Cacio e pepe
Three ingredients and one of the easiest recipes in Roman cooking to ruin. The problem is chemical: overheated cheese (above about 65 °C) separates into fat and protein, and instead of a cream you get rubbery threads on the base of the pan. The answer is to work the cheese into pasta water as a separate paste and combine everything off the heat. The starch in the water then coats the cheese proteins and stops them clumping.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Pepper 4 min
- Pasta 10 min
- Cheese paste 5 min
- Combining 4 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneToast and crush the pepper
Toast the peppercorns in a dry pan for 60 seconds, until fragrant, and crush them in a mortar, coarsely and unevenly. Toasting releases the oils, and an uneven grind gives moments of sharp heat in the mouth instead of a uniform peppery background.
Ingredients: 400 g pasta · 200 g pecorino romano · 2 tbsp black peppercorns · 1 tsp salt
Coarse and uneven — not shop-ground pepper.Cook the pasta in less water than usual
Cook the pasta in about 2 litres of water, less than usual, and salt it sparingly. Cook it 1–2 minutes less than the packet says (usually about 10 minutes). Less water means starchier cooking water — and that starch is what binds the sauce. Pecorino is very salty, so the water should be barely seasoned.
Ingredients: 400 g pasta · 200 g pecorino romano · 2 tbsp black peppercorns · 1 tsp salt
Make a paste with cheese and warm water
A few minutes before the pasta is done, scoop a cup of pasta water into a mug and leave it to cool to about 60 °C — warm, not hot. Put the grated pecorino in a bowl and add the water 1–2 spoonfuls at a time, working it into a smooth paste the thickness of yogurt; about 100 ml is usually enough, keep the rest. Boiling water would seize the cheese instantly — the commonest failure in this recipe.
Ingredients: 400 g pasta · 200 g pecorino romano · 2 tbsp black peppercorns · 1 tsp salt
A smooth paste, with warm water — never boiling.Boil the pepper with water and add the pasta
Tip the crushed pepper into a dry pan, add a ladle of pasta water and bring to a boil. Transfer the pasta a minute before it is done and toss for 60 seconds — it finishes in the sauce and gives up the last of its starch to it.
Ingredients: 400 g pasta · 200 g pecorino romano · 2 tbsp black peppercorns · 1 tsp salt
Off the heat, and only then the cheese
Take the pan off the heat, wait 20 seconds and stir in the cheese paste, tossing hard with tongs. The sauce binds and coats every strand. Cheese added over the flame splits within seconds and cannot be recovered.
Ingredients: 400 g pasta · 200 g pecorino romano · 2 tbsp black peppercorns · 1 tsp salt
Off the heat — on the flame the cheese will split.Loosen and serve at once
If the sauce is too thick, add a spoonful of pasta water and keep tossing. Serve immediately: cacio e pepe thickens by the minute and after a few minutes on the plate it starts to clump.
Ingredients: 400 g pasta · 200 g pecorino romano · 2 tbsp black peppercorns · 1 tsp salt
Before you start
The cheese must be very finely grated
Coarsely grated pecorino will not dissolve in warm water and leaves lumps. Use the finest holes on a box grater or a microplane — the finer it is, the lower the risk of the sauce splitting.
Rescuing a split sauce
If the cheese seizes, take the pan off the heat, add two tablespoons of cold water and whisk hard for half a minute. It does not always work, but often the emulsion comes back — over the flame it will not.
Pecorino, not parmesan
Pecorino romano, a sheep's milk cheese, is sharper and saltier than parmesan. Parmesan gives a milder, less characteristic dish. A half-and-half blend is the compromise for anyone who finds pure pecorino too aggressive.
