r/Cooking 14h ago

i timed how long 31 different pasta shapes take to reach al dente. the boxes are lying and farfalle is a war crime

27.5k Upvotes

so basically i got inspired by the tomato canned guy and thought of the time when i followed the box time for rigatoni once and got mush. the box said 12 minutes but it was unfortunately al dente at 9.

my methodology:

  • same brand (barilla) for consistency where possible
  • 4 quarts water per pound
  • 1 tbsp salt per quart
  • rolling boil before adding pasta
  • tested every 30 seconds starting 2 minutes before box minimum
  • "al dente" = slight resistance when bitten, thin white line visible when cut
  • each shape tested 3 times, averaged
  • altitude: ~650 ft (basically sea level, no excuses)

the data (31 shapes tested):

pasta box time actual al dente difference
capellini 4-5 min 2:45 -1:15
angel hair 4-5 min 3:00 -1:00
spaghetti 8-10 min 7:15 -0:45
linguine 9-11 min 8:00 -1:00
fettuccine 10-12 min 8:30 -1:30
bucatini 10-12 min 9:00 -1:00
pappardelle 7-9 min 6:00 -1:00
tagliatelle 8-10 min 7:00 -1:00
penne 11-13 min 9:30 -1:30
penne rigate 11-13 min 10:00 -1:00
rigatoni 12-15 min 9:15 -2:45
ziti 14-15 min 11:00 -3:00
macaroni 8-10 min 7:00 -1:00
rotini 8-10 min 7:30 -0:30
fusilli 11-13 min 9:00 -2:00
gemelli 10-12 min 8:30 -1:30
cavatappi 9-12 min 8:00 -1:00
campanelle 10-12 min 8:30 -1:30
radiatori 9-11 min 8:00 -1:00
orecchiette 12-15 min 10:30 -1:30
shells (medium) 9-11 min 8:00 -1:00
shells (large) 12-15 min 10:00 -2:00
conchiglie 10-12 min 8:30 -1:30
orzo 8-10 min 7:00 -1:00
ditalini 9-11 min 8:00 -1:00
paccheri 12-14 min 10:30 -1:30
casarecce 10-12 min 9:00 -1:00
trofie 10-12 min 8:30 -1:30
strozzapreti 10-12 min 9:00 -1:00
mafalda 8-10 min 7:30 -0:30
farfalle 11-13 min see below war crime

every single box time is wrong like they were systematically inflated by 1-3 minutes on average. the median overestimate is 1:15 and the worst offender in normal pasta is ziti at 3 full minutes of lies

i have a theory: pasta companies assume you're going to walk away from the stove. they're building in a buffer for idiots which, fair. but some of us are standing here with a stopwatch

now let me talk about farfalle: farfalle is not pasta. farfalle is a design flaw someone decided to mass produce

the fundamental problem is geometric. you have thin frilly edges (maybe 1mm thick) attached to a dense pinched center (3-4mm thick where it's folded). these two regions require completely different cooking times

at 8 minutes: center is crunchy, edges are perfect. at 10 minutes: center is barely al dente, edges are mush. at 11 minutes: edges have disintegrated, center is finally acceptable

there is no time at which farfalle is uniformly cooked. i tested this 7 times because i thought i was doing something wrong. farfalle is wrong

you know how the food network recipe for homemade farfalle literally warns that pinching the center makes a thick center that won't cook through as fast as the ends? THEN WHY DID WE ALL AGREE TO MAKE IT THIS WAY

the only way to get acceptable farfalle is to fish out each piece individually and evaluate it, which defeats the purpose of a quick weeknight dinner. i might as well be hand-feeding each noodle like a baby bird

tier list (tomato canned guy, 2025)

S tier (box time within 45 sec): rotini, mafalda, spaghetti
A tier (off by ~1 min): most shapes honestly
B tier (off by 1:30-2 min): fusilli, rigatoni, fettuccine, gemelli
C tier (off by 2+ min): ziti, large shells F tier: farfalle (structurally unsound, should be banned)

tldr;

  • subtract 1-2 minutes from whatever the box says
  • start testing 2-3 minutes early
  • don't trust big pasta
  • avoid farfalle unless you have time to babysit each individual bow tie

+ some of you may ask about fresh pasta. fresh pasta cooks in like 2-3 minutes and you can actually tell when it's done because it floats. dried pasta is where the lies live

+ a few of you might mention altitude affects boiling point and therefore cook time. this is true. i'm at ~650 ft so basically negligible. if you're in denver add a minute or two. if you're in la paz you have bigger problems than pasta timing

+ YES i tested farfalle from multiple brands. YES they all sucked. no i will not be accepting farfalle apologists. you're defending a shape that can't decide if it wants to be cooked or not

EDIT: yall holy shit i never expected this to go viral lmao


r/Cooking 3h ago

i just bought tajin for the first time ever and i was so excited to try it and… i don’t like it? Am i doing anything wrong?

