A Few Tips For Making Prime Pasta

October is not only National Popcorn Month, it’s National Pasta Month. And while neither is particularly difficult to prepare, it appears Americans need a little help using their noodles.

According to a National Pasta Association survey, 54 percent of people rinse their pasta once it’s cooked — a definite no-no. Rinsing pasta washes away its light starch coating, which helps sauce stick, and lowers its temperature.

On the other hand, 58 percent follow package directions when cooking pasta, 74 percent use a 4- to 6-quart pot for a pound, 68 percent set the burner at medium-high to high and 71 percent leave the pot uncovered.

Those are all correct answers. Pasta shapes vary in thickness and size between manufacturers, pasta needs plenty of water while cooking, keeping water at a full boil prevents pasta from getting sticky and covering the pot causes boil-overs.

To tell whether pasta is done, cut or bite into it. Italians prefer pasta “al dente,” or slightly chewy, with a small white dot of uncooked core at the center; if you like yours tender, make sure all the white is gone.

For more information, visit www.ilovepasta.org.

Supper for singers

If you’d rather leave the pasta cooking to someone else — and support a good cause in the process — check out tonight’s 15th annual “Papa Antonucci’s Spaghetti Feed” at Ferris High School.

The event runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the school cafeteria, with all-you-can-eat spaghetti, tossed salad and French bread for $3.50 per person. Proceeds benefit the school’s seven choral groups, some of which will perform during the dinner.

Fire and water

A $3,000 grand prize is the bait in the National Fisheries Institute’s Seafood Recipe Contest, for original recipes using any type of seafood.

Send recipes on a regular-sized sheet of white paper, with name, address and daytime and evening phone numbers, by Nov. 5 to National Fisheries Institute, 1901 N. Ft. Myer Drive, #700, Arlington, VA 22209. For complete rules, or to enter online, visit www.nfi.org.

And Tabasco is offering a $10,000 top prize for the best recipe (including pepper sauce) from a firefighter in its “National Cook & Ladder Competition.” Deadline is Nov. 1; for an entry form, call (212) 679-6600.

Not Vince Gill?

Speaking of fish, congratulations to country diva Dolly Parton, who has been named this year’s Celebrity Catfish Lover by The Catfish Institute.

Or maybe that was Dolly Varden, being honored by The Trout Institute.