Cacio e Pepe

I have tried many times to make cacio e pepe, and until the last couple of times I totally failed. Despite trying very hard not to, I always overheated the cheese and ended up with a grey mess of melted cheese and pepper on my fork and on the tongs. The strategy in Alex’s YouTube video finally worked for me, so that’s what this is based on. I’d recommend watching that video, since the process is definitely a bit trial-and-error.

Ingredients

  • Spaghetti: serving myself, I use half a box.
  • Pecorino Romano cheese
  • Black Pepper (fresh ground)
  • Water

Equipment

  • 12 inch skillet (I use stainless)
  • Microplane

Steps

  1. Make pasta. Put the pasta in the skillet and cover it with water. There shouldn’t be too much water, since we want to keep all the starch from the water, but enough to stop the pasta from burning as it evaporates. I cover the pasta with water then add a bit more. Cook at medium-high, stirring frequently so it doesn’t get stuck to the bottom, until the pasta is done to your liking—it won’t cook much more after we take it off, but maybe leave it a tiny bit shy of where you want it. If the water evaporates too much while cooking, add a bit more: we want a thin layer of water left when the pasta is cooked.

  2. Meanwhile, prep. In his video, Alex recommends toasting whole peppercorns before grinding them with a mortar and pestle. I don’t have a mortar and pestle, but I do toast maybe 20 peppercorns in another pan while the pasta is cooking. Then I put these into my pepper grinder and grind them up.

    I also pre-grate some cheese. I add the cheese by eye, so I don’t grate the full amount that will go into the dish, but grate some amount less than that. All the cheese should be grated with a microplane (haven’t tried it without), and I pre-grate enough to fill around half of a cereal-type bowl.

  3. Combine. Once the pasta is done, there should be a bit of water left in the skillet. This is crucial for the cheese to form a sauce, so keep it there. If you think there is too much water left, keep the extra to the side in a glass in case you change your mind after adding the cheese.

    Take the pan off the heat (if you’re using an electric stove, move it to a cold burner) and stir in the ground pepper. Pepper is a primary flavor, so there should be a good amount of it. Then let the pasta cool for a minute or two—we want to make sure the pasta is not so hot that it will completely melt the cheese (but not cold). Ethan Chlebowski’s cacio e pepe video includes a simple breakdown of the science here. For me, it seems to work to just wait until it’s not piping hot and add the cheese gradually, holding off if it’s too hot.

    Once the pasta has cooled down a bit, with the pan still off the heat, grab a small handful of the grated Pecorino and sprinkle it slowly over the pasta. Stir quickly to mix the cheese with the starchy water, hopefully emulsifying it and starting to coat the noodles. If the cheese seems to melt and coagulate instead of emulsifying, the noodles are probably too hot. Stir them and let them cool for 30 seconds or so, and try again with the next handful. Continue adding and stirring, and potentially grating more Pecorino, until the noodles are lightly coated with sauce.

  4. Eat up! Plate the pasta and grind a bit more pepper on top. Hopefully it came out well!