The neverending discussion about pasta, olive oil and just putting enough water... 10g salt, 100g pasta, at least 1L water e basta così ! No oil or you ruin the pasta/sauce synergy. 😃

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It won't stick together like that if you actually wait for the water to come to a proper boil before you add the pasta
- For small portions that probably will work. Plenty of times I’ve put pasta in only to have it stick if I don’t stir a little in the first minute or two. There’s just not enough room for the boiling to agitate the pasta enough to prevent sticking.
- I think all you really need is a Knorr chicken stock cube.
  
  For spaghetti? That kind of seems like a waste of a stock cube since most of that water is just going to get dumped at the end
  
  It's a meme. Supposed master chef Marco Pierre white was chilling for Knorr and made a video advocating this
  
  https://youtu.be/h2Ut1H659lU?si=6KnpQAYUg4ohy9wC
  
  Yeah, but he's putting stock in the sauce not just throwing it into the water for boiling the pasta though
- yes, this is the answer! patience! a proper boil that stays boiling until the pasta is done. no sticking ever. salt and oil are never needed in the cooking water.
  
  You should still be salting your water. It does nothing to prevent the pasta sticking, but it does make it taste better.
  
  I thought it was a texture thing. Otherwise, you could just add some salt to your sauce.
  
  It's not the same effect. Then the sauce will be salted, and the pasta will maybe absorb some of that salt.
  
  But, in my opinion, that's an inelegant solution.
  
  I personally do not want any more salt in the pasta sauce than what's already in there. I do, however, want my pasta to take in a little salt from the water.
  
  For those reasons, I add a little salt to my water as it's boiling
  
  It changes the way the pasta itself tastes, and is very different from adding it it the sauce.
  
  pasta water should be as salty as the sea!
  
  Sea water has a salinity of around 35g/kg.
  
  No one wants pasta water as salty as the sea - although unsalted water doesn't sound much more appealing.
  
  No one except everyone who wants their pasta to taste good. You need to add a ton of salt because most of it is going down the drain at the end.
  
  Edit: ok, I stand corrected.
  
  I think you underestimate how much salt that is.
  
  What you just said is that you want to add in the range of 50-70g of salt depending on the size of your pan. That's too much salt
  
  For fresh pasta yes, dried you don't need as much salt
  
  Permanently Deleted
  
  I use 2 tablespoons per pound of pasta.
  
  Knorr salt bullions sounds like a missed oppo.
  
  From what I understand, it's a texture thing, not a taste thing. If you just want your pasta to taste saltier, you could just add the salt to your sauce. Using bouillon would be a waste, because most of it's going to get thrown away.
  
  that's exactly how much I use too, the one time I tried to make it actually taste like seawater nobody would eat it.
  
  Seawater is two teaspoons salt per cup of water. That's a little more than half a cup of salt per gallon of water. That is an unhealthy amount of salt.
  
  well nobody is drinking the pasta water
  
  Damn, you guys are missing out.
  
  Well, you definitely still want to add some salt to the water, but that's just for flavor
  
  Nooo. You need the perfect amount of water so it reabsorbs it's own juices. Succulent Cannibalism.
- A bit of oil helps too
  
  Oil that floats to the top of the water? Don't see that helping much
  
  All the oil is doing is helping the pan not boil over while on a high heat as it makes the formation of bubbles at the surface more difficult. So… it kind of helps because you can cook more easily at a high heat but yeah it does nothing for the pasta.
  
  And of course as long as your cooking pot is large enough and you are actually being present, then there shouldn't be any risk of it boiling over and thus no need for any oil.
  
  I think your comment is the source of a lot of people's problems with sticking pasta. If there pots aren't big enough and stove not powerful enough, a large amount of pasta can cool the water enough to stop the boiling and the pasta will stick if not stirred.
  
  It eventually gets absorbed by the pasta and makes it creamier. Unless you have too much water.

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