Cacio e pepe is having moment. This extremely humble pasta recipe has always been eaten in Rome. That said, about 15 years ago you would have been hard pressed to find it on any but the most humble trattorias. The thinking was that is was SO simple, why on earth would you eat it in a restaurant. It was akin to ordering aglio, olio, peperoncino. Everyone loved it, everyone ate it, but if you wanted it you made it up at home with ingredients you almost certainly had on hand.
My theory about the current popularity of Cacio e Pepe is that chefs started looking at it about the same time that the Slow Food movement took off. More attention to specific ingredients made even those recipes with just a handful of elements something to perfect.
But once the Cacio e Pepe craze took off, it couldn’t be stopped. Not only does Cacio e Pepe turn up at every restaurant and trattoria in Rome now, it’s jumped borders and has become a flavoring. Yes, I’ve recently sported cacio e pepe potato chips.
But back to original Cacio e Pepe. In case you don’t know it, is a simple pasta dish that has, usually, only 3 ingredients:
Pasta
Cacio
Pepe
And if you don’t speak Italian here is the translation:
Pasta: this one you know. But the shape is all important. It should be long pasta, like spaghetti or – even more traditionally Romana – tonarelli, a hand made flour and water, slightly square shaped noodle.
Cacio: Cacio is Roman dialect for cheese, which in this case is always Pecorino Romano, a sharp sheep’s milk cheese traditionally made in the hills of Lazio by Sardinian shepherds.
Pepe: Freshly ground black pepper.
Yet there are an extra two elements that no one can agree upon: Technique and the use of water.
Water:Even though it is relatively easy to throw these elements together in a bowl and end up with something good to great tasting, to achieve Cacio e Pepe perfection requires the skills and technique to make sure the fats in the cheese emulsify with the water from the pasta, forming a rich, creamy and dense sauce that has neither cream nor (god forbid) any other kind of binder like flour or cornstarch.
I can safely say that I’ve not only eaten my own weight in Cacio e Pepe, but I’ve also made it at home more times than I can count. I’ve also watched others do it their way, including this video from a few years ago. But no matter where I eat it, there is one plate that haunts me so much that I keep going back and back and back to. I can’t get enough of it. It combines the right amount of pepper in a rich and clingy ‘sauce’ that is both creamy enough, but also slick and never goopy. The cheese never separates into clumps (a big no no) and the bite of pepper is strong with every mouthful.
This plate of Cacio e Pepe is made by Flavio de Maio at his restaurant Flavio Velavevodetto. Recently I spent a morning in his kitchen where he showed me how it’s done. And I discovered that there is a secret, 4th, ingredient that no one else , as far as I know, uses: cold water.
Yes, he uses the hot, starchy cooking pasta water at the end. But way before the pasta ever hits the water he preforms his magic with the cheese and the pepper with a few glugs of cold tap water. If it sounds confusing, it is , a bit. Which is why I made this video.
Your cacio e pepe making skills will immediately improve as much as your cacio e pepe eating will increase. You’re welcome (and sorry).
For more information about making and eating Italian food please buy my book Eating Rome: Living the Good Life in the Eternal City. You can also pre-order my latest book: Eating My Way Through Italy.(May 29, 2018)
And for more information about eating in restaurants in Italy please download my app Eat Italy.
This video was filmed at:
Flavio Velavevodetto
Via dei Monti Testaccio 97
+39 06 574 4194
Love this restaurant and looking forward to going again this summer!
I brought back a lot of Kampot pepper from my recent trip to Cambodia, as a result of the FB conversation you started on Cacio e Pepe. Freshly dried and so fragrant. I am bringing some for you when I come to Rome in April.
YAY!!! Can’t wait to try it!
That’s a terrific video. It’s not noon yet here on the west coast of the USA but I tried this technique right away. It works great! Much better than I’ve ever done! Thank you.
That was fast!! Good work!
Elizabeth, This looks fabulous! I am making this for dinner tonight BUT! For those of us making it for the 1st time we need amounts. I know that once we do this it will be all about just judging a bit of this and that but to begin with amounts would be great………. yes?
Toni
Trust your instincts and watch the video. Flavio really couldn’t give me numbers, and I haven’t had a chance to measure it out. Be brave! Go forward!
Can’t wait to try this too ! I now know from watching the video how much pepper is used — must get some really delicious fresh peppercorns to grind Yum.
Grazie, Helen
While in Rome a few years ago we took a morning tasting walking tour & ended tour at this restaurant. Giant platters of 3 pastas were served, overcooked & pasty sauces w/ the worst house wine I have ever tasted. We traveled to Rome annually for over 20 years now and yes Perilli’s has been our favorite restaurant for over 10 years. I would be cautious of connecting my name w/this disappointing restaurants.
