You need to add salt as you cook. Yes, you can add it afterwards, but you went get the same flavor layering, food texture, salt penetrator, and for some foods, the necessary chemical reactions in your dishes. In some sense, I feel confident that your wife is right based purely on the fact that you think you can just add salt after it’s cooked and get the same thing. 😁

I’m a white dude with no tattoos, but I have this argument all the time with my family. “You can add hot sauce and salt afterward for yourself!” That’s not how this works Susan. That’s not how any of this works. All of cooking is chemistry and physics! And get over it! If in cooking I’m using salt and guajillio peppers!

Source: Gay and cook food.