Cacio e Pepe

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for pasta
• •12-inch skillet, not nonstick
• •Microplane or fine box grater
• •Tongs for tossing pasta
• •Mortar and pestle or heavy pan for cracking pepper

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the pepper

   Toast the peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Crack them coarsely with the bottom of a heavy pan or in a mortar. You want irregular pieces, some fine, some chunky. Pre-ground pepper from a tin has no place here. The volatile oils that make pepper pungent and alive evaporate within hours of grinding.

   The pepper is not a garnish. It is a primary ingredient. Taste your peppercorns before you begin. They should be sharp and aromatic, not dusty and flat.
2. 2

   Grate the cheese properly

   Use genuine Pecorino Romano from Lazio, not the American imitations. Grate it on the finest holes of a box grater or, better, a Microplane. The cheese must be powdery, almost fluffy. Coarse shreds will not emulsify. They will clump into tragic little balls and ruin everything. Place the grated cheese in a large bowl.

3. 3

   Cook the pasta

   Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt it less than you normally would. The cheese is intensely salty, and this balance matters. Use perhaps half your usual amount. Cook the pasta until just shy of al dente, about one minute less than the package suggests. The pasta will finish cooking in the pan with the pepper.

   Use less water than usual, perhaps 4 quarts instead of 6. Concentrated starchy water is essential for the emulsion. This is not the time for an ocean of water.
4. 4

   Toast the pepper in pasta water

   While the pasta cooks, add the cracked pepper to a large, cold skillet. No oil. No butter. Toast it over medium heat for one minute until fragrant. Add one cup of the starchy pasta water to the skillet. Let it simmer gently while the pasta finishes cooking. This blooms the pepper and creates your sauce base.

5. 5

   Create the emulsion

   This is where most cooks fail. Remove the bowl of grated cheese from the counter. Ladle about three-quarters cup of hot pasta water into the cheese. Not boiling water straight from the pot. Let it cool for 30 seconds first. Whisk vigorously until you have a smooth, creamy paste the consistency of heavy cream. Add more water by the tablespoon if needed. The paste should flow, not clump.

   If your water is too hot, the cheese seizes into clumps. If too cold, it will not emulsify. The temperature window is narrow. Work quickly and whisk constantly.
6. 6

   Marry pasta and sauce

   Using tongs, transfer the pasta directly from the pot to the skillet with the peppered water. Do not drain it. The water clinging to the noodles is valuable. Toss the pasta over medium-low heat for one minute, letting it absorb the peppery liquid and finish cooking.

7. 7

   Finish off heat

   Remove the skillet from the heat entirely. This is not optional. Wait 30 seconds for the pan to cool slightly. Pour the cheese paste over the pasta and toss vigorously, lifting and turning the noodles to coat every strand. The residual heat will warm the sauce without breaking it. If the sauce seems tight, add pasta water one tablespoon at a time. If it seems loose, add more cheese.

8. 8

   Serve immediately

   Once the pasta is sauced, serve it promptly, inviting your guests and family to put off talking and start eating. Cacio e pepe waits for no one. The sauce continues to tighten as it sits. Twirl portions into warm bowls, finishing each with an additional grinding of black pepper. There is no cheese passed at the table. There is already enough cheese.

Chef Tips

• •Authentic Pecorino Romano comes from Lazio, Sardinia, or the province of Grosseto in Tuscany. It is made from sheep's milk and aged at least eight months. The American cheese labeled 'Romano' is made from cow's milk and tastes nothing like it. Do not substitute.
• •Some Roman cooks add a tablespoon of olive oil to the cheese paste to stabilize the emulsion. Purists consider this cheating. I consider it practical if you are still learning the technique.
• •Tonnarelli, the fresh egg pasta of Rome cut into thick square strands, is traditional. Spaghetti is the common substitute. Rigatoni works if you prefer tubes. Never use thin pasta like angel hair. It cannot hold the sauce.
• •If the sauce breaks and becomes greasy and clumpy, you cannot fix it. Learn from the failure and begin again. Every Roman cook has a pot of failed cacio e pepe in their past.

Advance Preparation

• •The cheese can be grated up to one day ahead and refrigerated, though freshly grated melts more smoothly.
• •The pepper can be toasted and cracked several hours ahead.
• •The dish itself cannot be made ahead. It must be served the moment it comes together. Reheated cacio e pepe is not cacio e pepe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 280g)