Do you break your spaghetti?

[Embryodad]

People tell you to cook pasta with a lot of water but I put spaghetti in a 12-inch skillet with water and cook it laying down. I stir it as soon as it gets soft. It doesn't stick together and my skillet is deep enough that I can cook a whole box of spaghetti at once. It does not take as long to boil either.

Norm...your way with the shallow skillet works great! Kudos to that swell idea!

When Growing up, we had in the kitchen a pot which was dubbed "The Spaghetti Pot" ...All it was, was a aluminum oval roasting pot.

Spaghetti or any other Macaroni's were Never Broken. My Fatra and Mother would never eat it if it was cut or broken to fit. The only one mom broke in half, was the spaghetti in the wooden box. the spaghetti was sold long in the Italian Importing Store, and the box was wooden, and about24" long>
That spaghetti mom would half it. There was no pot long enough! LOL

I tried your method, and It works great. #1..there is less water to boil; so it boils quicker. #2... the spaghetti is cooked in that starchy water, and when drained (Never Rinsed)..the sauce would stick to the strands easier.

A large amount of water also washes away the taste of the macaroni ingredients. There is a special aroma and flavor in a good quality spaghetti or macaroni that should adhere to the product.

I like mine (just for me) dropped in the slightly boiling water..add salt, and drop in the strands, and I never stir them. I love when they are stuck together on some, and al dente and internally have a biting crunch.

My favorite treat...is to drop in medium shells, and when they are half cooked, I drop in some small shells so that they spoon with each other.
The small ones hiding and spooning inside the larger ones. Ha Ha Ha

The bite and taste is unexplainable but unique in its own way.
That is My Way and likeness, and DW will never do it that way. I cook hers with the normal large amount of water. that's her way.

I guess I'm a spaghetti bender from way back!

 

[JoeV]

Before i started making my own spaghetti and linguine, I always cooked the noodles whole, and twirl with a large spoon (sorry Vera, but I hate the sound from a fork or knife on a plate). I now make the spaghetti fresh and drop it in salted boiling water for a couple of minutes, drain and serve. I make the pasta using 50% white and 50% whole wheat flour, and like it much better than the 100% whole wheat pasta from the store, which I think is lacking in flavor. I also will put dried basil in the dough for added flavor.

 

[Embryodad]

Before i started making my own spaghetti and linguine, I always cooked the noodles whole, and twirl with a large spoon (sorry Vera, but I hate the sound from a fork or knife on a plate). I now make the spaghetti fresh and drop it in salted boiling water for a couple of minutes, drain and serve. I make the pasta using 50% white and 50% whole wheat flour, and like it much better than the 100% whole wheat pasta from the store, which I think is lacking in flavor. I also will put dried basil in the dough for added flavor.

Looks great...love the idea of the home made 50% WW and 50% white flour.

Especially with a linguini cut. .... I call them Lengooni! My daughter laughs, and say's dad,"There is no such thing!"
I said,"OK then, daddy won't make them then!"

How quickly she reverts to,"Yep dad,"You're right, they are Lengooni all right!"

In the back of her mind she's probably thinking,"Yeah, what a gooni dad!"