The old guy at the Austin diner taught me to salt pasta water like the sea, and my sauce finally tastes right
Last Tuesday at my spot on 6th Street, a retired chef who used to run a place in New Orleans grabbed my arm and said my pasta water was flat. He dumped in a small handful of kosher salt and told me to taste it until it was briny like the Gulf, and the noodles came out seasoned from the inside for the first time. Do you all salt by feel or actually measure it out?