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The Kitchen Table

Slurp or Twirl?

10 years ago

Got in trouble once cooking dinner at a friends house. I broke the spaghetti!! Sheesh, what a big deal. Do you cut, slurp, or twirl Spaghetti?? (I slurp).

Comments (26)

Georgysmom
10 years ago
I twirl, DH cuts.
sjerin
10 years ago
I cut, unless I'm out in which case I twirl (and probably slurp a little!)
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I am also a "no salt" person when it comes to the water. I do not like the taste of extra salt, and I find that a lot of people add way too much salt to their recipes - especially East Coast celebrity chefs on the Food Network. If you are used to a low-salt diet, you will find salt offensive, but if you are addicted to salt, you may want it in everything. I do not use salt when making cookies, cakes, or candy, and yes it does taste different, but that's the way I like it, as I find salt to be offensive in sweets. People who are addicted to salt say that salt enhances flavors, but for me it masks them. Salt does not need to be in everything, but I have known people who put salt on fruit (I've seen this in Mexico), which I think is the worst offense. My mother ate lemons with salt. If you try a salt-free diet, you might discover a lot of flavors that you have actually missed rather than enhanced, but then maybe you will not like those flavors. You can always add salt, but never remove it. If pasta needs more salt, add it to the sauce. Salt does not need to be in every component of a dish, even though I have heard that claim made. I am not a huge fan of spaghetti - I usually make fettuccine or some other type of pasta. When I make fresh pasta, I do add a bit of salt to the pasta dough instead of to the cooking water. I also frequently cook orzo - sometimes with rice - and I cook it in broth or in soup. I have also used orzo in stuffed cabbage. My friends in Tucson that I visited last year cooked spaghetti in an incredibly small amount of water, and I learned that it actually made no difference. In a hot climate, you will not want to boil huge quantities of water! Also, they are in a desert, but did manage to have a small patch of lawn beside their pool. Lars
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OK, I gave in and prepared a pasta dish strictly according to the directions. I cooked Ronzoni #21 Large Shells with a lot of water and the recommended salt. I used the strainer method to wilt the spinach leaves. Prepared the sauce and fresh grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Everything was SALTY. I used little of the cheese. Even the spinach was salty. My tomato sauce has no salt added but even that tasted salty. It may well be that since I never salt anything when cooking that I have become accustomed to not having that much salt. Anyway, I began to wonder if I could smell salt in the air... As I see it, when the cook salts the water, it takes away my choice to control the salt. On the other hand, if someone grabs the salt shaker before tasting the meal then it is an insult to the chef. ======= One additional quirk with cooking this pasta with a lot of water: Most shells end up being as single in the sauce. Many are nested as double and few are triple in one. On the other hand, minimum water will make many many more double up leaving fewer as single. I prefer the mouth feel of the changing densities of pasta from single shells to multiple shells as one. A single nest of three has the mouth feel of a twirled fork of spaghetti.
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Comments (35)
I agree with the OP. Yes, I can eat the long spaghetti with no problem but not out in the company of people of Italian heritage, who DO make comments when I cut the spaghetti up instead of twirling it. I do agree also that there's a difference in the way they hold their sauce. But one can find shorter things that pretty much behave as spaghetti with their saucing ability. Recently, I've had pho at a Vietnamese restaurant. You are supposed to slurp those long noodles. I feel funny doing that! (But at least this is do-able!) (I handle chopsticks like an expert...) I will note I probably cook Italian pasta about four or five times a year. Too many empty carbs that don't really do that much for me taste-wise to justify making them often. I couldn't even tell you the difference between rigatoni, farfalle, or orecchiette. It's elbows for mac and cheese, and fettuccini otherwise. Mac and cheese is about once a year, and contains a plethora of veggies, and I prefer it in a skillet rather than baked.
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Sorry for the long hiatus in getting back to this post. After some initial research, I may have been mistaken calling the one kind of pasta I find most versatile "rotini" because apparently that's not Italian, and the correct nomenclature is "fusilli." Anyway, what I am talking about is the loose spiral pasta, not the tighter version. That would not be very good for a noodle pudding. FOAS, that post on cascatelli was very interesting. I have not seen it around, but I could special order some I suppose. A dish I like but rarely make is "skillet lasagna" which you can make many ways. I like to make it with pasta in the shape of small wavy lasagna strips. I used to think that was called "tagliatelli" but now I see that tagliatelli does not have the wavy sides, and that it is called maybe "mafalda." I eat past a LOT and enjoy pairing shapes with sauces and themes. So here's my noodle pudding recipe, which I know as "lokshen kugel" although when my grandmother made that, she just mixed a little cinnamon sugar with some of her little home made egg noodles and cottage cheese. One could use fusilli or other pasta but it wouldn't be quite the same. I usually use med. egg noodles. Not the most wide or the thinnest, I go for middle of the road. I like the pudding with raisins but Dad doesn't so I usually add a small can of crushed pineapple if I want to snazz it up. It seems overly creamy but it sets up over time. In fact, you often have to add more milk to reheat the leftovers. Creamy Noodle Pudding 8 ounces medium egg noodles 3 eggs, well beaten 1/3 cup sugar, heaping if you like sweeter pudding 1/2 lb. cottage cheese salt to taste 3 oz cream cheese (can use neufchatel) i pint sour cream 1 tsp. vanilla 1 cup milk Combine all ingredients except noodles in a large bowl. Parboil the noodles and add to the mixture. Butter a baking dish and put the mixture in (I think I use an 11.x 13 pyrex one) Bake at 350 for i hour. I top with a dusting of cinnamon sugar. Let sit at least 10 min. before serving. Serves 8-10.
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matti5
10 years ago
My Sicilian grandparents (and beyond) would haunt me if I didn't twirl :)
heather_on
10 years ago
I twirl.
terilyn
10 years ago
Twirl!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
If you break the spaghetti, silly man, you can't twirl it! Slurping isn't necessary if you've twirled it all up on your fork. :-)
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
I have done all of the above mentioned. Normally I twirl.
Pieonear
10 years ago
I'm a twirler.
morz8 - Washington Coast
10 years ago
All the above. And if I'm cooking the pasta, I'll cut or break in half sometimes before dropping into the boiling water too.

