Ugh, I had this discussion literally dozens of times. And I'm a chemist - properly trained with a PhD and all - but people these days really think they know better than actual experts. I liked your video, though. I especially liked that you simply did the experiment instead of just relying on written sources. Well done.

The way it goes in my family is that my mother under salts the water, and when she leaves, I sneak in and add salt before she comes back to put in the pasta. We've had whole arguments about the fact that she puts too little salt, but the only reason she wins is because, "The pasta always comes out perfect when I put that much salt." I have officially played myself.

My argument for "salt early" is "Bryan would forget his head if it weren't securely bolted on".

6:56 Kitchen Safety tip! Be *EXTREMELY* cautious when heating *distilled* water in a glass container in the microwave. Distilled water is almost completely free from the micro-impurities that allow bubbles to form and disperse, combined with the glass containers lack of spaces to do the same. Boiling distilled water does not bubble, so disturbing it can cause it to immediately shed all the kinetic tension built up in a splash that can cause severe burns, especially to the hands or face of anyone taking the glass out of the microwave.

"It's TOO heterogeneous." Never thought I'd hear Ragusea say those words...

I never knew there was some big debate over this topic. I’ve always thought everyone seasoned their pasta water with sand and never really thought to question it.

I was cooking with an Italian grandmother years ago and she told me that it no longer mattered when you add the salt...much of the lore around adding it after the water reached a boil was related to the materials the old pots were made out of that would become pitted if the 'sale grosso' (large salt used by Italians for pasta water) sat on the bottom too long.

That video is a master class in how to make a KZfaq video: 1) Right to the subject, no intro, no telling us who you are, no pointless talking about what you are going to show us in the video -- gets to the point immediately. Totally respects the viewer's time. 2) Excellent balance between shots of Adam and shots of the subject matter (stuff being cooked). The rate of cuts is just right. And few (any?) jump-cuts to pull-up dialogue. The few that are in there are made less jarring by moving in on Adam, and only when reasonable B-roll wasn't available or appropriate. 3) Great video and audio quality. Not overly staged backdrops, no colored lights, but good use of short depth of field. Nice soft focus on the background of a kitchen, making the scene feel comfortable and have our attention focused on the host. 4) Perfectly executed transition in and out of the sponsored content... seamless. Sponsored content is interesting, even for someone who isn't into coffee (like me). 5) Quick wrap-up at the end with no lingering on links to other videos. No begging for subscribers or clicking of "like" or clicking o the bell. Part of the reason I gave it a thumbs-up was *because* you didn't bother me asking for that. I suspect the percentage of view time for this video is very high, given that there is no place where most viewers would feel like dropping out. 6) Quality content. Covered a basic cooking question with science, all completely understandable. Kenji López-Alt would approve. AND entertaining. Enough self-deprecation (confessed being wrong about a previous video on how much salt to use), enough of not-too-confident (does this taste right because that's what you were brought up with?... maybe, but seems good to you), and this all lends itself to being legit. I can believe you.

I didn’t even know this was a debate, I just threw the salt in whenever was convenient like my family usually does.

Chemistry teacher chiming in. Roughly 50g of salt would raise the boiling point of 1L of water by 1 degree C. The formula is: Tb = Kb * m * i Tb is change in boiling point Kb is a constant for water, which is .512 C/molal m is the molality of your water (which is the mol solute/kg solvent) i is the number of ions that the solute will break into in the water, NaCl becomes Na+ and Cl-, so 2. To get the roundest numbers we can use 1 mol (58g) of NaCl and 1L (1kg) of water you'd get Tb = 0.512 * 1 * 2, which gives you a Tb of 1.024 degrees celcius. Fudge it to 50 for simplicity and you've still got way too much salt in your water.

The tip for salting pasta water I got from an Italian Nonna / grandma was "the water should taste like a slightly oversalted soup". Not as salty as sea water, but definitely saltier than what you'd normaly want to eat. So how salty is that? Well that depends on your own personal preference. Like in anything in cooking it is personal. Period.

