What is Al Dente? Here’s a Hint – it involves your teeth

I’ve heard it all my life starting with my father, “You want to make sure your pasta is al dente”.  I remember my father always testing the readiness of the spaghetti when waiting for dinnertime.  He would take a small amount around a fork, put it on a plate, put sauce on top and give it a good taste test.  No, the sauce was not required for testing, and I used to think he really only did this so he could snitch some extra food before dinner. Soon I caught on and started asking to taste test it too.

Al dente literally means, “to the tooth”.   Al means “to the” and dente means “tooth”.   Consider our English term we use for fake teeth – dentures.  They both come from the same root word.

Pasta Bows

But more practically speaking in terms of cooking pasta, al dente means almost done or as some might describe it, as sticking just a bit to your tooth when you take a bite.   You can tell if pasta is done by taking a bite and if there is still a slight firmness to the inside of the pasta, but not a crunch.  Do not confuse this to mean not cooked.  Pasta will keep cooking when it is removed from the boiling water, so by the time you serve it, it will be perfect.

Letting pasta turn perfectly soft in the water will leave you with mushy pasta better suited for use as mashed potatoes.  This is no good.

I find pastas which are thicker are easier to gauge when it is al dente.  For example farfalle (bow ties), these take longer to cook and therefore there is a wider open window to determine when it is al dente, without missing the window of opportunity. Use the instructions on the box as a guide, you your “teeth” as the test.

However, with angel hair, you have to be quick.   This is my favorite variety of pasta and I always cook the pasta about a minute less than the box says.  Some brands have very thin angel hair pasta, Giovanni, I believe is one of the ones I use from time to time.  Their angel hair is done in 2 1/2 minutes.  Other lesser known store brands are about 3 1/2 minutes.  With these thin varieties, you better be on the ball.

Nothing is worse than having mush for dinner, and Italian pasta is no exception.  So be on your guard, do your taste tests and enjoy your pasta “to the tooth”!

Boun Appetito!

Liz

Italian Cooking Recipes

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