The perfect spaghetti starts with a perfectly cooked noodle. And by that, we mean totally cooked but firm noodles, not soggy or mushy.
First thing that you must do is to carefully measure the amount of water you use when boiling the spaghetti. In my case, the more water, the better. Remember that you must totally submerge the noodles in water. Also, make sure to use a large pot to boil the water. You don’t want an overly crowded pot when stirring the spaghetti as you cook.
Wait until the water is boiling briskly before dropping the spaghetti. Don’t be tempted to do a short cut and put the noodle before the water is hot enough. What you’ll get is soggy spaghetti because of sitting too long in the water. So be patient and wait until you have really hot water.
Some people suggest putting one table spoon of cooking oil into the water to prevent the spaghetti from sticking to each other. You can do that too if the noodles you bought are prone to sticking. What is important is to stir the noodles within the first 2 minutes after you dropped them in the water because that’s when they are more likely to stick.
Pinch the noodle with your fingers to check if it is cooked enough. I make sure to do this before the cooking time stated on the package just to play it safe. You don’t have to follow exactly the recommended cooking time, adjust it according to your preference.