Recipe

Cacio e Pepe

2 servings · prep 5 min · cook 10 min

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• lunch
• dinner
• italian
• vegetarian

Authored by the maintainer; classical Roman three-ingredient method.

Ingredients

the pasta

• 200 g tonnarelli (or thick spaghetti) — Puglia wheat farm
• Sea salt for the pasta water — Trapani salt pans

the sauce

• 120 g Pecorino Romano, very finely grated
• 2 tsp black peppercorns, coarsely crushed and toasted — Kerala pepper estate

Method

1. Bring a small pot of water to the boil — less water than usual, so the pasta water gets starchier. Salt lightly.
2. Toast the crushed peppercorns in a wide dry pan over medium heat, 30 seconds, until fragrant. Off the heat. · 1 min
3. Cook pasta to one minute short of al dente. Reserve a full mug of pasta water before draining. · 8 min
4. In a metal bowl, whisk the grated pecorino with about 3 tbsp of pasta water — just barely warm pasta water — into a thick paste. Don't use boiling water, the cheese seizes.
5. Add the hot pasta to the toasted-pepper pan with a splash of pasta water. Toss 30 seconds.
6. Off the heat. Pour the cheese paste over the pasta and toss vigorously, adding small splashes of pasta water until the sauce is glossy and coats every strand. Total tossing time: about 60 seconds.
7. Plate immediately. More cracked pepper on top.

Notes

The hardest pasta in the Roman repertoire to get right. The failure
mode is the cheese seizing into stringy clumps — caused by adding it
to water that's too hot or in too much volume. The protein structure
of pecorino breaks above ~80°C and won't recover.

Two prevention rules: (1) make the cheese paste with *warm* water, not
boiling, off-heat. (2) toss off the heat — the residual pan warmth is
enough.

Three ingredients, no margin for error. If you can make cacio e pepe
reliably, carbonara becomes easy.