You've been making pasta wrong! Scientists reveal the ultimate recipe for Cacio e pepe – and why you should NEVER use pasta water

Unlock the Secrets to Perfect Cacio e Pepe: A Scientific Approach

Cacio e pepe, a celebrated Italian delicacy, presents a culinary challenge despite its deceptively simple recipe. Many home cooks find achieving the ideal creamy texture illusive. With just pasta, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper as the core components, the dish often ends up with clumpy, stringy cheese instead of a smooth sauce. Now, a team of Italian scientists unveils a novel method for crafting flawless Cacio e pepe, eliminating the formation of unwanted clumps.

The Quest for Creaminess: A Scientific Expedition

Dr. Ivan Di Terlizzi, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany, shared the motivation behind the study: “We are Italians living abroad. We often have dinner together and enjoy traditional cooking. Among the dishes we have cooked was Cacio e pepe, and we thought this might be an interesting physical system to study and describe. And of course, there was the practical aim to avoid wasting good pecorino.”

The Science Behind the Sauce: Starch is Key

The common approach involves using drained pasta water to mix with the cheese. The starch present in the water is supposed to bridge the gap between the cheese’s fat content and the water itself. However, researchers discovered that a precise 2-3% starch-to-cheese ratio is crucial for achieving the smoothest, most consistent sauce.

Their recommendation? Create your own starchy water using measured powdered starch like potato or corn starch to gain more control over the starch concentration.

“Because starch is such an important ingredient, and the amount of starch can sharply determine where you end up, what we suggest is to use an amount of starch which is precisely measured,” Dr. Di Terlizzi explained.

Here’s how this scientific approach yields the perfect sauce:

• Blend the cheese with the pre-made starchy water until uniformly consistent.
• Add the mixture back to the pan.
• Slowly warm the sauce to serving temperature.

A Recipe for Success: No More Clumps

Here’s how to make perfect Cacio e pepe:

Ingredients for Two:

• 300g pasta (tonnarelli preferred, spaghetti or rigatoni acceptable)
• 200g Pecorino Romano DOP cheese
• 5g powdered starch (potato or corn starch)
• 150g water
• Freshly cracked black pepper (toasted peppercorns recommended)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Dissolve the powdered starch in 50g of water, gently heating until thickened and translucent.
2. Add 100g of cold water to cool the mixture.
3. Blend the cheese into the starchy sauce.
4. Add a generous quantity of black pepper.
5. Cook pasta in salted water until al dente, reserving some pasta water before draining.
6. Reintroduce the sauce to the pan, adding the pasta, and gently heat to serving temperature.
7. Adjust consistency using reserved pasta water if needed.
8. Garnish with extra cheese and pepper.

The Importance of Temperature Control: Avoiding the Melt Down

Heat plays a crucial role. High temperatures can denature the proteins in the cheese, causing it to clump together. Therefore, cooling the starchy water before mixing with the cheese and gradually heating the sauce is essential. Finally, just mix in the pepper and pasta and enjoy!

The team emphasized in the journal Physics of Fluids: “A true Italian grandmother or a skilled home chef from Rome would never need a scientific recipe for Cacio e pepe, relying instead on instinct and years of experience. For everyone else, this guide offers a practical way to master the dish.”

They added, “Preparing Cacio e pepe successfully depends on getting the balance just right, particularly the ratio of starch to cheese. The concentration of starch plays a crucial role in keeping the sauce creamy and smooth, without clumps or separation.”

The scientists note that their method streamlines batch Cacio e pepe preparation where maintaining uniform temperature can sometimes be a hurdle.

Future Culinary Explorations

The team, which included researchers from the University of Barcelona, the University of Padova and the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria, plans to study other recipes, including pasta alla gricia (Cacio e pepe with cured pork cheek). “This recipe seems to be easier to perform, and we don’t know exactly why,” said co-author Daniel Maria Busiello. “This is one idea we might explore in the future.”