Any professional chefs out there?
I have a question about cooking spaghetti. I saw a professional chef on a news segment, and he said he cooks spaghetti in boiling water (no problem so far), but then removes it and "shocks it down" by putting it in COLD water, then puts it BACK in the hot water to warm it up just before serving.
Is it just me, or is there something disgusting about this? Why put it in cold water and then back into hot water? And wouldn’t this cause it to be gummy? I’ve never heard of this "shocking down" with pasta before. Is this the way spaghetti is cooked in fine restaurants?
I’m no chef but I do enjoy trying out recipes and learning all I can. I’d appreciate it if anyone with training as a chef could tell me what the particulars are on how real chefs cook spaghetti!
Thank you.
Anne… This method of cooking is used throughout the cooking industry. It is a way that kitchens can get a head start on pasta. Fresh pasta you don’t have a problem with it may only take a few minutes but with dried pasta it take longer. By boiling it in water for a few minutes then cooling it down in cold water ( not leaving it in the water ), when you get an order for a pasta dish you can just pop it into the hot water for a few seconds to heat it up and you are all set. Even though it is a common practice, it does not mean it is the right thing to do. A good restaurant should not do this.
Um Yeah, you dont want to put it in cold water to "shock it down" or anything because then that yummy sauce you spent all your time perfecting wont "stick" to your pasta. What you can do tho, is take just a samll ladel full of the cooking water from the pasta and add it to your sauce, mix and let it bubble and then afte you pasta is drained completely add it to the pan your sauce is in and toss to coat or if you like, plate the pasta and let eveyone use their own desired amount of sauce. Hope this helps.
I am a former chef, and it washes the starch off the pasta and does not allow the sauce to adhere to the pasta.
In the trade we cooked it ahead but nnever rinsed it, maybe we allowed it to cool and then to prevent sticking add a bit of oil.
If it is fresh pasta, there is no need to even pre-cook it, and some people put a bit sauce on it if serving it family style, for me I just serve it up with the sauce and let everyone do there thing.
If he did it he must have been poorly trained or not a real chef, anyone worth there salt know no to wash the pasta, but to each his own I say.
Heres the way I do it: Boil enough water and add salt to it. Let it come to a rolling boil and add the pasta. Dry Spaghetti will take about 8-9 minutes to become "al dente". Strain and put back in a pot (it can be the same pot after you discard the water) with some Olive Oil and a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce you are going to use. Mix well and serve inmediately with enough sauce on top.
Many so called professional chefs get really whacky lately, you cannot believe some of them!
I agree with mark B
http://www.foodforthoughtonline.net/
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No, after the time is over at the boiling water, you should put the pasta in cold water, to stop the cooking process, the pasta should be cooked "al dente" that means a white point should be left in the pasta after finishing the cooking
When pasta is hot, the "pores" are open – more specifically, the molecules will bond to the sauce. As it cools, they won’t bond and the sauce will slide off.
That said, it’s common (but not recommended from a taste-quality point of view) to cook spaghetti, then store it in cold water. The water keeps it soft and from sticking, and you can pull it and microwave it and sauce it, but by the very nature of how you prepared it, the sauce won’t stay on. Nevertheless, this has been a mainstay of short-order cooks for many years. I don’t know what you mean by "professional chef" – but I’d be surprised if someone from a high-end restaurant was recommending this. Someone who cooked for a living, perhaps, but they might not have been that great a cook.
I just know that I wouldn’t prepare pasta this way, and wouldn’t want to pay premium bucks at a restaurant that used this technique.
The reason chefs cook pasta this way is because they are going to use it later that day. They pre-cook the pasta about 3/4 of the way. They shock it in cold water, put in the refrigerator and when needed put it back into boiling water for 2 minutes to get hot and presto you have fresh hot pasta. Add your sauce and away you go