51 Upvotes

Basically the title. I‘m not sure if the bottle i bought is bad or anything (it shouldn’t be, it aint expired) but it tastes so… bad.

I love chilis and i love lime so i thought i‘d love this too, but nope. It tastes like i’m biting into sour dirt and after i swallow, It has a strong chemical aftertaste, and even after adding it to food i can’t seem to get rid of it.

I’ve tried it on cucumber, mango, apples and popcorn. and it’s (sorry for my language) disgusting.

Is it supposed to have a weird aftertaste? or is the bottle i bought just bad? It was really expensive so i‘m kind of upset. about $5 for the smallest bottle.


r/Cooking 5h ago

no fail way to elevate plain white rice?

40 Upvotes

ive tried spices and never tastes right. ive also tried making it coconut rice, comes out weird. any tips? i have a rice maker so rice comes out perfectly, the add-ons are the issue. not dying to put new ingredients in my rice maker. id rather mix in after, but if it comes out better in the rice maker, i'd be willing to try. thanks!


r/Cooking 9h ago

I have 28 gallons of milk, what are some heavily milk focused recipes?

83 Upvotes

This was also posed in r/baking with some minor tweaking!

Before anyone says anything, I work at a nursing home, we have too much milk and it expires on the 16th, and I can assure you, we aren't going to go through 28 gallons by then.

The stuff we plan to make include: mozzarella (for cheese bread), sweetened condensed milk (for fudge), and ice cream. This will probably use around 8 gallons for these three, but we're stumped on what else we could make.

We plan to make more cheese than whats needed for the bread, as well as double the amount of condensed milk to save, and a lot of ice cream (since it'll be for 30+ people, staff, AND different kinds) but we're still going to have at least 15 gallons if we double/triple stuff.

Any and all recommendations are welcome and much appreciated!


r/Cooking 5h ago

Cooking Brisket - Always Tough

19 Upvotes

We will buy a 2-to 3-pound brisket from the supermarket. We have tried cooking in the oven in low heat and in normal heat, and we have tried cooking it in a slow cooker and while it comes out tasty, it is always tough. We dont know what we are doing wrong. It is never raw but it is always tough. I dont know if we are overcooking it or undercooking it. I would say that its usually cooked around 4-6 if its in the oven on low heat or in the slow cooker. On a side note, my son cooks a 8 pound brisket on a smoker and it comes out perfect. What are we doing wrong and how can we fix this


r/Cooking 5h ago

So I usually make my little sister breakfast but she always requests it to be cute like a little animal or something but I only have so many ideas so if you have any ideas or seen any pics pls help😭

16 Upvotes

r/Cooking 1h ago

What can I use this sauce for? Guilin style chili sauce

Upvotes

r/Cooking 8h ago

How safe is it to simply put pots with food in the fridge?

14 Upvotes

Hey guys, I’m a college student who loves to cook. That being said with my lifestyle I like to cook one pot meals like pasta, chili, soups, etc. and just eat on them for a few days. Due to my limited number of Tupperware (and partially some laziness), I often just let the pot cool to room temperature and put it into the fridge with the lid on. I was telling this to somebody and they claimed that this was unsanitary and would cause the food to go bad quicker as compared to an airtight Tupperware container. Can anybody tell me if this is true or not?


r/Cooking 4h ago

Accidentally used Food wrapping paper instead of parchment paper. Is this a safety hazard?

7 Upvotes

I was baking cookies in an OTG. I accidentally used food wrapping paper only realised when the cookies came out and the paper looked very greasy and the cookie base was stuck. I scrapped and had some only to realise it later. I was baking these banana bread cookies for someone else. Should I discard the entire batch? Don’t want to put anyone’s health at risk


r/Cooking 3h ago

We’re 9 friends in France, and we just spent days "systematically" engineering our Chinese Lunar New Year menu through 2 rounds of voting

4 Upvotes

Chinese Lunar New Year is just 10 days away! This year, I’ll celebrate it in France with 9 friends. To my surprise, our "Reunion Dinner" menu planning turned into an incredibly rigorous process. Here’s how we did it:

  1. The Brainstorming: Two friends and I hopped on a call to set the rules. Everyone in our group chat of nine shared photos or names of dishes they usually crave but find too "troublesome" to cook for themselves in daily life.
  2. The Ballot: I collected all these ideas and turned them into an official poll.
  3. Voting: Each person was assigned a minimum of 5 votes and a maximum of 9.
  4. The Tie-breaker: Dishes with more than 3 votes won instantly. However, we ended up with a lot of ties!
  5. The Final Cut: We ran a second round of voting, specifically balancing the ratio of proteins, vegetables, and carbs to ensure a well-rounded feast.

