Serious Question on Water usage

[LilNomad]

Ive been cooking my pasta for years in a skillet very little water similar to shown here..why throw out all the flavor in the water. Same with potatoes!
https://www.yellowblissroad.com/one-pan-lemon-garlic-pasta/
LilNomad

 

[USExplorer]

I'm a regular pasta cook when traveling, though I typically cook those pre-packaged pasta alfredo sides that turn their cooking water into a creamy sauce...no draining. For regular pasta, I only use enough water to barely cover the pasta being cooked. But then again, I'm not picky about consistency.

 

[Annie W]

First off, a lot of water isn't needed to cook pasta.  I can cook enough for one in about 2 1/2" in the bottom of my 8" diameter pot so maybe 1/2 a quart. If it's spaghetti, break it up in maybe 3 sections so that it can all be sunk in the water.

The only time I'd ever come close to using a gallon of water to cook pasta in would be if I was cooking for 12 or more people and using my largest pot.

Same goes for potatoes if I'm boiling them, barely enough water to cover.

What I do with the left over water depends on where I am. If it's okay to drain outside then I do so, usually over the campfire ashes so that they filter the water as it's absorbed in to the soil. My sink is also connected to a 2 1/2 gallon portable 'gray tank' so I can opt to use that if I don't want to dump it outside.

I use so little water for cooking pasta or potatoes that the starch is fairly concentrated...not suitable for washing dishes in,  but then there's not much of it anyways.

Potato water, btw, is great for mixing in with the juices from a roast or chicken to make gravy with.

Wow, more good ideas. Thank you so much.
also http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fo...a/news-story/ec398f35b323a4351a544642156e0662

 

[ratfink56]

5:20 a.m. and I want a big bowl of pasta!

 

[Dingfelder]

Starch is good.  It's what makes juices thicken into a sauce.  I find it a big help, not a negative.

goodeats.com has an article about boiling pasta at low heat for a longer time but in less water.  

About a week ago I cooked raw dried pasta in its own sauce, no water.  I dumped about six ounces of noodles, a can of tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, added chopped onion and a sliced tomato, into a pan, and put that in my standard sized HotLogic, a type of hotplate/slowcooker.  There was enough liquid to cover the elbow macaroni.  I wasn't super worried the liquid wouldn't cook any noodle that got exposed to the air because I had tinfoil over the pan,so there would be steam.  I left it on overnight.  

I figured any extra sauce would get absorbed into the noodles the same way pasta noodles puff up with water when you boil them.  That would help keep things from getting too soupy.  The starch would help thicken the sauce too.  As long as I could learn the timing, I figured it would be fine.

The HotLogics are variously said to heat to anywhere from 165 to 185 degrees and then hold it, depending where you read it.  I got 185.

The main problem is that there is no temperature control mechanism.  My pasta did get a tiny bit overcooked, but that's not bad for a first-time effort and considering I didn't lift a finger to check for a good eight hours.  I find the recipes out there for the HotLogic are usually terrible, often suggesting incredibly long cooking times, so I didn't know any better than to leave things too long.  

I'll be making a regular habit of this.  I'd still like a solar oven of some sort, but for when I am plugged in, I'm happy to see I can cook pasta without any water at all.

 

[WanderingBiker]

^^^ +10
I typically make flower pot bread with some of it. Make the dough, throw it in a greased flower pot, cover it for a bit with foil and place it in the camp fire coals. I did this with my two young kids when I took them camping. That is some serious comfort food for me.

sounds like a great bread.... got a recipe?