
For a pound of dry pasta, I bring a couple of qts water to the boil (whether or not I’ve remembered to presoak the pasta), add the pasta, cover, turn off the heat, and steep.
It doesn’t matter what shape pasta - the shape/thickness affects the steeping time but not the energy usage. Many people refuse to believe that the results are the same as methods using more water and/or energy. The thing about facts is that they are true whether or not one believes them.
I may need to try that method to satisfy my curiosity.
I tried a Kenji method from eater.com for a baked mac & cheese where you soak the pasta in hot water (yes I used straight from the tap) for 30 minutes and then add the ingredients and bake. It was awful, like eating the white paste from grammar school.
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Of course, the steeping takes several minutes longer than boiling. Add 3 minutes and start checking for desired toothsomeness. Another plus to this method is that the pot won’t bubble over.
Published almost 8 years ago on the day I celebrated 52 years of drinking water out of a tap, a garden hose, a water fountain and cooked starting with hot water.
Look at all of the disclaimers and assumptions for the conclusions.
The CDC would seem to be a fairly reliable source…
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm
It’s just a stupid and unnecessary risk, for the sole point of decreasing the time to boil.
As much as I appreciate your concern and the link, I am not stupid, thank you very much. I have a well, not city water and my water is tested for lead and other contaminents. Likewise I am in very good health. Annual annual check-ups for all items. Both are fine.
The CDC has issued warnings on oysters, tartare, sushi, medium-rare hamburgers, and other items. I bet I can find an item in everyone’s life that has greater risk than my warm water pasta process. People text while driving, hands free calling while driving, not signaling when changing lanes, crossing in the middle of the street, running with scissors, speeding, etc. Life is made of assessing differing risks, accepting or rejecting.
I will gladly take my pasta prep process over some of the actions listed in the previous paragraph that others accept.
those who live in old houses are obviously at risk versus those who live in new construction.
We didn’t drink or cook with the water from the tap when we lived in a house built about 1870 when we lived over seas. The plumber laughed that the pipes were probably so lined with hard-water buildup that they were safe, but seriously added that that was a joke and people and animals shouldn’t drink the water unless it was filtered.
We had kids and animals in the house – both high-risk groups for lead poisoning…and I didn’t really feel like being a statistic. might be low risk, but avoiding it removes the risk completely.
You are absolutely not stupid – but neither are those of us who make an educated choice.
Totally agree. If I lived in a house that was builtin 1870 I would have a different conclusion, but not the case.
Not sure you meant the left handed slap. Like you, I have made an educated choice based on the data available in my house and in the report from the water tester. The CDC has issued a warning that is broad brushed to everyone who reads it, I have specific test results on my home water system. If the results indicated any issue I would have not bought the house, re-plumbed the house or taken significant steps to protect my family.
I am glad you did not use the hot water in an house that old. My first dog died from lead poisoning from chewing on a painted piece of furniture from the 40s, not a fun way to watch a dear friend die.
Ciao
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No, the backhand was not intended. Thanks for understanding that.
no worries
And now for a timely article that throws me under the bus.
Glad I do not live in Flint or have city water.
A rational person understands the difference between the potential risk of eating certain foods, and the definitive hazard of ingesting lead. That is not one that should require a lot of thought to assess. Though, guess what the effects are of lead poisoning?
FWIW, having well water does not mitigate the risk, your plumbing is still soldered.
I don’t disagree with the overall point that if you want to make a heavy ragu for dinner, you need a pasta thick enough to support it. However, I don’t know if you consider pesto alle Genovese (a basil pesto) a light garlic sauce since it has cheese and nuts, but pairing it with lasagna noodles in Italy is one of the most popular ways to enjoy the sauce.
When it is very hot in Italy, I don’t cook thick dry pasta because I don’t want to be in the kitchen with extended heat and steam from boiling water. I cook fresh pasta, since the thickest/widest will only take 4 minutes and the thinnest more like 2 minutes - or I make couscous. I too wonder why people who are concerned about energy usage for perfectly sound reasons don’t reach for pastas that take less time to cook than trying to cook them in a microwave or cold water or “steeping”.
A classic ragu from Bologna is traditionally served with fresh pasta, and is heavy with meat. But the pasta (tagliatelle) is wide enough to support it yet it takes very little time to cook. There are more types of thin pasta in Italy than just cappellini or vermicelli (which actually means “little worms” in Italian – so that’s not subliminal!), so there are more possibilities for a quick boil but a varriety of nice sauces. I do understand the reluctance to always be limiting yourself to a pasta that is unappealing to you. Fortunately, in Italy, I can buy fresh pasta very easily and don’t make it myself, but if you are willing to crank out fresh pasta, you can really have the best of both worlds saving energy and having a lot of variety when it comes to thickness and sauces — even if you have to give up rigatoni 
