Pasta Cooked in Pasta Express
Fails the Taste Test
The Pasta Express is a tube-shaped thermal cooker for pasta, with a built-in strainer for easy draining.
The Pasta Express comes in two sizes. A package will contain one cooker, plus a recipe book and a thermal wrap. Dry pasta is placed into the cooking tube, then boiling water is poured in; the strainer lid and top are fitted to the tube. After the appropriate cooking time has elapsed, the top is removed, and the water is poured through the strainer lid.
According to the manufacturer, the Pasta Express can also be used for cooking shrimp, peas, beans, carrots, and other veggies and small items.
Also included is a cookbook that has some tasty-sounding recipes.
All in all, very simple in approach and very easy to use.
But does it cook pasta (or other items) better, quicker, easier than the traditional method of boiling on the stovetop?
Here's how to use the Pasta Express, using spaghetti for this example: Place the dry spaghetti into the Pasta Express tube. Boil a pot of water on the stove. Pour the boiling water into the Pasta Express tube with the spaghetti. Snap on both parts of the lid. Put the heat wrap around the tube so you'll be able to handle it as needed.
Wait 7-10 minutes. Lift off the top part of the lid, leaving the strainer on, and pour out the water. At this point you can either put olive oil or butter and seasonings into the Pasta Express tube and shake to coat the spaghetti inside, or you can just dump the spaghetti out into a serving bowl.
Again, it's an easy process. But think about it: If you have to boil water anyway to cook the spaghetti, why not just cook the spaghetti in the boiling water?
After all, the Pasta Express doesn't save any cooking time. Seven to 10 minutes is about what most pasta take to cook already. And the Pasta Express doesn't save on cleanup. Cooking pasta the traditional way, on the stovetop, results in a pot and a strainer or collander that needs cleaning (two items); cooking pasta in the Pasta Express results in a pot and a Pasta Express tube that needs cleaning (also two items).
Besides - and this is the most important point - the pasta just doesn't cook very well inside the Pasta Express. The pasta that comes out of the Pasta Express tube is invariably (in our experience) soft on the outside and not cooked thoroughly on the inside; it's gummy and sticks together. It's just not as good as pasta cooked the normal way.
Given all that, there's no need for the Pasta Express.
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