But no one at my table or in my kitchen gets in trouble for much of anything. If you can get it from stove to table well prepared, and from table to mouth without making a mess...I'm happy and I'll share my kitchen.

We have a friend who likes to cook here, I just try to make sure he knows where everything is. As - these are the platters I 'bought for you men' to bread and then put fried clams on (translates to please quit using my baking sheets). Or, this is the cabinet with mixing bowls in every size, and I think you'll like them better with a rim to grip while beating eggs (which is same as, hands off my china vegetable servers!)

OldFixer, you can come over and break spaghetti here ;)
cheryl_ok
10 years ago
I twirl, Dh cuts
happy2b…gw
10 years ago
We twirl in this house. My husband uses a fork and large spoon to twirl his spaghetti. Grand kids twirl and suck it in. We love our spaghetti.
Alice_sj
10 years ago
I break the spaghetti in half to cook. Then, I twirl and slurp just a little. :)
hounds_x_two
10 years ago
I twirl
glenda_al
10 years ago
Call me weird, but that's okie dokie!
Enjoy cutting noodles into small pieces, put on butter toast with mayo, topped with the sauce and meat, then lots of tobasco sauce, chopped dill pickles, sprinkled with cheese.

Never ever in public! Only in my privacy!
blfenton
10 years ago
I twirl using a large spoon and fork. DH cuts his. My kids shovel theirs into their mouths any way they can.
Lily316
10 years ago
Twirl and did it tonight.
oldfixer
Original Author
10 years ago
OK, I'm odd, as proper twirling is the leader. Didn't think to include the method of 'shoveling'. Why is it 'baa-skettie' to kids?
glenda - does your 'private toast' have an actual culinary name? Or just one of those things people like to create on their own.
grandmamary_ga
10 years ago
We don't slurp. lol, But do both cut and swirl.
Mary
jannie
10 years ago
I don't break spaghetti when boiling it. I twirl using a fork in my right hand and spoon in my left.One thing I NEVER do is rinse spaghetti. I drain off the water. I believe the starchy residue helps the sauce and cheese stick.
Jasdip
10 years ago
I do as Jannie mentioned. Never break, or rinse spaghetti.
Twirl, using a spoon.
casey_nfld
10 years ago
I twirl using a spoon as well.

Mind you that's when I eat spaghetti. SInce starting a healthy diet several months ago I've probably only eaten spaghetti twice!
lindaohnowga
10 years ago
I break the spaghetti in half to cook it along with some oil, drain and rinse so it doesn't stick together on one gooey mess. Then do all three...twirl, slurp and shovel it in. I LOVE spaghetti.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
I never drain pasta, either. I think it gets sticky if you don't use enough water in the pot and /or you overcook it. A big pot of water, brought to a rolling boil before putting the pasta in, is the key to nice, slippery noodles. No oil.

Casey, have you tried whole wheat pasta? It took awhile, but I've developed a taste for it and it improves the health value of refined pasta.,

My twirling technique is standard. Hold the fork perpendicular to the plate, tines down in a little pile of noodles. I like to go for the edge of the serving but others go for the middle. Twirl until a forkful ends up on the fork....insert neatly in mouth, lol. If the noodles are broken, you'll end up with more hangy downy servings, requiring slurping.

But who cares?
kathleen44
10 years ago
When I do have spaghetti the rare time, I break it and throw it in the pot. I also cut it to small pieces to eat easily.
rob333 (zone 7b)
10 years ago
I seem to have adopted something strange, so I haven't answered, waiting to see if anyone else said it. I twirl it, and then cut it. Why? I don't know! But it's me.

:)
angelaid
10 years ago
Just had it last night. I break it in half and drop into the water. I cut. DH twirls.

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