1. Use enough water to cook your pasta, always
Fill a large pot of water when cooking your pasta. Just when you think you have enough water, add some more for good measure. This allows the pasta to cook evenly and not to clump together or stick to the bottom of the pot. And if you don’t have one already, get yourself a pasta pot. It doesn’t have to be expensive, it just needs to be big!
2. DO salt your boiling water generously
Once your water comes to a rolling boil, salt it generously. Use about one tablespoon per liter of water. You don’t need to fish out the measuring spoons, just approximate about a tablespoon of salt in the cup of your hand. This is the only chance you have in seasoning the pasta itself to avoid it tasting bland.
3. DON’T add oil to your cooking water
This is a really outdated belief that adding oil to the water prevents your pasta from sticking together. It is absolutely not true. All this does is prevent your sauce from sticking to your pasta. If you cook your pasta in enough water as I mention in the first point, your noodles will not stick together.
4. DON’T overcook your pasta
This is perhaps the most important point so listen up: no one likes a mushy, gummy pasta. You want your pasta to be cooked al dente, which means slightly firm to the bite. If you follow the time indication on the package, you should be ok.
