In cooking, al dente ( /ælˈdɛnteɪ/, Italian: [al ˈdɛnte]; lit. 'to the tooth' ^[1]) describes pasta or rice that is cooked to be firm to the bite. ^{[2] [3] [4]} The term also extends to firmly-cooked vegetables. ^[5]

In contemporary Italian cooking, the term identifies the ideal consistency for pasta and involves a brief cooking time. ^{[6] [7]} Molto al dente is the Italian term for slightly undercooked pasta. ^{[2] [8]} Undercooking pasta is used in the first round of cooking when a pasta dish is going to be cooked twice.

According to the American Diabetes Association, pasta that is cooked al dente has a lower glycemic index than pasta that is cooked soft. ^[9] When cooking commercial pasta, the al dente phase occurs right before the white of the pasta center disappears. ^[4]

See also

Al dente at the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject The dictionary definition of al dente at Wiktionary

• Culinary arts
• Food science
• Molecular gastronomy
• Q texture

References