On the big day, everyone will be responsible for 1-2 dishes. Everyone will be the chef.

Here is our "Winning Menu":

  • Pork: Char Siu (BBQ Pork) + Shredded Pork with Beijing Sauce (Jing Jiang Rou Si)
  • Chicken: Poached Chicken (Bai Zhan Ji) + Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings
  • Beef: Sichuan Peppercorn Beef
  • Seafood: Steamed Whole Fish + Wasabi Shrimp Balls
  • Vegetables: Baby Cabbage in Superior Broth + Tofu with Minced Meat + Bok Choy with Shiitake Mushrooms
  • Soup: Pork Rib Soup with Corn, Yam, and Carrots
  • Dessert: Sweet Fermented Rice Soup with Sticky Rice Balls (Jiu Niang Xiao Wan Zi)
  • Staples: Eight-Treasure Rice (Ba Bao Fan) + Steamed White Rice
  • Dumplings: Pork and Scallion Dumplings

    I am already so excited for this celebration!!!


r/Cooking 51m ago

Your best herb-based sauce for pasta?

Upvotes

I'm craving a very herby sauce. What are your favorite recipes for pasta sauces that use a ton of herbs?

Edit: besides pesto


r/Cooking 5h ago

Making Pigs in a Blanket for a potluck; but looking for ways to elevate it into something truly wonderful

7 Upvotes

So I've nailed down a few aspects that I think will help make the recipe a bit fancier:

  • Using puff pastry instead of croissant dough
  • adding everything bagel seasoning/sesame seeds on top of the rolled dough
  • brushing a finish with garlic and herb butter before popping in the oven

Things I need help on:

  • what type of pigs should I be using?
    • some say spicy sausage/chorizo/cocktail weenies, not sure what to use
    • some say adding shredded cheese in the dough before rolling
      • I want to try this but not sure what kind of cheese to use or if it's too over the top
    • saw one recipe that wraps the pig in pepperoni before rolling and it sounds interesting but if combined with sausage might be too much fat content and might only work with cocktail weenies
    • Dipping sauce? I'm thinking honey mustard but don't want to bring my own bottle or anything so maybe I can buy something store bought? Any suggestions

r/Cooking 4h ago

Arugula Salad and Steak and what else?

5 Upvotes

I'm making a nice dinner for my roommates and I know I want to make arugula salad and possibly steak, but I'm struggling to think of another fun side to make. Does steak even go with arugula salad? I'd love some ideas


r/Cooking 4h ago

Help me find a gluten-free dessert recipe that'll impress co-workers!

5 Upvotes

Beyond being gluten free, here's the catch... We just moved to a new place for my husband's job. They are doing a Valentine's Day dessert potluck and I'd like to bring something stunning. Unfortunately, we haven't closed on our house yet and are living in a hotel with only a microwave and a double burner hot plate. No oven. I love cooking and baking but am having trouble with recipes that are gluten-free and don't require an oven or extensive kitchen set up since all my kitchen tools are in storage. Recipe help!


r/Cooking 2h ago

Easy Cold Lunch Ideas

3 Upvotes

Hello! I’m looking for some good cold lunch recipes. I’m a commuting college student, so I’d prefer nothing super expensive and nothing that needs to be heated up if possible. There is a microwave on campus, but it doesn’t work very well.

I’m a pretty confident cook, so complexity isn’t an issue, I’m just looking for more variety. Ideally, I’d love single serving ideas or meals that freeze well or last a while in the fridge. I only need these lunches once a week.

Thanks in advance!


r/Cooking 2h ago

Beginner cooker *need help*

2 Upvotes

Hey recently I've been watching some YouTube videos on how to cook and as a beginner I wanted to start of with something simple. I decided to make some chicken wraps and I've been trying everyday for like 3 weeks but they always taste bad like a sour salty kind of taste even if I use little to no salt. The videos I watch tell me to use salt pepper paprika and garlic and I use about 100g diced chicken breast. I don't know if I'm using too much seasoning or maybe one seasoning is causing the bitter sour taste but I know the actual chicken is not the problem because I get it from the same place my parents do and there chicken never taste like mine . Also im cooking on a low med heat so im sure im not burning anything for it to come out tasting bitter like that. Any help would be appreciated thanks 😊


r/Cooking 44m ago

Is there any possible way to delay or even reverse bread staling?

