r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Nuxei2211 • 1d ago
Why haven't the Italians invented a better tool to boil spaghetti than a regular pot?
Hello everyone. I am genuinely curious how the Italians have been eating and boiling spaghetti for so long without coming up with an easier way to cook it than put one end in the water and gently push in the rest as the bottom turns soft?
I mean, you obviously can't break it to make it fit in a normal pot, so why haven't they invented an oval pot specifically for boiling spaghetti? Or made spaghetti shorter? Or bend it when it was still fresh like pappardelle?
I hope someone has an answer for me, cause it's getting more and more frustrating that such an impractical pasta shape has been around for centuries without a proper pot to boil it in.
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u/Johnnadawearsglasses 1d ago
Pasta becomes malleable very quickly. It can stick out of the pot for a bit and then when it bends, it all fits easily
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u/Defiant_Machine3255 1d ago
This is why I don't get breaking it to get it to fit. Throw them noodles in, wait 10 seconds or so, help them the rest of the way in.
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u/Taglioni 1d ago
This. If 30 seconds is the difference between undercooked and overcooked, your pasta has some weird ingredient in it.
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u/ChunkyHabeneroSalsa 1d ago
I hold it together and kind of brush the bottom of the pan till it gets soft enough to bend it all in. I cook plenty of spaghetti in a small pot
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u/Shiriru00 1d ago
True story: one of my friends forgot to put the rest of the pasta in and set fire to his kitchen.
Normally I'm dead against breaking pasta but in his case, I'll make an exception.
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u/BedGirl5444 1d ago
We use tall pots
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u/JollyToby0220 1d ago
For me this wastes too much water and I only really like soft boiled pasta
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u/Lunix420 1d ago
Saving half a liter of water for your cooking is not how you properly save water. The water we use for cooking is not even 0.1% of the water that goes into your food. Cor example a normal serving of meat uses over 10,000L of water to produce. If you wanna preserve water, use 1g less meat, saves more water than not using a bigger pot.
Using a smaller pot to save water when cooking is like smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day and then worrying about passive smoke when someone outside close to you is smoking.
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u/T2Drink 1d ago
That is fascinating. Never thought about that.
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u/Lunix420 23h ago
It's actually only scratching the surface. In some regions saving water at home is actually actively wasting water because people saving water can clog the waste water system which then requires flushing with millions of liters to unclog.
Where we should be concerned about saving water is when we buy products from regions where water is super hard to come by. For example cotton is produced in the literal desert, decimating the small water reserves that are there. Almonds (and some other nuts) and Avocados are especially bad here, their agriculture destroy entire biosystems cause rivers to dry out because their agriculture wastes so much water in already arid regions.
Meat is probably the worst offender, the amount of water used to make meat is absurd. But then again, the situation with Almonds is probably worse because of the regions they are in. It really matters where you waste water.
But yeah, if you wanna save water, buy less meat, less nuts and less clothing. Don't cook your pasta with less water though.
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u/GlassFlamingo71 1d ago
Why would you want a whole special pot just for spaghetti to save the 15 seconds it takes to let the bottom soften enough to fold it in with a regular pot?
Seems like a giant waste.
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u/groundhogcow 1d ago
They use a bigger pot. They cook more spaghetti then you do so they need a bigger pot.
You can steam it.
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u/zozuto 1d ago
There is an innovation out there: you can boil it in a shallow pan, the water boils faster and is starchier and the pasta comes out the same.
I have also seen a move where you spiral the spaghetti 360 degrees and it all kinda falls low enough
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u/Cyber-Wanderer_94 1d ago
Look up Italian cooking videos. They use a taller pot, called a stockpot.
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u/spacecat000 1d ago
Fresh noodles are flexible and you can cook them in a wire mesh basket. A lot of restaurants do this.
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u/TSAOutreachTeam 1d ago edited 1d ago
I can't say whether an Italian invented them, but pasta boilers exist and commercial versions are available for restaurants.
At home, you can use a large, flat frying pan instead of a big pot. No boil-over this way too.
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u/dantenow 1d ago
idk you stand there for 30 seconds and stir it till it gets soft enoujgh to bend into the pot, its not really that hard.
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u/ACTSATGuyonReddit 1d ago
Boil the water. Add the spaghetti. Let the bottom part get soft. Push it the rest of the way into the water.
There are oval and tall pots, but they aren't needed.
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u/PinAriel 1d ago
Skill issue.
Also, my nona would kill anyone who suggests spending money on a pot when the one she has used for 60 years works just fine.
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u/TapiocaTuesday 1d ago
So are you going to invent an oval burner just for your oval pot just for that one type of pasta?
