Has any serious cook had experience with making pasta in a pressure cooker of any kind?
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jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
Yes. Won’t do it again.
pressure cookers take as long — just about — as the stove. Have you actually evaluated the very small savings you will earn?
you can’t open up a pressure cooker to tell if the pasta is done, like you can on the stove.
pressure cookers take as long — just about — as the stove. Have you actually evaluated the very small savings you will earn?
you can’t open up a pressure cooker to tell if the pasta is done, like you can on the stove.
Thanks, jennyema. No, I didn't do any evaluations. I just ignorantly assumed that it would be done in a lot less time. And your point about not opening the pot s well taken, and one that I shouldn't have missed, since the better grades of pasta from Italy taken notably longer to cook than the industrial brands.
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
This method will save water and energy: "SPOILER ALERT: It turns out that not only do you not need a large volume of water to cook pasta, but in fact, the water does not even have to be boiling."
A New Way to Cook Pasta? | The Food Lab
A New Way to Cook Pasta? | The Food Lab
jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
it doesn’t save water
i was going to mention the difference in dry pastas by manufacturer. They all take different amounts of time to get to desired doneness. So, although there are a million recipes out there on the internet, they don’t all work well.
pasta is a thing that needs to be closely watched for doneness and that’s impossible in a pressure cooker.
and a pressure cooker will be faster but only by like 5 min
pepperhead212
Executive Chef
This is something I wasn't going to even think about...until I saw it done on a Milk Street show, and it was actually one of their recipes I had made the original way several times, with cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, fresh sage, and some other things. This was just the same thing, redesigned to cook in the Instant Pot, under pressure. I've used this method several times, and posted them here before.
www.discusscooking.com
If you have a regular pressure cooker, with the options for the lower 10 and 5 psi, I would try the 10 - a little lower than the IP, which is around 12 psi, so you'd have to tweak it a little. The standard 15 psi might work, too, but I'd try the lower.
The main reason I tried this originally was not just less energy to cook, but also far less heat and steam going into my kitchen in the summer!
Instant Pot Pasta recipes
I was skeptical about this method but it works great! The two I have tried so far both worked well, without overcooking the pasta. Today I made a one dish pasta dish, in the Instant Pot, based on a recipe from Milk Street's book Fast & Slow. I saw them do this on a show yesterday, and...
www.discusscooking.com
If you have a regular pressure cooker, with the options for the lower 10 and 5 psi, I would try the 10 - a little lower than the IP, which is around 12 psi, so you'd have to tweak it a little. The standard 15 psi might work, too, but I'd try the lower.
The main reason I tried this originally was not just less energy to cook, but also far less heat and steam going into my kitchen in the summer!
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I have seen Kenji (the author of that article) do spaghetti that way. He didn't break it in half. He cooked it in a skillet. It was in this video for Garlic Noodles. You can see him putting the spaghetti into a small amount of simmering water at the beginning of the video.
Can't remember what show I saw that cooked long speghetti in a large frying pan but I have been doing it ever since. Soo much faster to bring the water up to a boil. Larger surface, shallower depth of water.
Plus I also do mussels in a large shallow pan rather than a deep pot. Mussels pretty much all open at the same time and much faster. No rubbery mussels caught in the bottom of a deep pan that you are trying to shake!
Plus I also do mussels in a large shallow pan rather than a deep pot. Mussels pretty much all open at the same time and much faster. No rubbery mussels caught in the bottom of a deep pan that you are trying to shake!
We do clams that way also.
Marlingardener
Sous Chef
I like the idea of cooking pasta in a large skillet or shallow pan, but I have one small problem with it. My sauce, if too thick, is thinned with pasta water. Does one drain the pasta water into a bowl?
If I can solve the problem of lack of pasta water, I'm going to give the shallow pan a try. Love the ideas and techniques offered on this site!
If I can solve the problem of lack of pasta water, I'm going to give the shallow pan a try. Love the ideas and techniques offered on this site!
I put a cup/mug in the sink, drain the pasta over it. The overflow goes down the drain and you have your extra pasta water should you need it.
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
The article was written several years ago, before he left Serious Eats and started his YouTube channel.
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
There's less water left, but enough to thin your sauce. I usually use a spider or tongs to move the pasta from its cooking pot to the sauce pot. Some water comes over with it and I can add more if necessary.
Marlingardener
Sous Chef
Problem solved! I'll try that tonight with the mug in the sink, and next time with the tongs to remove the pasta. Thank you both!
I think it also depends on how you are going to mix your pasta and sauce.
Like GG, I use a spider when I'm adding pasta to sauce - and I drain when I'm adding sauce to the pasta (which is still in the pan).
Like GG, I use a spider when I'm adding pasta to sauce - and I drain when I'm adding sauce to the pasta (which is still in the pan).
Sir_Loin_of_Beef
Chef Extraordinaire
It only takes 10 to 12 minutes to cook maccheroni, why futz around with a pressure cooker?
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
There are people who want to use their Instant Pot for everything lol I've seen recipes for cooking the pasta and the sauce together in the pot. I guess it would infuse the sauce flavors into the pasta, but I've never tried it.
I've made a couple of 1 pot pasta recipes on the stove where the pasta cooks in with everything else. They actually worked and came out quite tasty.
One of the reasons that Kenji used a skillet for his spaghetti in that video is because with less water, the pasta water will have a higher concentration of starch and works even better for thickening the sauce.
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