This video is amazing. No annoying music, no spoilers first 30 sec, straight to the point, no repeating, no spamming, no screaming. True gem.

adam, being at the bottom of your boiling pot was incredibly terrifying

From my Italian heritage, what I was told is that only fresh pasta should be put into water "as salty as the sea" because it cooks so quickly. Dry pasta takes much more time and therefore absorbs all too much of the saltwater

Great video. As a chemical engineer and avid home cook, I checked out most of of these myths years ago in reference handbooks. You got everything correct. Demos adding salt to boiling water until saturated and adding sand are brilliant.

I heard that “salty as the sea” made sense for fresh pasta, as it takes less time to cook than dried pasta and so it needs more salt to be properly seasoned by the time the pasta is al dente

"I don't care what a scientist tells me..." is where that conversation would have ended for me. Props to you for staying with it :)

"It has been scientifically proven that salting your water after you boil the pasta reduces your sodium intake, thus lowering the risk of heart disease and failure. Long live The Empire!" - Adam off camera, probably

"eating pasta that was boiled in salty water, and that's just what I'm used to?" I would agree that it is what you are used to. As a Korean American, I grew up eating unsalted pasta and rice.(although Korean short grain rice actually has flavor unlike the long grain rice commonly used in western cultures, which is pretty tasteless. Korean rice has more flavor than plain pasta also) I never had salted pasta until I ate at an Italian restaurant, and did not understand the difference until later in life. Now that I know the difference, I do salt my pasta water, but probably less salt than usual.

I absolutely love the science of food. You have no idea how much I appreciate your videos. I honestly believe that you could make anything interesting with your video techniques and excellent research. Please keep doing what you do. Thanks for feeding my brain!

"As long as you don't put way too much salt." Preach. I made Spaghetti Al Burro many many times at home and chefs I watched always tell me to salt the water like the ocean. In the end, they came out tasting like straight up salt since the cheese was already salty. Just my advice: Don't take "As salty as the sea" as a good cooking technique if you're already gonna put a salty ingredient in your pasta.

I had one of the 'salt later' guys argue that the salt grains were going to corrode the bottom of my stainless steel pan, until they dissolve. 3:51 is the solution you've perfected that I still need to work on.

I just want to say I love you. I found you through your cast iron video as I was looking for sources on proper seasoning and you've been knocking down all the questions I had while cooking my entire life since.

I never added salt to pasta water, because I just didn't want to have a lot of salt in my diet, so I was used to not salt boiled pasta. Then I read that the salt was necessary to make the sauce stick to the pasta - the salt kind of roughened up the surface of the pasta, so I started adding salt. But I found it too salty to my taste so I added less and less, until I stopped altogether. Salt made no significant difference to the sauces sticking to the pasta if any. Really enjoyng these vids, which I've just discovered.

I'm genuinely impressed by how much scientific research, evidence and preparation Adam puts in his videos

I'm sure others have pointed this out, but as i hear it the "salty like the sea" is really just for fresh pasta, since it cooks so must faster the higher concentration is needed to season it properly

I didn't even know there was a debate around when you add the salt! I saw the title and thought, "Is Adam about to tell me I should salt after adding the pasta?"... Interesting to see actually how little effect salt has on the properties of water vis-à-vis boiling. I really enjoy your scientific-yet-sensible approach to these topics.

And yeah, I agree that "salty as the sea" is a bad rule of thumb. I keep hearing it repeated by KZfaq chefs -- the Bon Appetit chefs notoriously repeat it all the time -- but any time I tried boiling pasta in what is essentially seawater, the end result has always been _too salty._ I finally settled on just dropping a pinch of salt, or sometimes not even if I'm making carbonara. I trust the bacon and pecorino to bring all the saltiness to the dish.

He really used a third of this video to get the internet troll cook off his back Respect

In my family we go for “salty as tears”. I guess my nonna is kind of dramatic.

I grew up with pasta water not being salted, and the moment i tried pasta cooked with salted water i instantly liked it alot more, so i think it is not just what you are used to.

I've come to really enjoy the content you put out. Both this video and your one of your latest are prime examples of why I love your videos. Rich in information, interesting topics. The way your outline your information reminds me of how we teach our guys how to write important emails: BLUF - Bottom Line Up Front. Straight to the point then fill out with details, extra context and whatnot.

