Probably the most famous of all the Roman pasta dishes, cacio e pepe, is known throughout the world and comes together quickly. With a velvety and salty cheese sauce and a strong taste of freshly ground black pepper, it has an irresistible and unmistakable flavor. While it seems simple to make, there’s a few tricks to making it just right without clumping or having a weak flavor.
With only 3 ingredients, cacio e pepe comes together quickly and easily, but knowing just the right process helps to make it creamy, silky, and peppery, instead of clumpy and bland. When the name of the dish literally means cheese and pepper, you know you can expect a dish that has strong flavors of cheese, saltiness, and pepperiness when done right.
Like most Italian dishes, cacio e pepe is made with simple but quality ingredients. As one of the most famous Roman pasta dishes, cacio e pepe can also be considered the base of the other dishes like pasta alla gricia, carbonara, and amatriciana. While the only ingredients are pasta, cheese, and pepper, there is an important fourth ingredient that isn’t always mentioned: starchy pasta water. With less salt and water than usual, the pasta water becomes an ingredient in its own right and is important to making proper cacio e pepe.
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📜 Origin
Like most recipes dating back hundreds of years, there’s no real clear origin for cacio e pepe. However, most people trace the dish back to the Italian shepherds during their transhumance across the Lazio region. These shepherds would move their flocks back and forth from the mountains near the Abruzzo and Umbria regions to the valleys of the Lazio region as the seasons changed.
Because of these long journeys, the shepherds would bring food that could last, including things like cured meats, dried cheeses, black peppercorns, and dried pasta or flour. This is why so many of today’s Roman pastas have this base of these simple ingredients with humble origins.
Tavern owners at the time also loved serving a version of cacio e pepe that was intentionally drier and saltier as it led to more sales of wine to wash it down.
🥘 Ingredients
With only 3 (kind of 4) ingredients involved in cacio e pepe, choosing quality ingredients is paramount to the best flavor. There are a few regional variations, but for the most part, cacio e pepe has remained the same forever.
Pasta – A good and popular choice here is spaghetti. Other popular options include bucatini and spaghettoni, or thick spaghetti, which is what I used here. Look for a good quality, bronze cut pasta that has a rough surface for the best results. Short pasta isn’t as popular, but sometimes you’ll find it made with rigatoni or mezze maniche.
Another popular option is a fresh pasta made with durum wheat semolina and eggs cut with a chitarra, known as spaghetti alla chitarra. This is a very popular pasta in the Abruzzo region of Italy, and a similar pasta called Tonnarelli is popular in the Lazio region.
Cheese – The cheese of choice here, like all Roman pastas, is pecorino Romano. Freshly grated, the cheese will melt into a velvety sauce with hot, starchy, pasta water.
Black Pepper – The most important part here is using black peppercorns and crushing them right before making the dish. Black pepper is a part of the dish and not just a seasoning added at the end.
Water – The starchy pasta water here is a needed ingredient to make proper cacio e pepe. I recommend using less water and less salt than you normally would when boiling pasta. This keeps the water extra starchy and will help in making the sauce.
🧀 Using Pecorino Romano
Pecorino Romano is an Italian cheese made from sheep’s milk and is famous in the Lazio region of Italy. It is a hard, salty cheese typically aged 8 months or longer for a grating cheese or as little as 5 months for a table cheese. Look for the 8+ month version for cooking applications. In the US, you may find cheese labeled “Romano”, but this is NOT the same and is a milder cheese made with cow’s milk.
When using pecorino in sauce recipes, the trick is to grate the cheese. Buy whole wedges and, using a box grater or something similar, grate the cheese, do not shred it. Grating the cheese allows it to melt more easily and smoothly when tossed with pasta, whereas shredding the cheese can leave a stringy texture that doesn’t fully emulsify properly.
One last important note when using both guanciale and Pecorino Romano in cooking is that both ingredients are salty. Normally when cooking pasta, the saying goes that the water should be “as salty as the Mediterranean Sea.” When using both ingredients however, you should salt the water about half as much as normal, otherwise the finished pasta dishes can be overly salty tasting.
🔪 How to Make
Start by grating your pecorino Romano into a mixing bowl and set aside. Then grind your peppercorns. You can use a mortar and pestle, smash with a meat mallet, or use a pepper grinder that has multiple coarseness options. I use this Oxo Pepper Grinder 1-2 steps down from the largest grind.
Add the ground black pepper to a large skillet and set over medium heat. Toast the peppercorns for a few minutes, until you can smell a strong aroma of black pepper, about 2-3 minutes. Stir and shake the pan as they toast so that they don’t burn. When ready, leave them in the pan but remove from the heat and set aside.
