Pasta starch water

Can I replace starch water from cooking pasta with water with some other form of starch (or any other hydrocolloids)? Is there a good substitute?

The theory is that starch from the pasta is good for emulsifying the sauce, which helps it stick to the noodles. On the one hand, pasta water is convenient since it is pretty much there. However, for home cooking, it seems like the starch water is too diluted anyway.

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Brandon_Byrd_40557

You can always just use less water.

brian_martin2001

What exactly are you talking about? Are you talking about the starch that gets leeched out of the pasta when you boil it, or are you talking about adding starch to water when you boil pasta? If the latter, where did you hear about this method?

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Kenji has an article at Serious Eats that puts the McGee "use less water" method to the test. (And it totally works.) The resulting pasta water is much starchier than it would be if you use the traditional big-pot-o-water method.

julian.lo

In Flour + Water, Thomas McNaughton suggests 4 quarts water, 1/4 c kosher salt, and a handful of semolina flour for home cooks.