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    Pasta · Recipe · Rome · Reference page

    Cacio e pepe

    Spaghetti tossed with grated Pecorino Romano, freshly pounded black pepper and a little starchy cooking water until the cheese melts into a cream: a Roman dish of three ingredients. The quantities for four are those of Turismo Roma, the City of Rome's tourism site.

    Fine ink and watercolor illustration of Cacio e pepe.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    4
    Preparation
    5 min
    Cooking
    10 min
    Total
    15 min
    Difficulty
    Moderate

    Equipment

    • Large pot for the pasta
    • Large, roomy bowl (terrina); mortar and pestle for the pepper
    • Slotted spoon or tongs; ladle; warmed plates
    Servings4

    Ingredients

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Put all the grated pecorino and the freshly pounded pepper in a large bowl.

    2. Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water and drain it al dente with a slotted spoon or tongs, keeping the cooking water.

      Why The starchy cooking water is what turns the cheese into a cream.

    3. Put the pasta in the bowl and immediately add a scant ladle of the boiling cooking water. Mix quickly so the cheese melts into the water, adding a little more water if needed.

      Why VisitLazio's tip: the pecorino must melt gently, below 65 °C; too much heat makes it clump.

    4. Serve at once on warm plates, dusted with more black pepper.

    Substitutions

    • Spaghetti → Turismo Roma names spaghetti as the original; tonnarelli, rigatoni, tagliolini or spaghetti alla chitarra are common variants.
    • Bowl method → VisitLazio's pan method: drain the spaghetti a couple of minutes early, mix the pecorino with an equal weight of cooking water into a smooth cream, and finish the pasta with it in a pan, adding a spoonful or two of water.

    Common mistakes

    • Adding the cheese over high heat: it seizes into rubbery clumps.
    • Too much water at once: the sauce stays thin. Add it a little at a time.

    Storage & reheating

    Eat at once; the sauce does not survive reheating.

    Safety

    Traditional pecorino romano is made with animal rennet; vegetarians should check the label.

    Allergens

    Gluten · Milk

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    vegetarian

    Shepherds' pasta of Lazio

    An SBS Food recipe by Ilaria Paiella calls cacio e pepe one of the most traditional dishes of Lazio, made with very few ingredients, and links it to the region's many shepherds and the sheep's cheese (cacio) they made. That connection is told locally; we have not found it documented. Turismo Roma places it in the rustic, pastoral strand of Roman cooking and credits its fame to the sheep's cheeses made all over Lazio, among them the protected Pecorino Romano DOP.

    [1][2]

    Cheese, pepper and pasta water

    The dish is more than pasta with grated cheese. In the City of Rome's recipe the pecorino and the pepper wait in a large bowl; the spaghetti go in dripping, straight from the pot, with a scant ladle of boiling cooking water, and quick mixing turns the cheese and starchy water into a cream. More water is added only if needed.

    VisitLazio gives the reason and a variant: the cheese has to melt gently, below about 65 °C, so it is mixed with roughly its own weight of cooking water into a smooth cream and finished with the pasta in a pan.

    [2][3]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin Rome In preparation

    Pasta shape

    Recipe

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