Soft Fetuccini

[rt49andellis]

I love fetuccini -- however you spell it.....

I always either end up with hard noodles or nasty soggy ones. I never let the water stop boiling, which I've read is a good secret to cooking it correctly. And I check the noodles all every 30 seconds or so just to try and not get to the soggy point. But... I always end up with 1 or the other. Any suggestions??

[Mama Mangia]

try cooking in boiling salted water until slightly underdone

[muslgrl]

I have never had a problem with this. i always taste a noodle. When it is still firm to the bite I take it out of the water & drain.

[Kaabi]

Fetuccine is great, I eat it regularly, but I've never made it myself.

[shannone]

I always eat a noodle to test my pasta. I take it off the stove before it becomes all the way done because it will finish cooking after you drain the water of the pasta.

[rt49andellis]

Thanks shannone - I didn't realize it cooks more once off the heat. I also taste the pasta but it seems like within a minute it will go from "yuck this is hard" to "yuck this is overcooked"

[Twinmama]

yes, drain the noodles right away, too, then serve from the colander.

[rt49andellis]

When I make this I usually cook the noodles, drain them, return to pan, put the sauce in and then heat it until the sauce is hot enough. I have a feeling that that's where I'm messing up. Next time I'll get the sauce heated in another pan and then mix the 2 together without additional heating.

In my house, I have to mix the sauce with noodles...same with spaghetti. If I leave it to them to do it themselves, someone always ends up without sauce...and that makes for an unhappy dinner!

[Twinmama]

I am probably making this too difficult for myself, but often I will heat up the sauce separately and then mix the sauce and pasta together in the serving bowl. I like to put my sauce in a microwaveable gravy boat, actually...makes for easy pouring.

[rt49andellis]

*laughs* I don't even own a gravy boat. Always seemed to me like it would be just one more dish to wash. We fix our plates at the stove & counter so no point in having a boat on the table. And as I said before, if I do it that way, someone ends up without sauce.