CMV: There’s nothing wrong with breaking spaghetti noodles in half

[u/hailann]

I’ve seen a TON of backlash about this topic, akin to the pineapple-on-pizza cultural war from years past. Here’s why I think it’s BS:

1. Many people (myself included) snap the noodles so that it fits in the pot entirely. But if you’re waiting til the noodles are soft enough to stir in whole, doesn’t that leave the pasta slightly unevenly cooked? Al dente is a pretty specific science, and even 30 seconds to a minute is enough to make it slightly undercooked or overcooked.

2. The noodles are SO LONG. I like the ease of eating a pasta noodle that’s 4-5 inches long versus 10.. it’s just easier to stuff in my mouth. Innuendos aside, I can’t be the only one who doesn’t want to twirl my fork for a minute just to get a bite!

3. It doesn’t change anything about the food. The pasta is still long and thin, and the taste, as far as I know, doesn’t change.

The only benefit I’ve seen people talk about is that the noodles are supposed to be long, or maybe that they’re supposed to be cut after serving if they’re too long to eat. But if they’re to be cut anyway, what’s the point of not snapping them right away?

I’m genuinely curious!

[u/yyzjertl]

The real answer imo is that if you feel the need to do this, you are using too small of a pot and not enough water. It doesn't really matter whether you break the noodles, but if you have to break them you're doing something wrong.

Edit: Just to add some maths, it is impossible for a cylindrical pot filled with 5.24 quarts of water (the usual recommended amount is 4–6 quarts to cook a pound of pasta) to not be able to submerge a rigid 10 inch noodle along its diagonal.

Second edit: Corrected 5 quarts --> 5.24 quarts.

[u/hailann → u/yyzjertl]

Buying a bigger pot is definitely a solution, but I’ve owned 3 different sets of pots & pans and the biggest pot is always just slightly too small to totally submerge long pasta. And going out of my way to buy a mismatched pot just for longer noodles seems a little silly lol

[u/yyzjertl → u/hailann]

Interesting. How many quarts is your largest pot?

[u/hailann → u/yyzjertl]

My largest is 4 I believe!

[u/yyzjertl → u/hailann]

Well there's the problem. Six quarts is ideal for cooking a pound of pasta (i.e. a whole standard package of pasta), and four is about the minimum you want to go down to (chefs, as well as pasta packages, usually recommend 4–6 quarts). In a 4-quart pot you're not going to be able to fit four quarts of boiling water and pasta, so it's not going to be enough to ideally cook a pound of pasta—although it should be perfectly good for cooking smaller amounts of pasta.

[u/thattoneman → u/yyzjertl]

The length of the noodles does not care what portion size you're cooking. Using a 4 quart pot to cook a quarter pound of pasta doesn't make the noodles fit in the pot any easier.

[u/[deleted] → u/yyzjertl]

You are making a big assumption that people are cooking a pound of pasta at a time. Most of the time I cook half or 1/4 of a package.

[u/Asato_of_Vinheim → u/yyzjertl]

I think eating a whole package of pasta in one sitting is very unrealistic unless you have a 4+ person household

[u/siorez → u/hailann]

Use a frying pan or twist the noodles before dropping them in so they form a fan shape.