I wasted a lot of salt and time a long time ago too.
Hell I just dump them straight in the pot anyhow unless they are just really nasty, after all they are going into boiling water, that right there washes the mud off. It ends up as sediment in the bottom of the pot anyhow.
My brother in law is a NOLA native, him and his crew straightened me out and got me doing them the right way several years ago.