I'm literally making pasta right now, the timing could not be better

The whole "boiling harder" thing with salt, kinda sounds like the same reaction that makes the whole coke and mentos thing happens. Really loving your more informatic videos. Same as with the dirt video, you're able to make something that sounds soo mundane, become so incredibly interesting

Absolutely definitive treatment of the subject. Very well done.

I really do enjoy watching your videos. So full of pertinent observations, fun anecdotes, down-to-earth honest opinion, and acquired knowledge. Such a wide variety of subjects too. If I could choose just anyone to invite for dinner, you would definitely be amongst the guests! In the meantime, I'll just keep watching your videos. Bon appétit!

What I read somewhere, and seems to be true in practice for me, is that the “salty as the sea” heuristic works well to salt pasta water because people generally do not remember real seawater as being as salty as it really is. Then, when they salt their pasta water based on that underestimation, they get no where near as salty as the sea, but actually hit right about where they need to for making pasta. TLDR: salt pasta water as salty as you remember sea water being, not how salty it actually is.

FUN LITTLE FACT: That "FOOMP!" or "THUMP!" you hear when you're microwaving stuff is the sound of a phenomenon called "bumping", where a liquid flash-boils all at once in a single, violent event. Bumping is an extremely hazardous phenomenon when you are heating up any kind of a liquid solution, as the pressure spikes so tremendously fast that it can damage or destroy the container. Or.... splatter your lunch all over the guts of your microwave. In chemistry labwork in particular this is commonly why chemists will often add boiling chips to a solution that they have to bring to a boil in order to drive off volatile fractions from the solution. Those boiling chips are loaded with nucleation sites to prevent bumping! (This is especially a problem if you're working with any sulfuric acid based solutions; H2SO4 loves to bump and it is NOT a solvent you want bumping on you in a sealed system of glassware!)

This channel with its blitz kitchen experiments and quality information is really al dente *chef's kiss*

I am LOVING your channel sir!

The advice I absorbed years ago was: everything you cook with should be seasoned according to your own taste or the taste of those you are feeding. Cant go wrong that way. I salt my pasta water as much as it takes to make a water that is pleasingly salty. No more, no less. And, I do it once the water has boiled so that it is easy to taste and adjust.

Hey Adam, how are you finding cooking on the gas stove and are you going to make a video about it?

Quite a thorough evaluation!

thanks for answering the question in the beginning. saves time.

Adam is Italian, therefore the expert. And he's now a Tennessean, my favorite thing

Bruh Adams the only person to hear "as salty as the sea' and literally measure the salinity of the ocean to test it

I've completely understand it after the sand experiment. Thank you.

I love how you give us the science behind cooking. Much appreciated. My ratio is 1 tablespoon to 4 litres of water.

Every time I learn about a new cooking myth, it just makes me realize how much cooks have no education in basic science and just come up with the most random shit trying to explain things in a way that obviously don't make sense.

I'm glad that someone finally says that "salty like the sea" is way too much. Maybe afterwards the pasta will still taste ok. But it can make the sauce completely too salty

The very last remark in the video is a very useful take!

I oft’ microwave water for tea and have learned early on that the temperature can be above boil without producing bubbles. Adding agitation such as a tea bag creates a relatively unwelcome affect if you are currently holding onto the mug. You can also lower water to below freezing without it becoming ice and then trigger it to do so with agitation.

this guy mastered his segments to sponsors, its on point.

I've been travelling the globe discovering why we salt water and when to do it. Little did I know all I had to do was wait for an Adam Ragusea video.

god more than anything i love your channel because every roommate i ever had has been so damn adamant on schooling me on doing things wrong, i have been purposefully teaching myself to cook since day one of moving out to move over some food-related trauma so their confusing criticisms always felt hurtful somehow. and not only do all your videos validate me for not caring, i also learn that they didn't even agrue their points for reasons most people carry the whole salt boil thing was argued that "it boils LESS HARDER" which is both the opposite of the stuff you deal with but also "WHY WOULD YOU WANT THAT??" {ofc this also applies to like 50/50 salt/water mixures only not a pinch}

I never really enjoyed cooking until I came across your chanel. It's thanks to you I cook a little better now and best of all I actually kinda enjoy it since you made it a fun science.

