Thread: Shave prep and pasta.

Digging into a bit of pasta for dinner
it dawned on me that pasta and whiskers
have a lot in common.

Many of the tricks used for cooking pasta seem
to map to a good shave prep.

First hot water softens whiskers and
pasta. It is correctly softened at the
point that the cooking water almost reaches
the center. To much time and the
pasta gets too mushy, too much time
and the skin gets fragile and mushy.

Thick pasta takes longer to cook correctly
than thin pasta.

Lather like sauce all you need is a little
bit. Lather like sauce needs to be tossed
on the pasta to add flavor color and keep
it from getting dry and gummy. There is
also nothing wrong with a big ladle of sauce
across the top of the serving platter. Partly
for show and partly to "do it right".

Oil... never add oil to the boiling water and
drop the pasta through it. The oil keeps
the water from doing its magic. Like
face lathering dressing the pasta can take
extra water to keep the sauce from getting
too tight as the pasta soaks up its last
bit of water (and flavor) from the sauce and
sets the sauce.

Finishing oil... after dressing the pasta a drizzle
of fine olive oil can add flavor and mouth feel.
This is in part what the uberlater folk do ... since
many have soaked their face and whiskers
in the shower this works well. Uberlather
is like mayonnaise on a pasta salad dressing.
For my shave Mitchell's Wool Fat and some of
the hyper fated shave soaps do this well.

Pesto, cream and cheese sauces are like pre-shave
oils in my mind. Some days smooth and luscious,
other days sickie and gummy, a lot depends on
the cook and the pasta.

And there is the issue of melted cheese on
the plate. That gummy stuff that has to be
scraped off is like the gummy feel that bad
shave prep gives me. It keeps the razor
from gliding. A good shave lather is like
a good pasta sauce. It wants to be wiped
up with a light wipe (of a good crusty bread
or a light swipe of the razor).

happy shaving
happy eating....

How was the pasta though? I'm hungry now...

How do you tell when your whiskers are "al dente"?

Originally Posted by ace

How do you tell when your whiskers are "al dente"?

Use cold water.

It's not blood, it's bolognese?

And I thought this was going to be some kinky post. Maybe you spread pasta sauce and parmigiana on you beard before shaving and then you and the missus...ahem...

I like the gummy cheese..

Originally Posted by ace

How do you tell when your whiskers are "al dente"?

Shave with a singing razor. You can hear and feel the difference.

Try it.
shave dry.
wipe on lather and shave no soak no shower.
face lather and let it soak...

Originally Posted by tekbow

How was the pasta though? I'm hungry now...

Not too bad. My SO is getting good at it.
Darn good.

The secret is good tomatoes and low temp.
If the market has those tennis ball tomatoes that do not
smell like dinner and you do not have garden
fresh go for the canned tomatoes. Even
the US brands of canned are better than Mega
market tennis balls. If you drive behind tomato
trucks (outside of Sacramento CA for example) there
are two types: ripe and ready for the canery
or yellow green tennis balls that go to the mega
markets. Another secret is grated carrot.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

And I thought this was going to be some kinky post. Maybe you spread pasta sauce and parmigiana on you beard before shaving and then you and the missus...ahem...

No, not a chance....