My buddy Marcus did the exact same thing with his smoker, waking up at 4am to babysit a brisket because some guy on YouTube said that was the only way. His uncle from Sonora watched him do it one time and just laughed, said they cook them hot and fast down there all day long and nobody complains. Marcus tried it once and now he sleeps in on Saturdays. The "throwing away the best part" line from Rosa is real too, all that soaking water has flavor in it and people just pour it down the drain. Makes you wonder how many other kitchen rules are just stuff somebody's grandma did one way and it turned into law. I bet half the stuff we do out of habit would fall apart the second you asked why.

My Fluke 87 caught a bad neutral on a 480 panel back in 2019, the voltage was reading 277 on one leg when it should've been 120. That meter cost me around $400 but it kept me from getting lit up. The cheap meters just don't pick up those weird readings the same way. Sometimes you gotta spend the money to save your skin.