While whipping a piece of spaghetti at the wall might be a great way to blow off some steam, it isn’t the smartest way to find out if the pasta is al dente. “That’s a good way to know that your pasta is totally overdone,” says Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything: Bittman Takes on America's Chefs, www.amazon.com. Instead, remove a piece from the water and taste it. (Check it every 30 seconds after the minimum suggested time is up.) Pasta should look slightly swollen with water and feel tender in your mouth, yet have a little bite to it. For thick pastas, such as rigatoni, you can cut a piece in half to check the center. The color should be uniform throughout; if there’s a white spot or ring in the middle, it needs to boil longer. Also, your water should never get too cloudy — that means it’s on the verge of going mushy. When you’re adding pasta to another dish or dressing it with sauce, you can err on the undercooked side. The pasta will continue to cook after you turn off the heat (so repeat overcooking offenders should turn off the stove early).