Cacio e pepe — pasta romana con pecorino y pimienta
Three ingredients, four minutes, every variable on a knife edge. Tonnarelli, pecorino romano, and an obscene amount of fresh black pepper.
Toast cracked black pepper in a dry pan, add a ladle of starchy pasta water, then whisk in finely grated pecorino off the heat. Toss with hot pasta and more pecorino until you have a glossy cream. No cream, no butter, no oil.
- Grate the pecorino on the FINEST grater you own — coarse grates clump and seize.
- Pull the pasta a full minute before al dente. It finishes in the pan.
- The pasta water needs to be cloudy — undersalt slightly and reuse from the same pot.
Equipment
- Heavy-bottomed sauté pan (wide enough for 2 portions of pasta)
- Microplane or fine box grater
- Pepper mill cranked to coarse
- Pasta spider or tongs
Ingredientes
Pasta
- 200 g tonnarelli or spaghetti, bronze-die preferred
- Coarse sea salt, for the pasta water (about 10 g per litre)
Sauce
- 100 g pecorino romano DOP, very finely grated, plus more to finish
- 3 g whole black peppercorns, coarsely cracked in a mortar
Elaboración
- PASO01
Bring 2 litres of water to a rolling boil. Salt it less than you would for marinara — about 10 g (2 tsp) salt per litre. Drop the pasta.
- PASO02
While the pasta cooks, set a wide sauté pan over medium heat. Add the cracked pepper, dry, no oil. Toast 30 seconds until fragrant — your kitchen should smell of pepper. Off the heat.
- PASO03
When the pasta has one minute to go (taste it — it should still have a hard center), lift it into the sauté pan with tongs, dragging plenty of starchy pasta water with you.
- PASO04
Add a small ladle (~80 ml) of pasta water to the pan. Toss vigorously over low heat for 30 seconds — you want the water to emulsify with the pepper into a glossy slick.
- PASO05
Pull the pan off the heat. Wait 30 seconds — the pan must not be ripping hot or the cheese will seize. Add half the pecorino while tossing constantly. Add a splash more pasta water if it looks dry. Add the rest of the pecorino. Toss until the sauce is creamy and clings to every strand.
- PASO06
Twirl into warm bowls, grind more black pepper over the top, and serve immediately. Cacio e pepe waits for no one.
Make ahead
None. Cacio e pepe is the antithesis of make-ahead — every second past plating, the sauce thickens and seizes.
Storage
Eat it now. This is not a leftover dish — the sauce breaks when reheated. If you must, sauté leftovers in a splash of olive oil and pretend it's something else.
Variations
Pasta alla gricia
Add 80 g diced guanciale, rendered crisp before the pepper. Use the rendered fat in place of some of the pasta water.
With burrata
Tear a 100 g ball of burrata on top after plating. Not classic, but extremely good.
Lemon zest finish
Microplane the zest of half a lemon over the plates. Cuts the richness — purists will shout, but it works.
Serve with
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition values are estimates based on the metric measurements. Adjust as needed.
Preguntas frecuentes
Why does my cheese clump?
Two reasons: the pan was too hot when you added the cheese, or the cheese was too coarsely grated. The pan should be off the heat and just-warm; the cheese should be ground to powder on a microplane.
Can I use parmesan?
It will work but it's a different dish. Pecorino romano is sheep's milk, sharper, saltier, and more aggressive. Parmigiano makes a milder, less Roman cacio e pepe — call it cacio e pepe alla parmigiana.
Why no butter?
Classical Roman cacio e pepe has no butter. Many restaurants use it as insurance against clumping, and it works — but the dish loses some of its sharp clarity. Learn the original first, cheat with butter later if you must.
Can I scale it up?
Up to 4 portions in one pan, yes. Beyond that the sauce becomes hard to control — do two batches.
What pasta shape is best?
Tonnarelli (Roman square spaghetti) is traditional. Bronze-die spaghetti or rigatoni also work — the rougher the surface, the better the sauce clings.
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