Definition of al dente in English:
al dente
adverb & adjective al ˈdɛnteɪ-ti
(of food, typically pasta) cooked so as to be still firm when bitten.
Example sentencesExamples
- Al dente is a fancy term for pasta that's fully cooked, but not overly soft.
- In cooking, the adjective al dente describes pasta and (less commonly) rice that has been cooked so as to be firm but not hard.
- When it is ready - taste it to see if it is "al dente" - that is, firm but not hard, chewy but not mushy - strain it into a colander taking care not to burn yourself.
- Al dente: The only way to serve pasta! This is an Italian phrase meaning 'to the tooth'.
- The key to perfect pasta is cooking it al dente or 'to the tooth': not mushy, not crunchy, but deliciously chewy.
Origin
Italian, literally 'to the tooth'.
Rhymes
aplenty, cognoscenti, divertimenti, lisente, plenty, portamenti, sente, twenty, twenty-twenty, venti
Definition of al dente in US English:
al dente
adjective & adverbäl ˈdentā
(of food, typically pasta) cooked so as to be still firm when bitten.
Example sentencesExamples
- When it is ready - taste it to see if it is "al dente" - that is, firm but not hard, chewy but not mushy - strain it into a colander taking care not to burn yourself.
- In cooking, the adjective al dente describes pasta and (less commonly) rice that has been cooked so as to be firm but not hard.
- Al dente: The only way to serve pasta! This is an Italian phrase meaning 'to the tooth'.
- Al dente is a fancy term for pasta that's fully cooked, but not overly soft.
- The key to perfect pasta is cooking it al dente or 'to the tooth': not mushy, not crunchy, but deliciously chewy.
Origin
Italian, literally ‘to the tooth’.