should you rinse pasta after cooking for pasta salad
1 Pasta salad: When being used for a cold salad, pasta should always be rinsed after cooking. 2  This serves two purposes. 3  First, it stops the cooking process immediately. This serves two purposes. 2  First, it stops the cooking process immediately. 3  Rinsing in cold water brings the temperature of the pasta down, which you don't want when eating it hot, but is OK in this instance since the pasta will be served cold. 4  It also keeps the pasta loose for the salad.