"Salty as the sea" is probably true for Baltic Sea. It's brackish enough that it's okay to drink in a pinch.

I appreciate that Adam is here to end food debates that I was not even aware existed. 😁

I can remember on some pot I've bought there was information not to salt early, because it puts the pot in a risk of corrosion

Finally a good sponsor that is actually interesting, thanks Adam!

Bubble nucleation is really interesting, in the micro...oh he's on it! It is a Ragusea video so I don't know why I didn't expect him to hit fun little tangents to fully explain a mechanic!

The real pro tip at the end. I've been putting a pinch of salt in my coffee for years. I feel vindicated

awesome video, super informative and dispelled several misconceptions i had. great stuff!

Bless you bro for spreading real knowledge

Have you tried the "seawater"-salinity with fresh pasta? I've been told that makes a difference because fresh pasta cooks that much quicker, it needs saltier water.

I keep forgetting about how in America with the lower wattage plug outlets it isnt just a case of putting the kettle on and having boiling water pretty much ready

your videos are really good - as a scientist who cooks myself, I really appreciate these!!!

I never even thought about salting pasta water. Thanks for letting me know about this.

I still think that "salty like the sea" is a good metaphor. People have a tendency to under season, and if *literally* "salty like the sea" is the upper end of reasonable, it's still a good recommendation. Plus, saltiness levels that people prefer vary but my experience cooking for others is that if you push the salt a bit, the normal reaction is, "woah! How is this *so* flavorful??" People like their salt, they just don't want to admit it lol

you know after binging a whole lot of Adam's videos I'm actually pretty sold on his views on heterogeneity and seasoning placement

I love this channel! I Just found it yesterday and of course I subscribed.

First time I accidentally superheated some water and had it flash boil on me, it scared the heck out of me. I was heating a shallow pan to make some Ramen as a quick snack in college. The pan sat there on high for about twenty minutes without boiling. I eventually got annoyed and went to take the pan off the stove to see what was wrong and the whole thing instantly came to a roaring boil and threw water and steam everywhere. I was fortunate not to receive any noticeable burns. On the actual topic of the video, I don't even use salt when I make pasta. I thought people did it to prevent the pasta sticking to itself or something, so when I started cooking I used to throw it in as well just because "you're supposed to do that". Forgot to do it one day and noticed no difference whatsoever in pasta texture or flavor; I've never used salt for pasta since.

LOL "I don't care what a scientist tells me." "ok bro, conversation over."

As someone who recently bought a ton of cookware, the general advice they gave is to salt after boiling to avoid pitting in the stainless steel. I wonder just how much that salting before vs after affects the actual cookware, which is a slightly different point to yours about the food tasting relatively the same.

The super-heating is the most important thing I reckon we can take from this video (the salt part is all good, too). My mum warned me never to boil water in the microwave for exactly this reason, due to the risk of water or steam burns. Appreciate the warning.

Love your tutorial, am not a ''Chef'', but cooking is my hobby. Watch almost all your videos. Appreciate your science course.

Adam, you've opened up my perspective on cooking so much during these years. What you provide are clearly not only recipes, but a set of sophisticated tools and a general way of thinking. Art & science in a practically perfect combination. Last time I experienced something like this was during an advanced mathematical analysis course at university-a similarly life-changing event. I've started to feel a form of humble pride to have this knowledge and mindset you've been teaching me and us, your audience, in general. Thanks for putting so much effort in sharing your passion with the world, as I'm certain it makes the place a little better.

When it comes to salting pasta water, i always just added it whenever i remembered to add it or when the pasta goes in. Haven't noticed a difference in the finished product

One thing that I would take into consideration when looking at the "salty as the sea" saying, is the salinity in the Mediterranean as opposed to the average, I'm sure Italians however many years ago didn't know the average salinity of the ocean.

I know the phrase as 'salty as the Mediterranean'. Given the origin of pasta, it always seemed fairly logical to me. I was under the impression (though have never actually looked into it) that this is because in the olden times, coastal Italians would simply scoop up some Med water and cook their pasta in it.

