Cacio e pepe

Cacio e pepe is both my favorite pasta dish and my worst enemy. I can't get consistent results. So I decided to follow Bottura's technique for his risotto. Cook grated pecorino romano with water until it gets stringy and let it cool over night in the fridge. It separates in three parts: a creamy one on top (delicious), cheesy water and solids. I half way cooked the pasta in water then finished in the cheesy one. At the end add a spoon of the creamy part and make the pepper rain! It's probably the best one I've made so far! The sauce coats the pasta in an awesome way.

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Comments

tshewman

Nice, I learned this technique from heston and have done my mac and cheese in a similar manner since and now I cook all my pastas and rice in a flavored base. What I liked about Bottura's was the use of the cream that is left after the separation.

reck.harm

That's cool. I haven't tried it that way yet. What i usually do is cook it kinda like risotto. I start in a pot of salt-water and cook the pasta just long enough to become pliable and then finisch in a pan adding water as it needs it. And whenn the pasta is just al dente i'll add one more ladle of water and the cheese. At this point there's a lot of starch in the water that keeps the cheese from splitting, that usually works really well for me.

Gabriele_Di_Cerbo_40805

I usually do the same but sometimes the cheese splits. Maybe it's just a matter of how much starch is in the water, I've never figured it out...

matthewmicahhall

Interesting technique -- I'll need to try this sometime. Does anyone have experience with using sodium citrate and/or sodium hexametaphosphate to help emulsify the sauce for cacio e pepe?

tangma27

Do you guys add butter to cacio e pepe?

Gabriele_Di_Cerbo_40805

I usually don't but is should help prevent the cheese from splitting, right?