Upvotes

I’m generally too lazy to bake my own bread, but even the best of store bought bread that I’ve found decreases noticeably in quality after even a day or two, losing that soft pillowy texture and growing hard. Is there anything that can be done to either delay the onset of bread becoming stale or make it taste less stale even temporarily? My mom told me to try putting in the microwave and this helps a little bit but not a lot in my experience so I’m looking for other ideas.


r/Cooking 51m ago

Skim milk ricotta

Upvotes

so I accidentally bought skim milk ricotta a very large container for making stuffed shells and vegetable lasagna. I'm reading pretty much everywhere that because it's skim and not whole milk it has a lot more water so I have to strain it with a cheesecloth or a strainer for 15 to 30 minutes before using it. And then I'm also hearing that it's just very grainy a lot of people refer to it as sand. Am I wrong in what I've read and heard? if I'm correct what else can I use this giant tub of ricotta for? I don't want to throw it away but I don't really want to strain and have sandy shells lol any recipes or tips or whatever please


r/Cooking 20h ago

"Hard" vs "Melt in your mouth" pork belly meat

64 Upvotes

So when I think of pork belly in Asian dishes, like taiwanese/japanese pork belly slices in buns, or Chinese red braised pork belly, etc, the fat of course is meltingly soft, but the meat is as well. It's just a juicy, melting piece of meat.

However, when I cook pork belly, the meat ends up much harder than I expect it to be, especially in a braise. Like if I cut off the fat portion and just eat the meat, I probably would describe the meat as almost "dry and hard." The fat is fine, but the texture of the meat is not like when I eat it at restaurants.

What am I doing wrong?


r/Cooking 3h ago

What’s your “go to” Super Bowl recipe?

3 Upvotes

Not the usual basic snacks, but what is something that has everyone requesting year over year?


r/Cooking 1h ago

Is the Prasky blender good?

Upvotes

Hi there,

I’m looking for a durable and versatile blender - but top pics like Blendtec, the Breville Super Q and Vitamix are out of my price range.

On TikTok I saw the Prasky blender has good reviews, but looking for opinions and experience outside of TikTok. Has anyone used the Prasky blender? If so, what has your experience been with it?


r/Cooking 1d ago

Earlier this winter, I asked r/cooking if I could make smooth mashed potatoes in a food processor in the absence of a food mill or ricer, and I got flamed by most of the comments. Well, I'm here eating my words ... because they turned out amazing!

510 Upvotes

I think most of the naysayers didn't even read my post before very zealously forewarning a future of gloop. Well, they turned out smooth, light, fluffy, and the exact potatoes of my dreams. It took literally less than 1 minute to turn a couple large spuds into 6 cups of mashed potatoes. Sure, cleaning a food processor is more work and more annoying than clean up would be for some other methods (although I'm guessing it's similar for a food mill), but the actual "mashing" took zero elbow grease and almost no time.

A crucial note is that I used the fine grating disc, NOT THE BLADES. Once you feed the cooked potato into the processor, the "grated" potato falls into the basin, where it is not touched by anything again until you transfer it to a dish. The original idea came from when I had previously looked for creative alternatives to a ricer or mill and saw someone suggest using a microplane. I tried it once, and it worked great, just took a lot of time and an immense amount of effort. The food processor *with the grating disc* seemed like a potential way of doing the same thing, just automated. In practice, I think it probably didn't work too dissimilarly from a food mill, just where the grater itself is what spun instead of something on top of it, and where the spinning was operated by electricity instead of your arm.

Anyways, long story short, I would highly recommend this method, especially for anyone that has any disability that affects grip or hand/wrist/arm mobility or anyone that simply hates the strenuousness of mashing a moderate to large quantity of potatoes.


r/Cooking 2h ago

Bananas wont ripen, and I m brining Banana Pudding to a super bowl party

2 Upvotes

Have had them for 2 days, in a bag with tomatoes. Not budging. Any thoughts? Is caramelized banana pudding a thing? Any suggestions appreciated.


r/Cooking 6h ago

I want to make a yogurt-marinated chicken - but I'm lactose intolerant. Would using a vegan yogurt in the marinade actually tenderize the chicken?

4 Upvotes

I want to make a Moroccan-style chicken dish this weekend and I was hoping to try a recipe that uses a yogurt marinade because I know that can tenderize the chicken and impart flavor, but I'm curious if a vegan yogurt will actually have any impact on the chicken or I should try a different marinade.


r/Cooking 1d ago

Unpopular opinion: you do not need to buy unsalted butter.

3.5k Upvotes

Unless you are a commercial kitchen or bakery, it’s not needed to buy. “1 tsp of unsalted butter then add 1/16th tsp of salt” huh??

Home kitchen does not need to buy yet more ingredients, and unsalted goes bad faster. Just taste. More? Okay. I guarantee you salted butter is not going to wreck your dish.

Edit: I can’t make a sentence.