Took me 12 years to stop salting my pasta water early

I used to add salt to the pot the second the water hit the stove. Figured it dissolved anyway, what did it matter. Then a line cook I worked with in Austin watched me do it and just goes, 'you're boiling off all the flavor before the pasta even gets in there.' He showed me to wait until the water is at a rolling boil, then salt it, then drop the pasta. Tasted the difference on the same batch of rigatoni that night. I felt like an idiot. Anyone else have a dumb kitchen habit that took way too long to break?

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oscar_ellis19d ago

That "you're boiling off all the flavor" line got me. I read somewhere that salt does evaporate with the steam, but it's more about timing and how it hits the pasta. I always dumped it in cold water too, just out of habit from watching my mom. Switched to salting at a rolling boil a few years back and it does taste cleaner, less salty on the surface if that makes sense. Took me forever to unlearn it though, muscle memory is a real thing.