Cacio e pepe

Inspired to do some handmade pasta by new episodes of Master of None, which featured none other than Massimo Boturra. It would've been carbonara if I had the guanciale.

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Comments

brian_martin2001

This is making me contemplate my diet

pd3ski_278514

Cacio e ..desiderare 🍷

matthewmicahhall

Looks delicious. At the risk of igniting a cacio e pepe flame war, could I inquire about your specific method for making the sauce? There seem to be a lot of published methods out there. I still struggle with successful incorporation of the grated cheese. Sometimes the cheese goes in fine; other times it's a lumpy, coagulated mess. An assist from sodium citrate seems to help, but some would call this a cheat or unnecessary. Addition of the water used to cook the pasta also seems useful, but do you get much starch extraction during the short time needed to cook a single batch of fresh pasta?

wolfiegirl

I know, right!?!?

brian_martin2001

One of the things I miss the most is pasta. I'm down almost 2 belt sizes though, so I can't complain too much

wolfiegirl

Massimo is a crazy genius! As is your plate!! Bellissimo!!

Bob_Marcellino_302808

I tossed the pasta with a decent amount of flour after cutting it. I also usually try to use as little water as possible to concentrate the starchiness. That water is a key ingredient. Its the thing that brings many a pasta sauce together. Also, I've always heard it's best to finish cooking the pasta (if dry) for the last minute or two in the sauce itself, and the addition of pasta water provides that extra moisture to be absorbed.

For the sauce I heated a few tablespoons of olive oil (which had already been infused with garlic) and added lots of cracked pepper to infuse for a few minutes, then took that off the heat. Pasta went into the water, and only took about 2 minutes. I drained the pasta and saved the water. Pasta into oil, back on low heat, toss to coat. I added a few small knobs of room temp butter at this point. Toss to incorporate that. Kill heat, add half the cheese and a splash of pasta water, and toss quickly. The emulsion forms fairly easily. Add the rest of the cheese, another splash of pasta water, and continue tossing to further emulsify. Adding cheese in batches may or may not have actually made a difference in helping it incorporate properly. That was my intention, and it worked easily, so give it a shot.

matthewmicahhall

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of gradually incorporating the cheese.