Al dente

In cooking, al dente /ælˈdɛnteɪ/ (Italian pronunciation: [al ˈdɛnte]) describes pasta and vegetables, rice, or beans that are cooked to be firm to the bite. The etymology is Italian "to the tooth".

In contemporary Italian cooking, the term identifies the ideal consistency for pasta and involves a brief cooking time. Molto al dente is the culinary term for slightly undercooked pasta. Undercooking pasta is used in the first round of cooking when a pasta dish is going to be cooked twice. The culinary term "al forno" is used for pasta dishes that are cooked twice.