Well Carol, since you went only once, and with a tour (by Eating Italy I’m assuming) and since I’ve been literally hundreds of times, I think I’m going to go with my experienced judgment on this one.
I agree with Carol. Unfortunately, this place became a stop for all the food tours and they serve up crappy pasta to tourists who don’t know any better. Carol, you should know the difference. Beware.
Again, I beg to differ. And since I bring food tours here, I do so because it is, indeed, the best there is. Why on Earth would I bring guests and clients to any place that serves bad food? And since the restaurant is almost always fully booked, with Romans, I would say you are definitely in the minority here. It is not a tourist place, and tourists have a pretty hard time even getting a table.
Fantastic—many thanks, Elizabeth. I love your videos, lovely to watch and of course, the music! I will cook cacio e pepi, domani! And we live on Via dei Pepi in Florence now, most appropriate, don’t you think?
You made my day, thank you Elizabeth
Love this technique. I never know when my Caccio Peppe is going to work or clog into glue. I’m certain this cold water trick is going to make my efforts more consistent. I love your videos and am a better cook for them. Always grateful. Thanks.
I LOVE this writeup, and video Elizabeth! Super! I think you are right, this will change my cacio-pepe making ways 🙂 Thanks a million, Elyssa
Happy you like it!
Grazie for the video. No worries, no measurements. Tutto al’ occhio.
I’m flying to Roma tomorrow and I cannot wait for my plate of cacio e pepe. I’ll certainly try this technique when I get home.
And yes, cacio e pepe is having a moment; just in the past week I’ve seen two food bloggers doing cacio e pepe mac and cheese (with no actual cacio/romano cheese!) and a kale cacio e pepe. No! You can only have normal cacio e pepe, or cacio e pepe con tartufo <3
I first went to Rome 20 years ago (actually I’ve only been twice) and remember having cacio e pepe and thinking how wonderful it was. It left a lasting memory and cant wait to return in May and have it again. I can’t believe it fell out of favour. How do these things happen? Never thought the Italians would allow it.
Once you make the cheese and pepper paste, can you chill it for later use or must it be made fresh each time?
You can chill it for up to 24 hours, wrapped tightly.
I LOVE learning tricks like this! Can’t wait to try it!!
Grazie!
What is the purpose of the paste? I guess from reading the comments, some people have problems with clumping with more traditional techniques – is that true.
Can that paste be frozen, thawed and re-used?
Making the paste helps to avoid clumping since you are already mixing the fats and proteins of the cheese with water, which helps it mix into the pasta. No, it really shouldn’t be frozen. Although, I actually haven’t tried it. If you do, let me know how it turns out!
Another Minchilli mess when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Why should we accept anything you write if you have no respect for your readers? The first paragraph alone is filled with errors.
Here is what you wrote: Cacio e pepe is having moment. This extremely humble pasta recipe has always been eaten in Rome. That said, about 15 years ago you would have been hard pressed to find it on any but the most humble trattorias. The thinking was that is was SO simple, why on earth would you eat it in a restaurant. It was akin to ordering aglio, olio, peperoncino. Everyone loved it, everyone ate it, but if you wanted it you made it up at home with ingredients you almost certainly had on hand.
This is the way it should read: Cacio e pepe is having A moment. This extremely humble pasta DISH has always been eaten in Rome. That WRITTEN, about 15 years ago you would have been HARD-PRESSED to find it at any but the most humble trattorias. The thinking was that is was SO simple, why on earth would you eat it in a RESTAURANT? It was akin to ordering aglio, olio, AND peperoncino. Everyone loved it, everyone ate it, but if you wanted IT, you made it up at home with ingredients you almost certainly had on hand.
Well thank you so much BLAKE DANFORTH, for taking the TIME to read and correct my blog post. Which, I have to point out, I write because I am passionate about sharing Italian food and for which you pay NOTHING. I’ve decided to use CAPS because that is what you seem to APPROVE OF. Also, just a question (since you asked me one: why you should accept anything I write?) How many books have you PUBLISHED? (I’m up to 9). And how many people follow your blog/social media accounts. Just CURIOUS.
Keep up the GOOD WORK at catching grammatical mistakes. Although, many of the ‘mistakes’ you point out above are in fact intentional. It’s called style and grace.
BLAKE is a pompous ASS who needs to crawl back under the rock from which he came. How’s that for grammar?
“Intentional mistakes?” Wow, that’s pathetic even for you. As for the use of CAPS, they were used to highlight the corrections to your errors. The fact that you couldn’t figure that out proves my point about your lazy and sloppy thinking. Using the CAPS was the best way to correct the mess you wrote, and that was just the first paragraph. For example, I wrote RESTAURANT? in CAPS to highlight the need for a question mark.
