One Thing You'll Never See Professional Chefs Add To Pasta Water

For a lot of folks, pasta is the go-to when a quick and easy meal is required. But just because it is beautifully simple, doesn't mean that you can be all willy-nilly about it. There are some hard and fast rules: The one spaghetti rule you should never break, for example, is not breaking the noodles. Some folks will also claim the water you cook with should always be as salty as the sea (as one decorated chef de cuisine once told me drunkenly on a New Orleans street corner), though you may not want to take that literally. And last, but certainly not least, putting oil in your pasta water is an absolute no-go.

Perhaps the most overlooked crime against pasta, adding oil to the water has been positioned as a way to keep starchy noodles from sticking together. However, Nashville-born chef Carla Hall, known from "Top Chef" and "The Chew," said in a YouTube post that it's one of those things you'll never see a chef doing in the kitchen. There's a good reason for her strong stance. Perhaps you've heard the expression "they're like oil and water" used to describe two things that are diametrically opposed. That's your first clue. Because those substances don't mix, oil does nothing to coat your noodles until the very last second when you dump them from pot to colander. At that point, all it does is keep your noodles from getting appropriately sauced.

When you consider the fact that the oil you put in your pasta water doesn't actually touch the pasta until it's finished cooking, it seems like a totally unnecessary step. Once you come to terms with the fact that it actually prevents your favorite homemade marinara sauce recipe from sticking to the noodles, it becomes downright diabolical. The oil attaches itself to the pasta as it's poured out and makes all the tough starchy areas where sauce likes to gather well-lubricated — and right before sauce time, mind you. That means when you try to add sauce to your noodle it'll slide right off and onto the bottom of the plate.

The best way to keep pasta from sticking together during the cooking process is to just keep stirring. Agitating the water with a wooden spoon for a few minutes after the pasta hits the water ensures that those sticky starches don't bond to one another. And while we're on the subject, keeping oil out of pasta water isn't the only tip for optimum saucing. Try simmering mostly cooked pasta with the sauce for a minute or two so the flavor is completely absorbed. You can also add a little pasta water for that coveted silky mouth feel.