If you're using the broiler just to add more color and flavor to the casserole, cook the noodles just past al dente. In my opinion, if your recipe calls for longer baking time (say ten minutes or more), go with conventional wisdom and cook the noodles only partway, perhaps a minute or two before they reach al dente. It's important to note that the Cook's Illustrated recipe only has you bake your mac and cheese for a few minutes under the broiler, to seal in flavor and get the top brown and crunchy. Boiled until just past al dente, however, the noodles retain structure to stand up to the heat of the sauce for a few minutes without turning mushy, and the cheese can fill every nook and cranny."
If cooked until very tender, the noodles won't absorb the sauce. Image via Sweet Hersey LivingĬook's Illustrated explains it thusly: "If cooked less than al dente, the pasta releases starch into the sauce and makes it gritty. Al dente pasta should have the faintest speck of white in the center when you bite into it.
0 kommentar(er)
