It is time to dispel the myths about why you put salt and oil into pasta.
First of all a short story: For many years while making a pork butt in the oven both ends were cut off and the pork butt was then put into the pan and roasted. When asked why, it was because mom used to do it. The reason was not clear but after a bit of research the pan mom used was small and couldn’t handle the length of the pork butt. The moral of the story is… Don’t do thinks just because mom did them.
Mom put salt in the water: So why? This is the only time that spices can be added inside of the pasta. Salt is water soluble and it puts a salt taste into the pasta.
So many of the other reasons that people say as to why they use salt all are secondary or mom’s reasons. The key is to salt the pasta.
Should I put Oil into the water? Yes and No. How’s that for an answer. Oil does not mix with water. It surely does not keep the pasta from sticking together in the pot. There are other reasons for that. (Not stirring while putting the pasta into the water or not stirring enough while the pasta is cooking etc.)
But should you put oil into the water. I use oil when I am cooking homemade pasta. There is a lot of starch from the flour and it tends to boil over. There are three ways that can keep the pot from boiling over during cooking. 1.) Bring the pot to a fill boil and reduce the heat a small amount. 2.) Put a wooden spoon across the top of the pan to break the bubbles as they come up during cooking and 3.) Pour a small amount of oil into the pot. This changes the surface tension of the water and reduces the amount of bubbles formed from the starch. I don’t use the oil in most dried pastas.
I hope that this helps and clears up some of the myths.
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