Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,
I am looking at the experimental procedure for The Pasta Puzzle which I am having a difficult time following. On page 5 of 10 the table shows the amount of water as follows: Boiling 4 qts. Boiling 2 qts. Cool 2qts. Cool 1 qts. I don't follow this. Why isn't it Boiling 4qts. Boiling 2 qts. Cool 4qts. Cool 2 qts. I am probably reading to much into it. I appreciate any guidance you can offer.
Thank you,
Tracy

Hi Tracy,

Hmm . . . I'm looking at the project and I'm not 100% sure myself. I suspect the reason is that there will be a fairly large difference between the pasta cooked in 1 quart of cool water vs. the pasta cooked in 2 quarts of cool water but that the difference would not be so large going from 4 quarts of cool water to 2 quarts of cool water.

Speaking as somebody who has cooked a lot of pasta, I can see a couple of possibilities.

The same amount of pasta cooked in the different types and quantities of water will have a very significant difference in its final texture, and quite a number of things can go wrong.

So here are some possible reasons.

1. Not enough water is something you can do wrong with Pasta. The pasta absorbs water, it doesn't just get soft, it enlarges. If you don't have enough water, you can't fully cook the pasta and there are also just mechanical problems with not all water touching all surfaces of the pasta (so you get clumps of uncooked pasta, surrounded by overcooked pasta)
2. Not a large enough pan is another thing you can do wrong with pasta. If the water doesn't keep the pasta from touching the side of the saucepan it sticks and burns. This is a problem hot water has that cold water does not, assuming your hot water is contained in a saucepan pan over a burner.

Combine these two thoughts - it is possible that with cold water, 2 quarts is "enough", one is "not enough" to do #1, and 4 quarts is no different than 2 quarts. But with hot water, 1 quart isn't enough to prevent sticking, but 2 quarts and 4 quarts still show differences based on the exact cooking time used.

Alternately...

If the cooking time is long, a problem with boiling water is the amount you start with won't be the amount you end with (some boils off). The idea might instead be to ensure there's enough water to process the pasta in the "boiling" case without it boiling down to nothing, while still keeping the water ratio (2-1) the same.

If you really want to know....try both hot and cold water with 1,2,4 quarts and see what happens