Aiming for Underdone

• Adding cooked noodles to a stir-fry, sauce or soup warms the noodles and cooks them further, especially for thin varieties such as angel hair or rice vermicelli. Adjust your noodle cooking or soaking time and aim for tender, but firm, so the noodles don’t cook all the way through. For example, dried Chinese egg noodles take about five minutes to cook; when pre-cooking, remove the pot from the heat after about four minutes of cooking time. Some varieties of Asian noodles can do best without cooking in advance. Add fresh Chinese egg noodles to hot soups without cooking first; use thin varieties of Asian noodles such as bean threads and thin rice sticks that cook by soaking in hot water without pre-cooking.

Saving Without Sticking

• Drain your pot of boiled noodles into a colander or sieve and rinse with cold water to stop the noodles from cooking further. For soup recipes, keep the noodles in a bowl of cool water while you prepare the rest of your ingredients. Adding soy sauce or other seasonings to your water enhances the flavor of the noodles. Alternatively, choose flavored oil such as sesame or olive that matches the cuisine of the dish you are serving; drizzle the oil over your noodles and lightly toss with a fork. Oil is the preferred method when pre-cooking pasta noodles made without egg or rice, because these noodles tend to breakdown when stored in a water bath.

Adding to a Hot Dish

• Consider the temperature of both the noodles and the food when adding pre-cooked noodles to a hot dish. For soaked and Asian-style noodles, bring the soup or sauce to a boil first before adding the pre-cooked noodles, because cold noodles cool down a hot dish pretty quick. When using pre-cooked noodles straight from the refrigerator, warm them up first by placing your noodles in a sieve and plunging them in hot water for 40 to 60 seconds. Alternatively, microwave individual servings of cooked noodles just until warm, about 45 seconds.

Cold Dish Exceptions

• Suggestions for pre-cooking noodles for use in a cold pasta salad vary slightly from the recommended techniques when making hot noodle dishes. Instead of cooking the pasta slightly underdone, cook the noodles as directed on the package, aiming for just a hair past al dente. Chilled noodles have a firmer texture than warm ones. Be generous when salting your cooking water -- using as much as 1 tablespoon per quart of water -- because cold noodles benefit from the added flavor. Lastly, toss your noodles with the dressing you plan to serve with the dish while the noodles are still warm. This helps keep the noodles from sticking and enhances their flavor.