Anyway, the fact that you published some books does not negate the reality of your writing a blog filled with errors, including in recipes, where no mistakes should ever be.
I noticed that you whined about this on Facebook, where I did not place my thoughts, which, of course, only proves how desperately needy you are. Does a pack of howling followers assuaging your silly ego really convince you that publishing a professional blog filled with misspellings and grammatical errors is acceptable? “Oh no, Elizabeth, but you’re a genius.” “Oh my, dear sweet Elizabeth, such a troll.” Blah, blah, blah. A person can’t be a troll if it’s not on Facebook. You put it there to fill an emptiness in your life.
My favorite part of your sad response is your writing that your wallowing in bad writing is an example of “style and grace?” Are you actually serious with that? Or are you just another ignorant blogger who thinks content doesn’t need mechanics? (Do you know what I mean by “content and mechanics?”)
You need to elevate your personal standards. You also need to proofread what you write. I don’t have any of your books based on your history of stylistic mistakes on your blog. I can only imagine what it must be like for the editor assigned to getting your book(s) ready for publication; what this editor has to endure. I did flip through your latest travel guide (eating Italy and all that) and like all travel books it will be outdated in a few years. Additionally, in the first 12 pages, there were three errors.
No wonder we have Trump in the White House. Ignorance is surely bliss in both of your cases.
WOW!! My first real troll. This is hysterical. Thanks for being so entertaining!
And if your intention was to bring more people to my blog, so that they could read your comments then keep ’em coming!
You’re too kind.
Whoever Blake is, if he/she isn’t a troll, needs desperately to GET A LIFE.
Boy you really are a miserable person. Do you get enjoyment from being so nasty? Get a life!
Hi Blake, you certainly are a pathetic individual. Sometimes I take for granted my wonderful friends and how lucky I am to be able to learn from and enjoy reading posts from people like Elizabeth.
Thank you for providing a bench mark for the people I don’t need in my life.
Grazie!!!
Bless his heart….
Elizabeth you bring so many of us joy with your books and blog. Keep writing, please continue sharing your experiences, food and recipes with those of us who look forward to them!Anyone who doesn’t enjoy them or how you write them, should move on. Life is too short to do something that doesn’t make you feel good Mr. Danforth. If you don’t appreciate what Elizabeth offers then Ciao!
Thank you!!!!
Well said Elizabeth
Oh and I obviously don’t care much about grammar mistakes. Mine or others!
Personally I love Elizabeth Minchilli, her passion for Rome, Italy, Cooking, Eating, Drinking, Food, Wine & Travel. Please keep it up Elizabeth, and don’t let the negative response from someone slow you down. I very much love the positive bright light you add to this world Elizabeth, especially in today’s world were it would be easy to become depressed by just listening to world news.
Can’t wait to read your next blog post ❤️
Oh don’t worry, not slowing down any time soon. Thank you!
Blake-Your comments were pompous at best. You are criticizing Elizabeth for typos, then missing a typo yourself when you explained the CORRECT way to write. Note: you repeated the line : The thinking was that is was SO simple, why on earth would you eat it in a RESTAURANT? as your expert punctuation and proofreading advice. IN FACT, you did not note that the word IS should have been the word IT. You need to elevate your personal standards and proofread what you write.
This is hands down one of my favorite dishes of all time and I love the one at Flavio Velavevodetto!! Ps. The guy correcting your grammar should use his time and energy to actually make this delicious dish or start a blog of his own. How absolutely rude.
Blake Danforth – the problem that arises when you take it upon yourself to correct someone so forcefully is that you may omit mistakes and therefore look a tad foolish. So, for instance, “trattorias” should be “trattorie”.
Although I am an incurable pendant, I really enjoy Elizabeth’s style, passion and knowledge and that’s why I read her blog. I may well be wrong, but there seems to be a hidden agenda in the vehemence with which you attack the writer. Should you get help?
I’ve long believed that if you want your readers to trust you, you speak to them as you would a good friend. Elizabeth Minchilli’s blog is not an academic treatise; she’s telling stories, wonderful stories, about her life in Italy. She manages to make her posts informative and educational, while also being charming and engaging.
Elizabeth is an accomplished blogger who knows how to connect with and captivate her audience superbly. I’ve never met her, but I feel like I know her. As a result, I’ve trusted her for years. And when I get a chance to put her advice into practice, I’m NEVER disappointed.
Some of the greatest writers of the last century advocated for a more conversational style of writing to connect with readers. John Steinbeck counseled, “I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person — a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.”
Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “The writing style which is most natural for you is bound to echo the speech you heard when a child…I myself find that I trust my own writing most, and others seem to trust it most, too, when I sound most like a person from Indianapolis, which is what I am.”
