With a pinch of salt
Seasoning to taste can be difficult for novice cooks who need to be instructed in baby steps as they learn how to make a dish. 'How much salt?' they ask, begging for a precise amount; 'just enough' the seasoned cook will instruct, as they toss the crystals into their food with seeming abandon.
Salt isn't used solely for its saltiness. It can add texture (think of the delicate crunch fleur de sel crystals can add when sprinkled over a salad), is used to preserve food, helps control the growth of yeast in breads, draws excess moisture out of meats (concentrating the flavour) and helps balance the sweetness in baked goods (without a small amount of salt, bread and desserts can taste one-dimensional).
The trick to using the right amount is to season - and taste - as you go, adjusting the salt level as needed. If you dump a load of salt into a dish as you're about to serve it, the flavour won't be as subtly balanced as it would if you had added a little at a time throughout the cooking process. Sprinkle in a bit as you're sweating onions and garlic in oil, salt meats before searing or browning them, and add a lot of salt to water being used for pasta (it will only absorb a little).
It is important to consider the type of salt you're using and what it's being used for. The subtleties of expensive fleur de sel or rare volcanic rock salt will be lost if you dissolve them in water. They should be sprinkled over a dish just before serving. Regular table salt is denser, spoonful by spoonful, than the crystal-shaped varieties. Due to its density, table salt has a stronger taste than many other types, and because of its fine grains, is harder to sprinkle evenly over foods - but these qualities are fine if you're just using it for pasta water.
In the end, though, it's not as simple as adding enough to suit your own tastes: you have to take into account those who will be eating your food. Let's hope you're not as arrogant as some chefs are rumoured to be: they think their food is perfectly seasoned, refuse to have any condiments on the table, and go into screaming fits at customers who have the temerity to ask for salt and pepper for their under-seasoned food. What's perfectly seasoned to one person might be like tasting a salt lick to another. If you're uncertain about your guests, it's better to add slightly less salt than to overdo it because the latter is impossible to correct. And if you're a guest, have the courtesy to taste the food first, before asking for the salt and pepper shakers - at least give the cook the illusion that you trust their taste.
