this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
67 points (97.2% liked)

Dull Men's Club

1352 readers
217 users here now

An unofficial chapter of the popular Dull Men's Club.

https://dullmensclub.com/

1. Relevant commentary on your own dull life. Posts should be about your own dull, lived experience. This is our most important rule. Direct questions, random thoughts, comment baiting, advice seeking, many uses of "discuss" rarely comply with this rule.

2. Original, Fresh, Meaningful Content.

3. Avoid repetitive topics.

4. This is not a search engine or advice forum.
Use a search engine, a tradesperson, Reddit, friends, a specialist Facebook group, apps, Wikipedia, an AI chat, a reverse image search etc. to answer simple questions, identify objects or get advice. We accept very few questions, and they must be over topics much more difficult than what is easily discoverable with a search. Also see rule 1, “comment baiting”.

5. Keep it dull. If it puts us to sleep, it’s on the right track. Examples of likely not dull: jokes, gross stuff (including toes), politics, religion, royalty, illness or injury, killing things for fun, or promotional content. Feel free to post these elsewhere.

6. Not hate speech, sexism, or bullying No sexism, hate speech, degrading or excessively foul language, or other harmful language. No othering or dehumanizing of anyone or negativity towards any gender identity.

7. Proofread before posting. Use good grammar and punctuation. Avoid useless phrases. Some examples: - starting a post with "So" - starting a post with pointless phrases, like "I hope this is allowed" or “this is my first post” Only share good quality, cropped images. Do not share screenshots of images; share the original image.

8. All polls must have an "Africa, by Toto" option. Why? Because we hear the drums echoing tonight.

founded 2 months ago
MODERATORS
 

The recipe always says to reserve some pasta water. I either forget, or I just don't bother. The one or two times I've needed it, I just added regular water and it was fine.

all 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] mfdoom@lemmy.world 8 points 12 hours ago

The starch in the water will help bring the sauce together and make it stick to the pasta better. Its more noticeable in a loose or wet sauce, esp. if you want to avoid it turning into soup. "Simple" sauces like Carbonara or Cacio e Pepe arent the same otherwise.

If you keep forgetting to do it, try leaving a measuring cup inside your colander, when you go to pour your cooked pasta in, it should remind you that you need to skim some water out first.

[–] scutiger@lemmy.world 13 points 15 hours ago

The point of keeping some pasta water is that the salty, starchy water helps the sauce emulsify and stick to the pasta. Adding regular water just dilutes the sauce and makes the result worse.

If you're not going to use pasta water, you shouldn't add any water at all.

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I only discovered this pasta water thing last night cooking some shit the wife wanted

[–] grrgyle 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 1 points 5 hours ago

Chorizo pasta thing.

I've never seen reseve pasta water until reading that cook book

Admittedly i rarely cook from a book and just go by my stomach

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 5 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I don’t pre boil the water before putting the pasta in.

[–] BuckWylde@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I did that yesterday and my partner was like lolwut. Turned out fine.

[–] grrgyle 1 points 11 hours ago

So many things are like that. I've even cooked rice without a lid - totally fine. Pleasantly chewy, even.

We're just heating shit up so it can be digested here

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago

Much faster to do it afterwards while eating

[–] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This might be too political for this sub.

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Raise your pitchforks!

Ψ ← my pitchfork is dull, and it's handle is short.

[–] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’m not generally a fan of single use tools, but we keep one of these around from the 70s.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I have one and I'm not even sure what it's for

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

I think it's a scoop for long noodles

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I always forget too. However it makes a huge difference if you’re making something like a pesto or lemon garlic pasta. Water just adds liquid but the starch in the pasta water adds thicc liquid

[–] whatsgoingdom@rollenspiel.forum 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I just dunk a cup into the pot while the pasta is cooking if I remember to do so. That way,I have a nice cup of pasta water to toss out because I forgot to use it in the sauce.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ha ha yeah …. I’ll remember to use it if it’s there. For me it’s more like putting the cup out next to the pot so I don’t forget it, drain the pasta, then spot the cup I was supposed to remember to use and say “shit”

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Oops, I did it again. I had the cup out, in front of all the stuff while I boiled some tortellini, then just as I finished draining the pasta: “dammit”.

Aside from that: garlic, pesto and red pepper flakes simmered a bit in olive oil, throw in some red bell peppers. Stir In the pasta until it’s covered. Then throw in a bunch of spinach and shaved Parmesan, and outstanding! This is my favorite dinner …. But it would be better with pasta water

[–] hefty4871@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I always used to forget too. Now when the pasta is cooking I will get the strainer ready by putting it in the skink. I will put the measuring cup in the strainer so I will remember before pouring the water out.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Good idea. I’ll have to try that

[–] Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 1 day ago

This is the way.

[–] kindenough@kbin.earth 11 points 1 day ago

I just add cream to my Carbonara sauce

Somewhere in the distance everytime I do that I hear "Vaffanculo!!!!"

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 day ago

You monster! 😁

[–] rouxdoo@lemmy.world -2 points 1 day ago

I generally don't bother with or care for pasta so I'm OK with that.