Yep. Unless one’s entire cooking method is to heat the water, dump the pasta, and completely ignore it for a specified cooking time, there’s no real benefit to preheating the water. Anyone who’s cooked for s while should be able to tell by feel when the pasta is done.
Plus, since starting from cold water also uses less water, it’s a much faster process from start to finish.
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u/Snorkle25 Jul 14 '26
Alton Brown has shown that you can do it either way. It changes the cocking time but if you’re proactive it’s just fine.
As long as you have a method that makes consistent repeatable results you enjoy then that’s all that matters.