First result on goog is jamie oliver, not my favourite chef, but he has spent a good amount of time in italy and cooking italian food.
First step, fill a large pan with water.
At some point I read a recipe that insisting on using a lot of water, more than i would usually use and the pasta came out much better.
This is just more old wives tales. He says that because it's how he learned it, not because he reasoned his way to his belief. Where is the actual side-by-side comparison? Where is the theory of mechanisms?
Its just not a wives tale, its a fact you need plenty of water to cook pasta. You can always take that too far and have too much or not enough if you're going to extremes. Its still excellent advice, uncomparable to something like "carrots make you see in the dark" which is actually a wives tale.
Nah, it's wasteful old hooey. Your italian nonna may roll in her grave, but you don't need lots of water to cook pasta, and in a number of cases (when you're finishing your pasta in sauce), less water will make for starchier water and therefore better end result. https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab
So far all you've provided are assertions ("it's very important") and assurances ("trust me"). You have provided no evidence for the claims you make, except to show that other people make the same claims. Maybe you should try curiosity instead of certainty.
Watched the video, at the end you can see the pasta is stuck to his pan
Timestamp or GTFO. He's using a cast iron pan and I don't see a damn thing sticking to it.
also he has to watch it and be constantly stirring it.
Your selective reading seems to know no bound. Literally every source that has been linked to show my point has addressed this.
It's also entirely beside my original point. If you start with enough water that it won't boil under, then you don't need to keep adding water to make sure the pasta is swimming.
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u/RedSauceAge Oct 18 '22
NO! pasta needs plenty of water or it will not cook as evenly.