And, as Elmore Leonard succinctly wrote, “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
As for a missing article or hyphen, or a misplaced comma, pick up the NYTimes any day of the week, and you’ll see similar mistakes. Annoying? Perhaps, but I have a difficult time believing that the NYT is total crap because of a minor typo.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for your lovely stories. Don’t stop being yourself. And thank you for being my friend (even if you don’t know it).
Thank you Jane!!! What wonderful comments on writing you found!
BRAVA Elizabeth!
Hey, BLAKE DANFORTH, I can also use inappropiate caps.
Most blogs are writen informally, in the authors voice. Which means there will be stylistic choices that not everyone understands. Like BLAKE DANFORTH.
This blog is free content. The recipes, the videos, the tips to make your vacation special, all free. We all gain something from Elizabeth graciously sharing her knowledge.
To the grammer experts, armchair cooks and the “I have been to Rome once, 20 years ago” experts, quit being so negative or go someplace else. No one is forcing you to read Elizabeth’s blog.
THANK YOU AB!!!
Wow! Bravo Elizabeth!! Your wonderful blog is all about your passion for Italy, food and the people of Italy. The haters will always hate. Keep doing what your passionate about as the rest of us are so enjoying your style!!
Grazie!!!
Really Blake Danforth? Was that really necessary? All it did was make you look like a narcisstic, pompous ass!
Elizabeth, thank you for taking the time to do what you do so well. This jerk reminds me of a guy who left a scathing review on TripAdvisor for a wonderful restaurant because the pictures on the wall were crooked!
Thank you! And yes, going down the rabbit hole of bad trip advisor reviews based on things like crooked photos can also be kind of entertaining.
I have been buying your books and reading your posts for years. I’m a retired teacher (Language Arts and History] and I have never noticed grammatical errors. How can one obsess over such things when you are sharing such wonderful stories and recipes? I find that very sad. Your book, Italian Rustic, inspired us to take a leap we never thought possible, but, never once did I proofread it.
Grazie!!
Blake, you are correct that the blog post contains some grammatical errors. Although I noticed them, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the blog post. If your goal was to inform, a more constructive approach may have been more effective. If instead your intent was to criticize, perhaps you should find a travel writer whose style is more appealing to you.
Many of Elizabeth’s readers enjoy her work because we feel as though she is chatting with us at a cafe and we find her style appealing.
Thanks Melanie! (nice chatting with you!!)
I bit late to the party but just git directed this way by DianneJ. No one asked me but here are my two cents. Why on earth was this your reply? The comment was so blatently disrespectful and judging by you reply, hurtful for you. I don’t think this person deserves to be engaged with. On the other hand I don’t get why your reply would be the equivalent of ‘I’m better than you, people like me better! Really?! Is this how you measure people’s? Tells us all a lot about both of you.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I”m having a bit of a difficult time, though, understanding your point. I shouldn’t have engaged? Or I should have, but in the way you is more respectful? And in terms of ‘liking’ me better, yes, in the world of blogs and social media, and traditional media, that is (for better or worse) the way that we judge audience. I am in the business of producing content that entertains and informs. The only way that I can see if I’m am successful in what I do (entertaining and informing) is to count how many people read/like/buy my books/apps/posts. So yes, I do feel like I can say to someone who takes the time to criticize a service that I work hard on and that I provide for free (my blog and newsletter) that I do know better. I was questioning his right to judge me. He questioned my authority and citing that I have more followers than him kind of supports my point, don’t you think?
Ahh that old saying, If you think nobody is reading, make a typo :p
This is a food blog. Not grammarly.
Hi from Canada. Just popped over to your site through a link from Deb Perlman’s blog, Smitten Kitchen. It’s her post called “foolproof cacio e pepe”…Thought I’d say hi, and thanks for the video lesson.
Glad you found me!
That’s how I got here too… and I’m also from Canada 🙂 Thanks for this recipe, I have a pasta potluck coming up this week at work and I wanted to try something new. This will be it!
I’ve made this twice — first time successfully, second time a failure — The cheese congealed, leaving me with grey blobs amidst thin sauce.
The second time I didn’t use a blender; I just mashed the cheese, water, and pepper with a fork. Do you think that might have been the cause?
Yes, absolutely. The blender – and the perfect emulsification of the water and cheese – is a big part of this recipe. The technique is everything.
Ciao Elizabeth! Love your blogs and videos. After having had cacio e pepe in Rome earlier this year, I’ve been keen to try it. I’ve had an extra incentive when some friends said they are coming (one of whom is a professional chef), and they’ve requested cacio e pepe! Can you please give me a few clues as to quantities? Your videos are very helpful, by the way. Keep them coming! