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[Interus]

I hate Fettuccine and Linguini too, personally. I just don't like the texture and I'll always under cook it. I'll test a few, they'll be good, I'll strain it and throw some sauce on...and then three bites in I start crunching into uncooked pasta. Argh.

Oh yeah, this too.  It usually happens to me because of that sticking together problem(the stuff in the middle doesn't get cooked) but it basically ruins the entire dish.

Cracked.com told me not to put oil in the water because it's mostly good at making the sauce not stick to the noodles when you're done cooking, though I've not done a ton of experiments to see if oil in the water makes a difference or if particularly oily sauce ends up being too runny.  They also said that noodle shapes do in fact make a huge difference because different shapes are designed for different kinds of sauce.  I'd have to find the article again to be sure though.   Also, again, it was a Cracked article.

[nenjin]

The oil is to keep pasta from sticking to itself and the pan. And I mean a schlep of oil, barely enough that you would notice a difference in your sauce.

[Interus]

http://www.chow.com/food-news/54661/should-you-put-oil-in-pasta-water/

Is this a legit source?  I hope so.  Likely my problem was with the rest of what you said, not boiling at the right level, and definitely not stirring it enough.  Not that it matters, because I'm perfectly happy with the solution of just not using those noodles to keep them from sticking.  Spaghetti never give me that kind of trouble

[nenjin]

Laura Schenone, author of The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken, says that adding oil does nothing to prevent pasta from clumping.

“Oil in pasta water just floats on top, and when you drain the pasta, most of it will go down the drain,” she explains. “But you’ll also get some of it on your pasta.”

"Oil does nothing to stop pasta from sticking together. But it stops things from sticking to pasta." Hrmmmmmm.....:p

[Sirus]

We always add a little bit of oil to our pasta water (coincidentally, we had some tonight). It seems to help keep the water from boiling over and keep the pasta from clumping.

[Vertigon]

I was just wondering if we had a thread for this earlier mainly because I found out that avocados are delicious o3o

Seriously, you cut it in half, add some lime juice, little seasoning. It even comes in its own little bowl! Pretty awesome snack.

[Osmosis Jones]

I was just wondering if we had a thread for this earlier mainly because I found out that avocados are delicious o3o

Seriously, you cut it in half, add some lime juice, little seasoning. It even comes in its own little bowl! Pretty awesome snack.

Vert, try this; a few slices of avocado on toast with some fresh tomato, a little cheese (my ex swore by philadelphia cream cheese, I prefer straight up cheddar) and some salt and pepper. Breakfast of champions right there.

[Haspen]

I boil my pasta in a large pot with some salt and just a teaspoon and half of oil.

Pasta never gets clumped.

[Capntastic]

I don't add oil to the water with pasta, because it's pointless.  What I do use, though, is a ton of salt, enough to make it on par with seawater, because I've heard from two legit sounding sources that it's the best way to do.  Sometimes I will add olive oil to the pasta after I've drained and rinsed it, though, if I am foregoing sauce.

For the longest time I've hated mustard with a passion, and I've decided to give it a shot again.  Today I bought a bottle of Inglehoffer Sweet Hot Mustard and some pretzels and I am loving it.  The stuff kicks like a shotgun.  It's great!

[Trapezohedron]

I love me some red hot spicy sausage fusilli pasta. The intense spiciness totally fills me, mostly with water though.

And on the subject of soups earlier in this thread, if you ask me, nothing beats Hot and Sour Fish Lip Soup. Nothing.

[Haspen]

-salt-

As far as I know, ton of salt only gets boiling point of water a bit higher, prolonging the cooking (We might a chemist here to know best, though) Also, salt kills your kidneys, while oil not so much.

Never herd of 'salt only' pasta boiling option. Neither my mother, and given she cooks food for longer than I'm alive, I trust her cooking experience and skills more than any other source

[G-Flex]

Avocado is great. Guacamole is rather quick and easy to make, and makes for a relatively healthy sort of dip (not that eating a ton of tortilla chips is the best thing for you, but this beats whatever else you'd eat it with).

We always add a little bit of oil to our pasta water (coincidentally, we had some tonight). It seems to help keep the water from boiling over and keep the pasta from clumping.

Oil will just sit on top of the water, so how will it prevent pasta clumping? I've never understand that.

[Osmosis Jones]

As far as I know, ton of salt only gets boiling point of water a bit higher, prolonging the cooking (We might a chemist here to know best, though) Also, salt kills your kidneys, while oil not so much.

Chem-phys double major (sorta) here; the difference it makes to the boiling point, and more importantly the cooking time, is negligible. All you're doing is adding salt to the dish. In fact, my physical chemistry lecturer used that exact example as a discussion point.

[Haspen]

As far as I know, ton of salt only gets boiling point of water a bit higher, prolonging the cooking (We might a chemist here to know best, though) Also, salt kills your kidneys, while oil not so much.

Chem-phys double major (sorta) here; the difference it makes to the boiling point, and more importantly the cooking time, is negligible. All you're doing is adding salt to the dish. In fact, my physical chemistry lecturer used that exact example as a discussion point.

What about adding oil to water while you cook the pasta, then?

[Capntastic]

Salt is super important for some things to taste good.