Funny, I was just thinking about this question today :) When I grew up, people always told me the "only put it in after boiling" - Version. While we are on the subject of saving time when boiling pasta water: Heating the water in a electric cettle before transferring it to the pot is the fastest and easiest way for me. Sometimes I´m even heating a little amount of water in the pot (to get it to temperature in time, the water is only there to avoid getting the pot TO hot) while I´m heating water in the kettle. Gives me a rolling boil even on larger amounts of water in usually about 5 minutes.

Your cooking makes me really happy. Just looking at it makes me feel better. I'll learn a lot.

Great video, sir!

You have the smoothest transitions into talking about your sponsors. Like, they're so smooth that they don't even annoy me haha

One thing I appreciate about you Adam is you always do a good job of asking the right questions after you've stated an opinion or made an assertion.

I genuinely didn’t know how complicated people make putting salt in pasta water. Amazing.

I found this very interesting. I had always assumed that the reason for adding salt to boiling water was to increase the temperature. You have knocked that misconception on the head! I am aware that some people boil vegetables without salt to reduce their salt intake. It seems to apply to pasta and rice as well. Well presented and well argued. Nice one.

One variable that this experiment doesn't control for but that is worth considering is altitude. I used to not care when I introduced the salt when I lived at a normal altitude but when I moved to Denver, if I added it at the beginning, the salt making the water come to a boil faster altered the cooking time. The pasta wasn't done when it should have been. In the Denver Metro area, water will boil at 94C, below the temperature you held at to get a different texture, so anything that might exacerbate the issue and give the illusion of being ready to cook in advance was a detriment. I ended up letting the water come to a rolling boil, adding the salt, and then letting it return to a boil after the water calmed down to get consistently good results. Now I live back in a state with a sane elevation and I can salt whenever I want again, thank goodness!

Hey Adam, just wanted to say that I love your content and my family always love your recopies.

When he said "it doesn't matter when you salt the water" I first thought he means it doesn't matter even if you throw it in 10s before you take the pasta out, I was very confused

As soon as I saw the handful of sand I was like "probably just introducing more nucleation points or something" then you said it and for the first time in the last several years I felt mildly proud of myself.

You are marvelously practical cook, Adam. I especially like it when your advice does not agree with that of other practical youtuber cooks (the names of whom I cannot recall right now, but I think you did cross-over videos with them - one is a Russian-sounding lady somewhere in New England, and another a French guy doing videos in English - he has a more scientific approach) - then one learns the most. Edit: the latter is Alex, and the former... ha! Helen Rennie! I spent half an hour, but I found them both.

I'm from a family that never salts their water for pasta, and to me it always seemed absurd (In that, its just not my normal and seemed so strange and foreign to me) to disolve it in the cooking water. We add salt to the sauce or butter or whatever else you're putting on it. So yeah Adam you do you and we'll do we. Its a great part of humanity that we all have these little things that we don't even notice until someone brings it up. its so fascinating how even little experiences can change your life.

The "salt after it comes to a boil" camp sometimes argues that even something as indestructible as stainless steel gets damaged by prolonged exposure to saltwater. So I suppose that if you're going to use the same pot for boiling pasta daily for 120 years, it might make a difference.

a note on superheating; something about boxed pastaroni's microwaved intructions (plus maybe our microwave, 1300 watts if you're curious) would sometimes cause water to superheat even though it wasn't just water in the bowl. this was a few years ago, idk if they've changed their instructions by now though

This is effectively the basis of what happens when Mentos meets coke too. As always well researched and well explained in a dullard friendly format. Way to go Adam. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

A related video topic you could do that would be useful is finding out exactly how much of the salt you put into the water makes it into the pasta and then you ingest, and on the same note, if you're sauting or frying food, how much oil actually sticks to the surface or soaks into the food. If you're trying to count calories and nutrition using a fitness tracker, I have no idea how much salt or olive oil I should be saying I had with the meal since presumbly not all the salt or oil I use in pasta water or in a pan makes it into my mouth.

Can we have a dill pickle video? I've been playing with fermentation these past 2 weeks and the results are like magic!

8:12 fantastic film work coming up with interesting shots Adam.

There are places in Italy (and some island cultures like Majorca, where it's a clever way to save scarce clean drinking water) where they actually do cook pasta and even vegetables in sea water, but one thing I noticed is that the salt levels in the sea around those places is much lower than the open ocean.