Italian · dinner
25m
Total time
2
Servings
520
kcal
medium
Difficulty
tap to check off
FAQ · Things people ask
Yes — a 50/50 blend (40g each) is common even among Roman home cooks. Pure pecorino is more traditional but intensely salty; Parmesan mellows it without killing the character. If your pecorino is especially sharp, start with the blend.
Almost always a temperature problem. Either the pasta water was still boiling, the pan was too hot, or you added the cheese directly without forming a paste first. Let the water cool 30 seconds off the heat, build the paste before it touches the pasta, and fold the sauce in off direct flame.
Yes. The whole trick depends on starchy water, and a large pot dilutes the starch. Use about 1.5 L per 100g of pasta — it'll look like not enough water, but it is.
You can, but at that point you're no longer making cacio e pepe — you're making a cream pasta. Butter changes the flavour; cream changes the dish. Master the starch-and-paste method. It works, it just requires practice.
Related · You might also cook
Cotechino takes its name from 'cotica' — pork rind — which is ground into the filling and slow-cooked until it melts into something silky and unctuous, unlike any other sausage. The Romans gave lentils as gifts on New Year's Eve because their coin shape was thought to bring wealth; Artusi was writing this combination into Italian cookbooks in 1891. It's a dish with weight behind it.
Boxing Day morning, half a panettone on the counter, no one wants to start cooking. Here's what you do: slice it thick, dip it in custard, fry it in butter. Done in 25 minutes.
Pasta al burro e parmigiano — or pasta in bianco as every Italian mother calls it — is what you make when the fridge is bare and dinner needs to be on the table in twelve minutes. Butter, Parmesan, starchy pasta water: three ingredients that know exactly what they're doing.
Pizzelle come from Abruzzo, where they've been pressed in patterned irons for at least several centuries — some claim they descend from the ancient Roman crustulum. The choice between anise and lemon zest is not a compromise: both are canonical, and neither is wrong.