Pasta is one dish we just can't get enough of - but while it may be easy enough to cook, it's surprisingly difficult to master. Now one Italian chef has revealed exactly how long we really should be cooking our pasta for - and there's a secret to getting it perfectly al dente.

Mario Batali, a specialist in Italian cuisine from New York, says you need to cook pasta for a minute less than the packet says if you want your dish to have the perfect texture. He then revealed in an interview with MyDomaine that the secret to mastering pasta is to drain it and then add the pasta to your sauce for about 40 seconds.