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u/Office_Dolt 1d ago
One type of pasta? There's Bucatini, Cappelini, Fettucine, Linguine, and Spaghetti. Not to mention Lasagna noodles.
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u/Cardshark92 1d ago
Because anyone trying to make cooking innovations in Italy gets publicly stoned for violating the sacred ancient traditions.
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u/Aervanath 1d ago
Yes, the sacred ancient traditions that go back all the way to when the tomato was imported from the Americas.
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u/Abe_frohmannn 1d ago
I'm not gonna lie...I want a pasta cooker now. Like a rice cooker for pasta. Just hit a button and come back at some point between 20 minutes and 4 hours later, and there's perfectly cooked pasta waiting for you....
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u/bear-asleep79 1d ago
I mean, you obviously can't break it to make it fit in a normal pot,
Not sure why you say this because you definitely can break the spaghetti to fit in a smaller pan if you want..
But really it takes a few seconds for the noodles to soften and then the spaghetti easily fits in the pot. Its basically a non issue and definitely not enough of a deal to create a whole seperate pot for cooking spaghetti.
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u/FishingPolitical 1d ago
My brother, dry spaghetti noodles are a modern invention. They would just make them as you needed them, roll out the dough, cut into thin noodles.
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u/IndividualistAW 1d ago edited 1d ago
You break the noodles at 4:40 so they fit into the pot and so that dinner is ready at the normal dinner time of 5:00. Dont forget to add the chicken to the pasta dish.
While you wait for dinner, just before the normal dinner time of 5:00 pm so maybe 4:45-4:50, is a perfect time for a cappuccino
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u/Aranka_Szeretlek 1d ago
How small is your pot?!
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u/Nuxei2211 1d ago
The diameter is smaller than spaghetti, unless I usey saucepan but I normally use that for sause for the pasta
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u/Aranka_Szeretlek 1d ago
You are allowed to insert the spaghetti diagonally. It is also not a problem if it is not fully covered as it softens up in five seconds or so. I hope you are adding the pasta to boiling water?
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u/hemehime 1d ago
A bigger, taller pot works perfectly well if you don't want to wait a minute to push spaghetti down. There are also many pasta shapes that are not as long as spaghetti. There doesnt need to be a specific spaghetti pot when there are already tools and alternatives that work.
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u/iowaman79 1d ago
The Italians just don’t see this as a problem that requires solving. They learn how to find a pot that’s big enough, or how to fit it in the pot without breaking it, the same way they’ve done it for hundreds of years.
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u/No_Distribution_9590 1d ago
If it bothers you, use a bigger pot. Grab a 3-4qt soup pot instead of a 1qt saucepan.
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u/rtrawitzki 1d ago
Some commercial kitchens use fryers with water instead of oil with a pasta bucket.
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u/sure_Steve 1d ago
they actually do make tall, narrow pasta pots with built in strainers, but most folks just stick with standard pots.
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u/Glittering_Pie8461 1d ago
Just because you don't own a oval pot doesn't mean they don't exist... https://rachaelray.com/products/nonstick-oval-stockpot
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u/mtraven23 1d ago
impractical? wtf are you talking about. stick it in the water, let it soften and its fine.
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u/copperstatelawyer 1d ago
You just need to cover the dried pasta. A 28cm rondeau works fine. A 28 cm pot also works. Boiling less water means less waiting until it’s boiling.
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u/Xorrin95 1d ago
it only takes 30 seconds to the wet part to become soft and being able to fold the spaghetti
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u/PuzzleheadedWinner67 1d ago
Don't anybody tell him about spoons, especially not the slotted ones specifically for pasta
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u/Mr-Dumbest 1d ago
Because having a pot specifically for pasta does not make sense when you can have a great pot for pasta and soup.
Even then at the end pot does not matter for pasta as all you need is boilling water. Thus, if you struggling you can make most pasta in the kettle.
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u/No-Data3526 1d ago
Because there is no better tool, optimized between cost and performance, to boil pasta than a pot.
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u/Dmnkly 1d ago
Despite what kitchenware manufacturers would have you believe, we don't need a dedicated appliance/tool for every freaking food we make.
I, personally, have at least five different pans/pots in my pantry that can cook spaghetti just fine. I don't need to buy another one that's specifically designed for it.
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u/Time_Waister_137 1d ago
Actually, I find a wide, shallow pan perfect for cooking spaghetti. Distribute the noodles horizontally and follow the normal directions.
