From tomato sauce to scrambled eggs: top chefs share their insider tips for simple dishes

They're in every area of ​​life: the things that Americans call "no-brainers" - things you don't have to worry about for long.

Not shortening an argument with your significant other by saying: "Do you know what your problem has always been?" - you don't have to think too much about it.

And yet there is also the category of the

"no-brainers" - which are much more complex than you first think.

When cooking, for example: pasta.

Throw the dried pasta into bubbling water, drain ten minutes later and serve – what could go wrong?!

pasta

However, if you talk to kitchen professionals, everyone agrees: A lot of mistakes happen here - and the worst right at the beginning: "Too little salt in the pasta water is the most terrible thing you can do!" says two-star chef Alexander Herrmann.

He always notices that, even with restaurateurs: "If the salt isn't right, then the whole pasta dish is in the pants." And how much salt can it be?

"The water should taste like what you put in your mouth when you swim in the sea, meaning sea water!" Every pot is different in size, and nobody measures the water they cook for pasta before putting it in the pot.

"Cooking is a feeling," emphasizes the "The Taste" juror and top chef from Wirsberg in Bavaria.

The rule of thumb is: Better to over-season than to be too economical.

Because once the noodle is lying limp on the plate,

The next big pasta mistake: "quench the pasta with water or add oil to the cooking water so that they don't stick - what nonsense!" warns top chef and pastry chef Marco D'Andrea from the hotel "The Fontenay" in Hamburg.

Oil in the water causes a film of fat to form around the noodles;

no matter which sauce comes into play, it will no longer find its way into the pasta.

Noodles also lose their crucial absorbency when they are chilled.

Speaking of which: D'Andrea, whose father is from Italy, has another tip: "The rougher the pasta is, the better it is!"

There are many types of pasta with durum wheat semolina made in a bronze mold on the market;

these are characterized by a particularly high absorbency.

Anyone who has already done so much right will perfectly complete the sauce with this tip from top chef and “The Taste” juror Alexander Kumptner from Vienna: “I always take a cup of pasta water from the pot and use it for the sauce. The highlight: Noodles release starch into the cooking water when they are cooked.

The cloudy salt water has a binding effect.

Kumptner makes it clear for the classic Aglio e Olio: "If I have my garlic starter and add a bit of the cooking water and stir it in, then I get the emulsion I want, and it's not just oil around the pasta." This also applies to tomato sauce or others The pasta water trick makes sense for pasta variants;

he creates the perfect connection between pasta and sauce.

If you want to top it off: