Double cooked pasta
On my pasta package it says something like ready for double cooking and more curiously it gives cooking times of 11 min for regular (single cooking) and 5.5 / 2 min for first/second cooking when double cooking.
I had never heard of this double cooking before. In case it matters, this was on a large 5 kg package of pasta.
What is double cooking and why would I want to do it?
Is it something restaurants do?
Why is the total cooking time for double cooking (5.5+2=7.5 min) shorter than the regular cooking time (11 min)?
Is there anything special about this type of pasta or could any pasta be prepared like this?
Best Answer
It's par-cooking the pasta, cooling it down (typically an ice water bath), so that when a customer orders, they can significantly reduce the time needed to get the dish prepared for them.
Yes
Boiling the pasta does two things -- hydrate the pasta, and cook the starch. The hydrating continues while the pasta is resting. (you can also soak pasta ahead of time to reduce the cooking time ... and it dramatically improves gluten-free pastas).
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What is double cooking pasta?
It's par-cooking the pasta, cooling it down (typically an ice water bath), so that when a customer orders, they can significantly reduce the time needed to get the dish prepared for them. Yes. Boiling the pasta does two things -- hydrate the pasta, and cook the starch. The hydrating continues while the pasta is resting ...Is twice cooked pasta better for you?
When pasta is cooled down, your body digests it differently, causing fewer calories to be absorbed and a smaller blood glucose peak. And reheating it is even better - it reduces the rise in blood glucose levels by a whopping 50 percent.Can you double boil pasta?
If you cook pasta and let it cool down, your body will digest it like fibre instead of carbohydrates. But according to various experts, cooking, cooling and then reheating the pasta had an even more dramatic effect. In fact, it reduced the rise in blood glucose by 50 percent.Strength2Food project: The technique for double cooking pasta
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Images: Ella Olsson, Engin Akyurt, Daniel Lindstrom, Engin Akyurt