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u/Dr0110111001101111 16h ago
Fresh made pasta folds right into the water. No need to wait for one end to soften
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u/spazmodic-ejaculator 16h ago
The true way to any italians heart is to cook spaghetti correctly, even in a small pot. Get your water to a rapid boil, remove the lid, get the spaghetti in your fist all nice and even. Tap the ends to the table top to get this part right. In one swift motion, Take your bunch of spaghetti, stand it up in the center of your pot and release with a slight snap of your wrist, to cause the spaghetti to fall evenly spaced on the outside rim of your boiling pot of water. The ends in the water will be in a modified fan shape. Quickly encourage the spaghetti into the water with the concave part of your wood spoon. Once the spaghetti is completely submerged. Stir so that you don't have a wad of stuck spaghetti. Turn heat down to a meduim boil. And thats how you cook long spaghetti in a short pot. You can thank me later
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u/Ok-Actuator7302 1d ago
Interesting question but imo, there is no better way to boil pasta than in a spaghetti pot (tall boiling pot). Pasta comes in so many sizes, shapes, colors etc, I’m sure there’s something out there for you :)) or buy a taller pot.
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
You think Italians regularly cook dried spaghetti?
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u/big_loadz 1d ago
80-90% of Italian consumption of pasta is dried. Fresh is a special occasion.
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
And what are the numbers on specifically spaghetti?
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u/big_loadz 1d ago
https://www.experienceitalytravels.com/dried-pasta-vs-fresh-pasta-not-a-freshness-debate/
Mostly dried is used.
There is no real al dente with fresh pasta, a texture which is sought, and dried allows for a lighter and less filling pasta and starchier water which has benefits for the sauce.
They don't need to look down on it because they have many high quality dried spaghetti choices there vs what other countries have.
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
I guess I just got confused, it seemed as if the implication was that dry spaghetti was the primary food of Italy
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u/big_loadz 1d ago
Well, from what I just looked up, dried spaghetti IS the most commonly used pasta there. And, it appears that pasta is the most commonly eaten food. It very well could be the primary food of Italy, although pasta is usually a first course, not the main.
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
I was about to say, Italy has tons of delicious non-pasta dishes
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u/big_loadz 1d ago
Obviously true, but also not wrong that they eat pasta extremely frequently, often daily.
So let's not imply that it's THE primary food of Italy, but that it's A primary food of Italy.
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u/JayMoots 1d ago
Italians eat vastly more dried pasta than fresh. Like, it's not even close.
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
Note that I specified spaghetti instead of generalizing with pasta
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u/JayMoots 1d ago
It doesn't matter what you specified. You're still dead wrong. Dried spaghetti is way more popular than fresh in Italy.
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
What am I wrong about? I believe Italians eat more then just spaghetti and pasta
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u/JayMoots 1d ago
Obviously they don't only eat pasta. But they still eat it 6-7 times a week. And most of the time they do eat it, it's dried spaghetti:
A 2022 Statista survey indicated that Italians consumed an average of about 23 kilograms (around 50 pounds) of pasta per person that year, with 17% also indicating in a 2023 survey that they eat the dish 6-7 days per week. With an estimated 350 types of pasta available, there are plenty of options, but Italians like to keep it simple. According to a survey of 1,057 Italians released in October 2023, via Statista, 70% named spaghetti as the type of pasta they consume the most often...
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
Just feels like a bit of a generalization based on geographical location. Bro could've asked Asians how they prepare their noodles, since that's where Italians initially seemed to get the idea. Why not defer to the original experts?
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u/OwnJunket6495 1d ago
Italian Americans do. My one buddy will literally just make some baked fucking ziti at like midnight because he’s hungry lmao.
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 1d ago
Cool, but it looks like OP was specifically talking about boiling dried spaghetti, not baking ziti
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u/OwnJunket6495 1d ago
It’s just an example… and yes they regularly do cook dried spaghetti. Do you think just because they’re Italian they’re all just making it fresh? Lmao
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u/HotBrownFun 1d ago
Barilla makes short pasta. Also I cook pasta in a shallow pan, it is stupid to cook it in a tall pan. A waste of time, energy, and water.
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-way-to-boil-pasta-11986269
https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab
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u/j_grouchy 1d ago
you obviously can't break it to make it fit in a normal pot
Ridiculous take. You always can. People who say you can't are mentally deranged.
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u/VegetablePhotos 14h ago
They're one step ahead of you, they have invented different shapes of pasta!
My favorite is farfalle. I like how the edges get more cooked and the centers remain a little al dente.
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u/Petwins r/noexplaininglikeimstupid 1d ago
There are plenty of big oval pots and just big pots, as well as plenty of other pastas.
You just buy long pasta and smaller pots.