Timed or tested pasta? How do you cook?

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I LOVE Barilla products & have never been disappointed with them. In fact, it's the only brand I buy except for picking up some artisinal stuff once in awhile.

That said, however, you do still have to watch your timing. No pasta is infallible. I usually start taste-testing my pasta - regardless of shape - about 2 minutes before it's supposed to be done per the package directions. Many times I find it's done perfectly by that time; sometimes I find I have to go a minute beyond package directions to reach that perfect stage.

It also depends on what I'm going to do with the pasta. If eating right away with sauce or chilling for a pasta salad, I'll want it more perfectly done than if I'm going to cook it further in a baked pasta dish. In that case I want it slightly underdone since it will be cooking further in the oven.
 
imo, barilla = yuk.

i like al dente, but barilla stays too firm and undercooked in the center, and if you cook it longer, the outside gets mushy as the center gets cooked to al dente. i mean, certain pasta like cavatelli or orichiette are more dense and are supposed to be that way, but all of barillas pastas stay too firm inside.

i like ronzoni Ronzoni Macaroni Company for regular pasta (i also like the fact that they call it a macaroni company), and bionaturae Bionaturae ~ Organic Foods from Italy for whole wheat pastas.
 
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