That typically indicates too small a pot, not enough water for a good water/pasta ratio, unsalted water (salt doesn’t just flavor, it raises the boiling point slightly), and the spoon not being wood and/or making sub-optimal contact.
For each 450 grams (~1Lb) of most pastas:
5.5 L (roughly 6 US quarts) capacity pot, filled 3/4ths of the way (you want room for the bubbles trapped in the starches before they boil over).
Salted water.
Do not add pasta until the water is well and truly at a roiling boil (adding the pasta will lower the temperature briefly).
Immediately upon adding pasta, lay a wooden spoon (best material for what we want) diagonally across the top of the pot, directly touching the surface of the water (you want to encourage that as the nucleation site).
Then cook and stir as normal. It can’t fail. Physics won’t allow it (in standard sea-level atmospheric conditions, I don’t know your life).
That typically indicates too small a pot, not enough water for a good water/pasta ratio, unsalted water (salt doesn’t just flavor, it raises the boiling point slightly), and the spoon not being wood and/or making sub-optimal contact.
For each 450 grams (~1Lb) of most pastas:
5.5 L (roughly 6 US quarts) capacity pot, filled 3/4ths of the way (you want room for the bubbles trapped in the starches before they boil over).
Salted water.
Do not add pasta until the water is well and truly at a roiling boil (adding the pasta will lower the temperature briefly).
Immediately upon adding pasta, lay a wooden spoon (best material for what we want) diagonally across the top of the pot, directly touching the surface of the water (you want to encourage that as the nucleation site).
Then cook and stir as normal. It can’t fail. Physics won’t allow it (in standard sea-level atmospheric conditions, I don’t know your life).
Cooking at elevation has the opposite effect as well. Where I am water boils around 96.6c, so most pastas take the longer time just to get al dente.
I am filing this info away, thank you! I’ve always wanted to go on a camping spree and with some many mountains I can get to, this will come in handy.
I’m gonna keep using my method of just… Not filling the pot to full and boiling the Devil out of it.
This is cool though, really. Thanks for explaining it :)