While the pepper toasts, bring a large pot of water to a boil and lightly salt it. Use less water than you normally would for cooking pasta, just enough to keep the pasta covered and cook. Boil the pasta about 4-5 minutes less than the package calls for al dente.
When the pasta is almost ready, move the skillet with the black pepper back onto a burner set to medium-low. Add a ladle or two of the pasta water to the pan, about a ½ cup worth. Reserve some of the pasta water in a coffee cup or glass measuring cup, about a cup or so worth, and set aside. Transfer the pasta into the skillet and mix with the peppercorns and water. Continue cooking and stirring until the pasta is almost done cooking.
In the meantime, add some of the reserved and slightly cooled pasta water to the grated cheese and mix. The cheese should begin to melt and form a paste. Begin adding the cheese paste to the pasta in the skillet and remove the skillet from the heat. Stir and mix and toss until all the cheese is used and the pasta is coated in a creamy sauce. If it looks a little clumpy, add some more of the pasta water until you have a creamy consistency without lumps.
Once you have a creamy consistency, immediately plate, and serve. Garnish with additional pecorino Romano and black pepper.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Cacio e pepe is a simple recipe with few ingredients but can be frustratingly difficult to execute perfectly. There are a few steps you can take to make the sauce creamy instead of clumpy. First, choose the proper cheese. Pecorino Romano can be aged for more than 8months for a harder version, or in as little as 5 months for slightly softer table cheese. Use the 8+ month version for the best results. If you use or mix another cheese in, like Parmigiana Reggiano, make sure it isn’t too young of a cheese either. Another important choice is to make sure that you grate the pecorino and don’t shred it.
The other hugely important step is to watch the heat. Don’t take a ladle full of boiling pasta water and pour it straight into the grated cheese, let it cool slightly first. Also, remove the pan from the heat before adding the cheese paste and mixing it together. When the water or the pasta is too hot, the cheese will melt, but will also coagulate and form stretchy strands instead of emulsifying with the starchy pasta water.
A purist would say no, but it’s actually popular to at least mix both pecorino Romano and Parmigiana Reggiano for a slightly milder flavor. This will cut down on the saltiness and tanginess of pecorino. Just keep in mind that cheeses labeled “Parmesan” and “Romano”, are not the same as their Italian counterparts. Choose a properly aged cheese or you may have issues getting it creamy.
Cheese. While northern Italy uses the word “formaggio” for cheese, “cacio” is used in central and southern Italy.
Cacio e pepe is best eaten the day it is made, but you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. The cheese will harden, and you’ll have to be careful when reheating it.
A popular thing to make with leftovers, however, are cacio e pepe fritters. Smash the leftovers in a container so that they’re even and refrigerate overnight. Then remove the leftovers and cut into large or small pieces, dredge in egg and then panko crumbs and fry them.
📋 Recipe
Authentic Cacio e Pepe
Ingredients
- 12 ounces spaghetti, or pasta of choice
- 2 cups Pecorino Romano, grated
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
Directions
- Start by grating 2 cups of pecorino Romano into a mixing bowl and set aside. Then grind 2 tablespoons of black peppercorns. You can use a mortar and pestle, smash with a meat mallet, or use a pepper grinder that has multiple coarseness options. I use this Oxo Pepper Grinder 1-2 steps down from the largest grind.
- Add the ground black pepper to a large skillet and set over medium heat. Toast the peppercorns for a few minutes, until you can smell a strong aroma of black pepper, about 2-3 minutes. Stir and shake the pan as they toast so that they don’t burn. When ready, leave them in the pan but remove from the heat and set aside.
- While the pepper toasts, bring a large pot of water to a boil and lightly salt it. Use less water than you normally would for cooking pasta, just enough to keep the pasta covered and cook. Boil 12oz of pasta for about 4-5 minutes less than the package calls for al dente.
- When the pasta is almost ready, move the skillet with the black pepper back onto a burner set to medium-low. Add a ladle or two of the pasta water to the pan, about a ½ cup worth. Reserve some of the pasta water in a coffee cup or glass measuring cup, about a cup or so worth, and set aside. Transfer the pasta into the skillet and mix with the peppercorns and water. Continue cooking and stirring until the pasta is almost done cooking.
- In the meantime, add some of the reserved and slightly cooled pasta water to the grated cheese and mix. The cheese should begin to melt and form a paste. Begin adding the cheese paste to the pasta in the skillet and remove the skillet from the heat. Stir and mix and toss until all the cheese is used and the pasta is coated in a creamy sauce. If it looks a little clumpy, add some more of the pasta water until you have a creamy consistency without lumps.
- Once you have a creamy consistency, immediately plate, and serve. Garnish with additional pecorino Romano and black pepper.
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