Consulting the Pasta Oracle

[Nanohedron]

Cacio e Pepe. Anyone do this Roman dish? The classic way is simplicity itself - just olive oil, coarse or cracked black pepper, grated Pecorino Romano cheese, spaghettini or similar, and pasta water. That's it.

Problem is, as can be the case with the simplest preparations, there can be a lot of ways to get it wrong. I've checked out several sites on the web and so I have the basic concept, but they don't discuss the finer points much. For example, general proportions rather than cups and tablespoons (I suppose I could divide or multiply, but please. ), or how hot the oil should be when you heat up the pepper and for how long. Or, then there's the general guide that once you're finishing up the pasta in the pepper-infused oil, you dump in your cheese, mix it around and add a ladle or so of hot pasta water to make it creamy, cooking all the while. Okay, fine. But some of the cheese clumps on the spoon as you scrape the bottom of the pan, instead of emulsifying as promised. Indeed, cleanup meant scraping cheesy gunk off the entire bottom of the pan anyway. Is this wastage normal? Am I doing something wrong? And then there's the finished product: not having been to Rome, I don't have any personal experience with the real deal to measure my efforts against.

So, if any of you know this dish well, I would love to have your input both from the kitchen and from the sensory aspect of it on the plate. Thanks.

[chrisoff]

I've never made it but have made (and eaten) similar simple pasta dishes in the past(a) so I'll have a stab at some general tips...

I wouldn't worry about measurements too much, go by feel for the most part. You'll want more than a little oil and less than too much. 2-4 tablespoons probably depending on how much pasta you're making. It should be heated gently over a medium heat until hot. Smoking is too hot. Moving easily around the pan is good.

I'd treat the peppercorns the same way I treat garlic when making pasta dishes, very gently. Stick it in the oil and very gently fry it. Once you can smell the pepper take it off the heat and let it infuse into the oil while the pasta cooks.

Once pasta is cooked put the oil back on a gentle heat until the pepper is gently frying again then (taking a cup of the water to one side first) drain the pasta and add it to the pan. Throw in a table spoon or two of the pasta water, add the cheese and toss in the pan until it's all mixed together then quickly serve.

The heat in the pasta water, pasta and oil should melt the cheese quite quickly. If it's sticking to the pan or the spoon then you're probably cooking the cheese for too long in the pan.

[chas]

Ditto what Chris said. I don't make cacio e pepe, but make carbonara as often as my lipid profile will allow. I always have some cheese/egg stuck to the bottom of the pan. I don't sweat it; it gives me something to snack on while cleaning up.

[Nanohedron]

Thanks, guys. Carbonara's no problem for me; I've done it many times with success, and love it. But the ingredients for cacio e pepe seem to call for just a slightly different touch, as my last try suggests.

I think where I fell short this time was with the idea from the recipes that the pasta water was supposed to make the result "creamy" (and mind you, I already had my misgivings, being no stranger to the kitchen nor to the ways of hard cheeses), and as chrisoff suggested, I probably overcooked it trying to get to whatever "creamy" was supposed to be, rather than keeping a light, swift touch as I would normally incline to on my own. I'm also thinking that the pasta water should first go in, do its magic, THEN add the cheese last and from there to the plate straightaway. That seems to be the righter way, although the recipes I read had it the other way around (which is why I asked what I'm doing wrong if the recipes' instructions are in fact in correct order).

[Nanohedron]

Well, looks like there's more than one way to skin this cat, and that's a huge relief. In a PM from a compassionate Chiffer (whom I would like to credit personally, but PMs being what they are...) I got this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqANylZI ... ata_player

...and since the cook is Italian, speaking in Italian, I think I can trust the source without fear. Straightforward, logical, easy to follow, easy to remember, and it looks pretty bulletproof. I think I'll be doing it that way from now on.

[chrisoff]

Well, looks like there's more than one way to skin this cat, and that's a huge relief. In a PM from a compassionate Chiffer (whom I would like to credit personally, but PMs being what they are...) I got this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqANylZI ... ata_player

...and since the cook is Italian, speaking in Italian, I think I can trust the source without fear. Straightforward, logical, easy to follow, easy to remember, and it looks pretty bulletproof. I think I'll be doing it that way from now on.

Well that just looks far too easy, where's the fun in that?

Looks really good actually so think I'll go buy a block of cheese and make it as a quick post-run dinner later this week.

[benhall.1]

Well, looks like there's more than one way to skin this cat, and that's a huge relief. In a PM from a compassionate Chiffer (whom I would like to credit personally, but PMs being what they are...) I got this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqANylZI ... ata_player

...and since the cook is Italian, speaking in Italian, I think I can trust the source without fear. Straightforward, logical, easy to follow, easy to remember, and it looks pretty bulletproof. I think I'll be doing it that way from now on.

Brilliant! If I can get some parmesan or pecorino, I think I'll do it tomorrow for lunch.

Yum!

[chas]

Brilliant! It's obviously a dish that would be great to cook after a long day at work.

[Nanohedron]

If I can get some parmesan or pecorino, I think I'll do it tomorrow for lunch.

Make it Pecorino Romano if you intend to be a purist about this dish (well, we could speak of the issues of terroir in one's pasta, olive oil, and water, but let's be reasonable). Otherwise, there are rogue variations like adding garlic or truffles, or using butter instead of or in addition to olive oil, or other hard salty cheeses such as other pecorinos or parmesan, Grana Padano or non-Italian cow's milk so-called Romano cheeses. Of course, depending on what you can get in your locale, you make do and there's no wrong in that, but in all cases I would steer clear of pre-grated "box" cheeses. If you get cacio e pepe in Rome though, which is where the dish comes from, the locals won't have it any other way than the above specific and dead-simple recipe which means essentially only the particular cheese, and pepper, and no more. Of course olive oil goes without saying, but I suppose it must be said anyway. A restaurant catering expressly to tourists might be another matter, but a Roman would consider a variation to no longer be actual cacio e pepe, which is defined by its ingredients and simplicity. If they insist on it so, I figure they must be onto something, right?

- I like the not frying of the pepper in this method, as I know I would prefer the fresher bite of it that way. And since it would appear that my intuition was generally correct that the pasta water should go in ahead of the cheese, I'm going to preen a bit.

[benhall.1]

If I can get some parmesan or pecorino, I think I'll do it tomorrow for lunch.

Make it Pecorino Romano if you intend to be a purist about this dish

Too late! SWMBO has bought parmesan now. Ach, it'll be fine.

[Nanohedron]

If I can get some parmesan or pecorino, I think I'll do it tomorrow for lunch.

Make it Pecorino Romano if you intend to be a purist about this dish

Too late! SWMBO has bought parmesan now. Ach, it'll be fine.

Indeed it will. Buon appetito.

I first learned of this dish watching Anthony Bourdain in one of his shows about his travels, and for some reason something about the whole idea of just cheese and pepper captivated me. It didn't hurt that Bourdain spent a good chunk of air time enthusing about it, either. Now that I have the way to do it, I don't have to be so damned obsessed any more. And now, I suppose it's on to the next culinary Holy Grail.....