Boiling the Pasta Noodles Correctly

Whenever I hit the kitchen to cook a pasta dish, I often get frustrated because I screw up the noodles. They always end up kind of softer than usual and I hate it! Even when I use that special kind of pasta that is said to stay firm even when overcooked, I still can't quite get it right.

Recently, I was dining at a local Italian restaurant and ordered Aglio Olio e Peperoncino. The noodles was just perfectly cooked! It was firm but soft enough to not fall off the fork as you eat it. I was stunned. And inspired - I HAVE to make my noodles as firm as this! I realized I at least had to try.

And so, as I was attempting to make my own Charlie Chan Chicken pasta from a recipe I found online, I also made it a point to look for tips on how to boil the perfect Spaghetti noodles found this article from eHow. It seemed really easy to follow.

Deriving the technique from the article I mentioned above, what I did was the following:

Steps on boiling the pasta noodles correctly

1.  Boil the water
2. Add in salt (I just used regular salt, not iodized. Although I'm pretty sure the latter will be fine)
3. Add olive oil (I used about 2 table spoons of it)
4. I made sure it was still boiling as I placed the noodles. As I did so, I slowly bended them to make sure the top part of the noodles were completely immersed.
5. Cover it up and boil it for a full minute.
6. Bring the fire to its lowest setting and cover your pot with the lid
7. Let is sit for 10 minutes. I made sure I would stir it up a couple of times to be sure they're evenly cooked.
8. After which, I took it out of the pot and poured it in a colander and swished it around to prevent sticking together of noodles.

So that's it! It went pretty well. The noodles were a lot firmer than the previous ones I've cooked. YahoO! Hope this tip will work well with you guys as well.