One pound dried spaghetti noodles, preferably from Italy

A handful of salt

Your choice of sauce (about 2 cups worth)

1.  When the water comes to a boil, add a big handful of salt.  Never add oil or break the pasta in half.

2.  Work the spaghetti into the water until it starts to get soft.  Using a pasta spoon, keep lifting and separating.

3.  Never walk away from a pot of boiling pasta.  It must be babied all the way through.

4.  After about 5 minutes, every minute or so, do a pasta check by tasting one noodle.

5.  Thirty seconds before you think they're perfect, remove from heat and drain, reserving about a cup of the pasta water.

6.  Never rinse the pasta unless you're making a pasta salad.

7.  Put drained pasta back into the pot and return it to the stove.  Over very low heat, add about a cups worth of sauce and toss.  Add pasta water, a little at a time - enough to moisten the noodles, but not too soupy (you may not use it all).

8.  Add remaining sauce, but never oversauce.  In Italy, the sauce is merely a flavoring for the star of the show - the noodles.