Cookaholics Bulletin Board

so says the package of Trader Joe's tortellini. More specifically, it says to boil 15-17 minutes or until al dente, then add 1 cup cold water and drain. Why not just drain the pasta? (Of course I ignored the directions and the sky did not fall.) Just found it curious.

I suspect it's attempting to STOP the cooking process right where it is.
You could drain and then rinse with cold water.
You could just add ice cubes instead of cold water.

Me, I usually pour it into a colander over the sink, rinse with cold water and add a few drops of olive oil and toss to prevent sticking.
Then again I could be all wet.

Tuna- I think you are right about it stopping or at the very least slowing the cooking.

However, please, for the love of everything holy, don't rinse your pasta. Unless you are making pasta salad.

And welcome aboard.

Darcie,

15-17 minutes? Are these the dried mini-tortellini? Those cook in around 11 minutes. Good thing I never followed the instructions. I'd have had soup!

Ah, so it is true . . . I am dripping.
Makes more sense to just toss it in the sauce.

Thanks for the welcome!

I had to laugh, the "don't rinse the pasta" discussion is one I have had several times with my husband. And by "discussion" I mean me shrieking and him ignoring.

Mary

Fuzzy - it takes close to 15 minutes here. I have found that most pasta takes longer than the package indicates in our neck of the woods.