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Except in baking, where salt controls yeast development, the amount of salt can easily be increased after cooking, at the table, to the desired taste of the individual diners. Hence the expression "season to taste".

I add salt when cooking if it adds a physical function, for example, when sweating vegetables (salt draws moisture out of cells). For seasoning, I actually don't add any salt and pepper while cooking; I let my eaters add it at the table. Salt thresholds vary by individual; those who eat salt routinely (such as I) have a high threshold, where as those who don't eat a lot of salt have a low threshold. So, what tastes good to me may very well be too salty for someone else. Therefor, I allow people to season at the table to their own liking.

Even when a recipe specifies, I tend to ignore it. I fell like I'm especially sensitive to salt and when there is too much, it can really ruin a meal. Best to wait and taste before adding any salt!

I agree with @Joy Manning. I season as I go, which lets me correct as I go.

Learning to use salt was hard, I admit. As a kid, my grandmother over-salted everything to the point that I thought it was inappropriate for food. My grandmother's mashed potatoes tasted like lumpy pretzels. Combined that with the 'health' issues sodium received and I swore it off for many years.

Like @windattack, I grew very sensitive to it.

When I learned more about it (and thanks be to Alton Brown), I changed my tune. Finding out that something tastes more like itself was part of the reason. I did a test with two halves of a tomato, one salted and one unsalted. The salted one wasn't salty, it was more tomatoey.

So now, boiling water gets salted for potatoes or pasta. Meat gets salted. Veggies get salted. Everything gets a little to fit the newest quantity and tasted. I use kosher during the cooking process and sea salt in my magnum grinder for finishes and at the table.

And the point of it all? Salt it, but never taste the salt, that's too much.

Season at every step of the process and taste everything at every step as well. The reason why it's hard to specify how much salt to use in non-baking recipes is because your ingredients will vary greatly in their natural salt content, so it's next to impossible to determine ahead of time how much you will need until you taste it. Taste season taste season taste season.

growing up my mother never salted anything while cooking. she let us all do that at the table. she was a horrible cook.

the reason you salt things during the cooking, IMO, is so that when you get the finished dish, it has an enhanced flavor throughout. if you just wait and put salt on your food it tastes just like it sounds, bland food with salt ON it.

i agree that it takes practice to know how to properly season something. but its worth it in the end. It seems simple, but seperates spectacular dishes from pedestrian. if something as simple as salt can do that, im going to take the time and master it!

I agree with @iwannacook and @Joy Manning, but to add to @iwannacook's point - if a recipe for say some pasta sauce calls for a can of tomatoes, unless the recipe specifies the brand of canned tomatoes (which may not be available everywhere), it's very difficult to specify something like salt. Add to that different preference levels for salt, as well as different sizes of salt crystals between brands of kosher salt (let alone the difference in amount of salt between 1 tsp of X brand kosher salt and 1 tsp of Y brand table salt), it's really almost impossible to specify.

Tasting is an important part of cooking, whether you're an amateur home cook or am experienced chef, and seasoning your food with salt is probably the most important skill you could ever learn!

I brought this exact point up to a chef I worked with once! Of course he proceeded to look at me as though I was from the moon and I shut my mouth from there on out.

For the untrained, amateur cook, it can be incredibly difficult to gauge "to taste," even throughout prep. I think more advanced recipes (meant for more advanced cooks?) can use this wording, but basic recipes for beginners should be more specific.

And while we're discussing salt, I'm really excited to try all the amazing "new" salt varieties becoming available now. What does one use Jurassic salt for?? Australian pink?

I always appreciate it when cookbooks tell you how much salt and pepper to add. You don't have to follow what they say, but if you're a new cook it will give you an idea about where to start. I am terrified of oversalting and can use a lot of guidance myself, even though I cook all the time and have been trying to get better at tasting every step of the way for a few years now.

Season as I go.

@W: Why should salt crystal size matters? A teaspoon is a teaspoon. Either you're getting fewer crystals that are bigger or more crystals that are smaller. Size matters for other reasons, such as sprinkling salt on top of cookies or determining how long the salt will take to dissolve (smaller crystals would dissolve more quickly).

What MikeSims says reminds me of the salt section in Michael Ruhlman's The Elements of Cooking (which I'm reading now - great book). Ruhlman says that a properly salted pasta water should taste like perfectly seasoned soup.

I've never paid too much attention to salt. I salted pasta water because I was taught that it's what you do but didn't otherwise know why or question it. I'd sprinkle a pinch over what I made, but I wouldn't necessarily consider whether or not the dish really needed it. Now I'm trying to be more conscious about it and ask myself whether the dish needs salt, whether or not it's a dish that I usually add salt to. Also, I've been using fleur de sel more often recently than iodized salt. It tastes better and gives something extra to the dish. For a long time I've been aware that salt enhances the taste of food and tastes especially good with sweet things so I keep that in mind.

Perhaps recipes should say things such as "1 tsp of salt or more, to taste" or "Start with 1 tsp of salt. Add more until it tastes like [insert simile/flavour/dish here]", or maybe cookbooks for beginners should include such notes in the introduction to the book.

Except for baking (or brining), I'd rather just do it my own way. That said, when a recipe specifies, I'll usually follow its lead, assuming I trust the source (Ina Garten is one example - she and I seem to have similar seasoning preferences).

I think the point is that it's all really a matter of taste at heart, so unless there's a chemical reaction at stake, I go with what feels right, and adjust at the end.

One note - if a cookbook does list salt quantities, it's really important to read the introduction or notes to find out what kind of salt they're using. A teaspoon of kosher salt does not equal a teaspoon of iodized salt.

In a forum deidcated to 'serious foodies' I am amazed that so many people dont realize that recipes are not blueprints... they're guidlines. You probably should be reading Rachel Ray's site if your're too timid to make a judgement call on something as basic as seasoning...

Add salt - taste - ask yourself, "is this better than before?" if yes then add some more - repeat until the answer is 'no' then stop.

deidcated
guidlines
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excell
coorespnding
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@Chefhorn -- A quick glance of those two posts reveals at least 12 misspellings of simple, common words. Perhaps before you criticize others with such smart-ass comments, you should at least how to spell above a 4th grade level.

Now excuz me, my chikon pot pye is redy to eet. Hav a nize daay.

You guys are brutal.
Peace, love and salty.

was there any salt in the venti latte?

In Maine we have an old adage that Lobster should be cooked in water that is as salty as the sea. In fact, when we're down on the beach, the water that fills the pots is indeed from the Atlantic itself. I learned when I moved to Oregon that the same holds true for Crab.
When I lived in Brooklyn way back when, I had the luxury of being invited at least once a week to join her quite large family for dinner. Pasta was always served. She explained to me one night that the reason her pasta was so good was that the water she boiled it in was as salty as the mediterranean.
But for other dishes, I have to agree with the majority that taste as you go works best. That said, everything benefits from some salt prior to service. It helps to bring out all the natural flavors.