Even back in chef school we were taught that we throw a handful of salt in the pot of water to make the water boil at higher temperature so the pasta cooks faster. WRONG. A handful of salt in a pot of water barely effects the boiling point of that water. What the salt does is make that pasta taste better. The same goes for stews, soups, and what ever you're cooking on the stove. So use salt, but use it because you like the flavor, but because you think you're cheating the cooking gods into making your water boil any hotter.