Mistake #6 Pouring Out All the Pasta Water
As I’ve stated before, pasta cooking water ends up containing a lot of starch and some salt, most of which you will pour down the drain. Since starch is such a good binder and salt is an essential seasoning, it does make sense to hold back some of the pasta water to use when you eventually marry pasta to sauce.
The Fix—Save Some of the Cooking Water
When your pasta has reached al dente, dip out about a cupful of cooking water before draining your pasta. Depending on how much pasta you have cooked, you might not need all of it, but it’s better to have too much than not enough.
For the procedure for using some pasta water to help finish your sauce, see the discussion under Mistake #7.
Tim
I agree with most of what you said, but lately I’ve been doing the trick of using less water and sometimes starting in a cold pot as mentioned on SeriousEats.com. You end up with a higher starch percentage in the water, which helps your sauce. The only downside is that you have to be attentive when the pasta is put in the pot, you can’t just throw it in and go do other stuff.