I ruined more than one pasta dinner before figuring out why my noodles turned into one solid brick. The problem was never the pasta. It was what I did in the first two minutes.

Stir right after it goes in

The moment you drop dry pasta into boiling water, it wants to glue itself to the bottom. Stir it once immediately, then again a minute later. That first stir separates the noodles before the starch has a chance to set. Skipping it means you are already fighting a clump that will not come apart.

Give it room to move

Use a big pot and plenty of water, about four quarts per pound of pasta. Crowded noodles bump into each other and stick. Salt the water after it boils, not before, and do not add oil to the pot. Oil in the water does nothing except coat the pasta so sauce slides right off later.

Rinse only if you must

Rinsing pasta washes off the starch, and that starch is what helps sauce cling. The only time rinsing makes sense is cold pasta salad. If your sauce is ready when the pasta is done, drain it, shake the colander well, and get it into the sauce pan immediately. Reserve a cup of pasta water first. A splash of that starchy water loosens any sauce that gets too thick and helps it stick to the noodles.

If you are not saucing it right away

When dinner is delayed and the pasta has to sit, toss it with a small drizzle of olive oil and spread it on a sheet pan instead of leaving it piled in the colander. It stays separated and reheats in seconds. This is the method I use for meal prep pasta bowls.

• Stir immediately after adding pasta.
• Use a big pot with roomy water.
• Skip oil in the pot, save it for the pan.
• Drain, shake, sauce right away.

That is the whole secret. No clumps, no brick of noodles, and sauce that actually stays on the spaghetti instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl.