Just realized my old chef was wrong about never salting pasta water early

Back when I worked the line at a spot in Portland, my head chef swore up and down that adding salt at the start makes the water boil slower, so we always dumped it in right before the pasta. Last month I tried his way vs adding it as soon as the pot hit the burner, and the water came up to a rolling boil in about the same time either way, no real difference. Was I just trained by a guy who picked up a kitchen myth somewhere, or does anyone else have a reason for waiting on the salt?

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zara4475d ago

I was the same way for years, always waited to salt because that's just what I was taught. Then I read that salt actually raises the boiling point, not lowers it, so the whole myth is backwards anyway. Now I just dump it in whenever and my pasta tastes the same or better.

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