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Is it safe to Reuse Pasta Water?

5K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  pete 
#1 ·
So I make a lot of Pasta and homemade Ramen. When I'm cooking them, I often add some broth and Seasoning to the Boiling water to give the Pasta a little more Zest.

However, that also gets expensive, so what I started to do was reuse the Pasta Water itself; After cooking, the Pasta Water goes into a metal bowl and then the Fridge for 10mins to cool down, then right into the Freeze. When I am making pasta again, I take out out the frozen Pasta water and melt it down, throwing in a tiny bit more spices to "freshen" it up.

Rinse and repeat for 4-5 times till I'm left with a super starchy, seasoned Water I tend to use as a Soup base.

But is this something SAFE to do? Theoretically, as long as I get it into the Freezer and into the Pot quick enough, I keep it out of the Danger zone.
But someone said that might not be the case. Does anyone know?
 
#3 ·
I agree throwing the seasoned stock pasta water would be a waste if it could be reused. I would even go as far as to freeze it in portion sizes. You may also want to get yourself in a position to save some of the chicken parts when buying whole chickens. I freeze the back and wings and wait until I accumulate enough for a good stock.....ChefBillyB
 
#4 ·
If youre worried about bacterial growth, even sitting out a bit, id guess the risk is minimal.
First, your pasta water isnt a good bacterial source to begin with.
Sure, bacteria and molds are everywhere, but stragglers need a very favorable growth medium to make lots of relatives quickly. Which goes to number two...
Like any other biological they need food, and comfort. Slim pickins in what youre doing. We routinely freeze and reuse far more inviting substances to the nasties than pasta water. I'd be more mindful of a degradation of taste, but even that would take a long time to manifest, and youd likely start a fresh batch by then anyway.
 
#8 ·
Since you're bringing the liquid back to a boil, nothing nasty is going to live, regardless. Unless it smells weird when you reheat it, go ahead.

One question, though: aren't you going to get a huge buildup of starch in your water? A lot of starch is good for making sauces and so forth -- this is sort of the pro pasta-chef's secret magic ingredient -- but if you just keep reusing the liquid, at some point you're going to go overboard and your soups are going to become sauces, and your sauces, well, glue.

Or maybe you're not re-using the liquid quite that much?
 
#11 ·
There are things I do at home that I wouldn't do in a restaurant type situation.

For example if I make a braised meat dish such as boeuf bourguignon, I'll cook it the day of, we eat it for dinner, then depending on the season:
1) Summer: it goes in the fridge overnight.
2) Mid season: it stays on the stovetop overnight.
3) Winter: it goes on the balcony (outside) overnight.

Next evening I reheat, I may add a bit of water to thin down the braising liquid.

Sometimes I keep it overnight again for a 3rd dinner.

Then if I have some leftover braising liquid (which, granted, is pretty rare), I'll freeze it. That gives me a little bit of a flavor bomb to drop into the braising liquid of the next boeuf bourguignon I cook.
 
#12 ·
There are things I do at home that I wouldn't do in a restaurant type situation.

For example if I make a braised meat dish such as boeuf bourguignon, I'll cook it the day of, we eat it for dinner, then depending on the season:
1) Summer: it goes in the fridge overnight.
2) Mid season: it stays on the stovetop overnight.
3) Winter: it goes on the balcony (outside) overnight.

Next evening I reheat, I may add a bit of water to thin down the braising liquid.

Sometimes I keep it overnight again for a 3rd dinner.

Then if I have some leftover braising liquid (which, granted, is pretty rare), I'll freeze it. That gives me a little bit of a flavor bomb to drop into the braising liquid of the next boeuf bourguignon I cook.
There are lots of things I do at home that I would never do in a restaurant or food service setting!!!!!!
 
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