What happens when I boil 2 pots of pasta in the same water back to back?
I had to make 2 pots of pasta back to back. I did a pot of spaghetti as usual. I add a little vegetable oil always, salt, and I throw about 5 peppercorn seeds in the water, bring it to a boil, then add the boxed dry pasta.
Well, this time, when done, I took the spaghetti out of the boiling water (with tongs and a sieve. It was perfect. I then decided to do the linguini in the same boiling water. Was this a mistake? I just added a pinch more salt, and let it cook. When I thought it would be done, it was a little weird. Maybe chewy? I don't know if I'm just being paranoid and should just let it cook more.
Did I do a big pasta faux pas?
Best Answer
There should be no issue with doing this, restaurants often do this; the only thing that will happen is that the water will have more pasta starch as you cook more pasta in the same pot. Obviously, basic food safety rules apply here - you need to keep the water out of the "danger zone", but otherwise it should not be a problem.
This could be a good thing as far as helping the pasta bind to the sauce, but will possibly make the pasta a bit more sticky if you don't sauce it right away.
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Quick Answer about "What happens when I boil 2 pots of pasta in the same water back to back?"
There should be no issue with doing this, restaurants often do this; the only thing that will happen is that the water will have more pasta starch as you cook more pasta in the same pot.Can you cook 2 batches of pasta in the same water?
If you cook pasta in the same water twice, it will become increasingly starchy as it draws more water from the pasta. Eventually, it will become too thick to use. If you reuse the same water to boil pasta over and over again, discard the water after it gets thick and cloudy. Finished.Can I use the same water to boil pasta twice?
Editor: Rashmi, the problem with reusing pasta water is that it will draw off more and more starch from the pasta. So eventually the water will get quite cloudy and thick with starch. We think that perhaps you could reuse it once or twice, but after that it probably wouldn't be good.Can you put pasta back in boiling water?
If you've just dumped the water and discovered that the pasta is still crunchy, the easiest thing to do is simply put it back in boiling water. When you do this, it's important that you stay by the stove the entire time, testing the pasta every 30-60 seconds to make sure you don't end up overcooking it.Can you cook two boxes of pasta?
To make two boxes, follow the range top directions, but use double the amount of added ingredients listed in the directions for one box (margarine and water, for example). Use the sauce mix and pasta from both of the boxes. Cook for the amount of time listed in the directions for one box.STOP boiling a giant POT of water for PASTA | FASTEST way of cooking PASTA
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Answer 2
There is one possible complication here other than the food safety issue that Chris Macksey mentioned if you're not cooking it back-to-back:
- The water is going to foam more the second time as there's more starch in it.
You then might be tempted to turn the heat down some, or remove the lid from the pot, so you're not actually cooking both batches at the same temperature.
In your case, you added some oil to the water, so that will help to reduce the foaming process, so it might not be quite as bad as if you didn't.
If you're working solely off of the time to cook the pasta, you might need to give the second batch a little bit of extra time to compensate.
I personally always treat the times on packages as a guideline, as I cook enough different brands and shapes of pasta that I don't have it particularly "dialed in" -- so let taste be your guide. If you think it needs another minute, give it another minute.
I also add some water back to the pot between batches of pasta -- you've lost some water due to both evaporation and absorption by the previous batch of pasta that your water level will slowly go down, further concentrating the starches, and giving the pasta less room to move about freely as it cooks.
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