Niki Rothman vindicated At Last...by Harold McGee

[toodie jane]

Anyone been around long enough to remember the contentious post by Nikki Rothman about cooking pasta? Specifically, where she opined about not needed huge amounts of water or salt to produce perfectly good cooked pasta.

She was disagreed with ( to put it more politiely) by fellow chowhounds, relentlessly.

Now along comes Harold McGee and low and behold:

http://www.chow.com/food-news/94799/h...

[sueatmo]

I remember that. I loved seeing that video. I'll do that sometime, although not with spaghetti.

Yes Niki Rothman is vindicated at last.

[greygarious]

McGee blogged about this at least 3 years ago. I had a brief exchange with him at the time, recommending bringing a modest amount of water to a boil (2-3 qts for a pound of dry pasta)
then steeping the pasta in the covered pot, heat turned off, for a few minutes longer than you'd cook the pasta if the water continued to boil. He admitted that one works, too. There was a CH thread on cooking pasta without continual boiling.

[toodie jane]

I see that Niki's original thread had 400 replies. I gave up reading the thread after about 75. I couldn't take it any more. One of the most dissapointing threads on CH I've ever read. Perhaps it got better as it went. ..Thanks for pointing out the other thread & discussion.

[toodie jane]

I just bought some corn pasta at TJ's so tried this method for a one person serving of mac n cheese.

I put about 2 cups of cold water in my #8 cast iron skillet, poured in about a generous cup of corn penne, slapped on a tight lid (one of my saucepan lids fit tightly about 1/2" down the pan lip) and set the flame to low. Then I melted 1 T of butter and 1 T grapeseed oil in a larger CI skillet, on med.

Chopped a small shallot and in she goes, stirred and when the shallot began to wilt, sprinkled on 1 mounded T of flour, stirred while it bubbled, and added by increments, 2 c cold 1% milk. When it thickened ,after about 4 minutes, I rummaged for cheese and found some Rosemary Asiago and Cheddar w/caramalized onion. Chopped about 4 oz. of cheeses and melted it in the sauce off heat.
Meanwhile the pasta had been cooking. I removed the lid, it looked just as McGee described, al dente with a few tablesppons of liquid. In went the cheese sauce, S&P, and my quickest ever stovetop mac n cheese was ready.

I have found my new way of cooking pasta.

And the corn pasta had a nice texture, not grainy like the WW stuff. Delicate corn flavor for you corn-o-holics out there. It was a nice marriage, the corn and cheese.

I balanced off this richness with about 3 cups of baby greens so I wouldn't feel guilty.

[acgold7]

CI/ATK did a whole thing about low-water cooking of pasta years ago, if I recall correctly.

[rworange]

There you go, you have to be a food celebrity for anyone to listen to you on Chowhound these days.

However, I like McGee a lot and wish there were more by people like him, especialy McGee.

I also wish Niki was still posting.

[King of Northern Blvd]

Wasn't Niki's thread about salting the water? I am probably mistaken but I do remember the thread.

[rworange]

Both.

i think this is the thread
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/4399...

[sueatmo]

I remember the salt issue more clearly than the small amount of water issue. I don't think I agreed with her either. But really 'Hounds just piled on.

[num nums]

Kenji on Serious Eats also proved over a year ago:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/ho...

[Jay F]

I tried the Harold McGee method today, starting out with cold water in a stainless steel frying pan, and I wasn't impressed, at least not in a positive way.

I used angel hair, and it failed to get hot enough to eat by the time it was done cooking. I have been using a low-water method for the last few years, in which I fill a 3 qt. All Clad saucepan or 3.5 qt. LC oven about halfway full, then add salt and pasta when the water comes to a boil. It uses more energy, if no extra water, but I like my pasta warmer than what I ate today. Maybe it'll work better with thicker pasta, but angel hair's what I've got in the pantry.

Additionally, I'd rather pour water out of something with higher sides than a skillet.

[TrishUntrapped]

The sad thing is until Harold McGee said this, hardly anyone would listen. I feel bad for Niki Rothman.

On another website I debunked a myth about pie crust (I combine shortening and flour, chill, then add cold water and roll out). People on that site mocked and humiliated me. Then a couple years later Alton Brown introduced the method on his show and son of a gun, guess what, there was some sense to that after all.

For years, friends of mine made the best darn French fries for a crowd, in a large turkey fryer, starting with room temperature oil. People said this was nuts, the oil HAD to be 350 degrees to start or the fries would be oily. Not so. But no one would listen. Well, now CI and ATK said yes this is the way to go, start with room temp oil, and what do you know, my friends are now cooking geniuses... Well actually they aren't. ATK, like Alton and Harold McGee get all the credit for these innovative discoveries.

Just something for us all to remember, there is more than one way to skin a catfish. Let's keep an open mind and experiment. You never know.

[sueatmo]

Agreed. All you have to do is read the various methods people use to boil an egg, or make an omelet, or do brining. If something works for the cook, it should not be ridiculed.

I am remembering one thread when a female opined that these cheap knives she found were wonderful. They worked so well! She was criticized by the mostly male knife people who indicated she couldn't possibly know what she was talking about. We all speak from our experiences here. There is always another way to do something.

[HillJ]

I def. recall the thread. I hope Niki's reading along.