A line cook at my old spot in Dallas taught me to salt my pasta water after it boils, not before
I argued with him for a solid two minutes because that's how my culinary school taught it, but he said the salt just sits at the bottom of the pot if you dump it in cold. Tried it his way on a busy Friday and the pasta actually came out more evenly seasoned. Any of you ever switch up a basic step like that and feel weird about it?
Man, I did the same thing with rinsing rice. My grandma always rinsed it until the water ran clear and I swore it didn't matter, so I skipped it for years. Then one night I actually did it her way and the rice came out way less gummy, night and day difference. Same deal with letting meat rest before cutting it, I used to hack right into a steak off the grill like a dummy. The old school cooks usually know what they're talking about because they learned it the hard way on the line, not from a textbook. It does feel weird to admit you were wrong about something that basic, but hey, the food tells you the truth.