I cooked half a cup of each pasta according to its package instructions.
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As a gluten-eater, I had no preconceived notions about what I may or may not like here, so the need to conduct a blind test seemed unnecessary. I looked for shortcut rotini or similar, or penne if something resembling spirals wasn’t available.
I cooked half a cup of each pasta according to its package instructions, in a measured amount of water with a measured amount of salt. When given a range of minutes, I always went with the lesser value for (presumably) the most al dente outcome. Where this resulted in an undercooked texture, I counted that as a minor fault, given that typical cooks need to rely on package instructions.
Trader Joe’s dense red lentil was one of the better legume-based pastas I tried.
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I was cooking with a generous amount of water and at a rolling boil at all times, so if it were undercooked for me, it would be really undercooked for anyone shortcutting this procedure. I tested like with like as much as possible: All of the chickpea pastas were cooked and tasted in succession, for example.
I tasted everything while it was freshly cooked, and again after it cooled, scoring it for flavor and, perhaps more importantly, texture. Any flavor appreciably different from conventional pasta will likely be masked by sauce or dressing. Sauce will soften the pasta further, but can’t correct for graininess, so I was looking for a genuinely al dente bite that would be hard to distinguish from regular pasta. I took other factors, such as how quickly it cooked or packaging, into consideration only as a tie breaker.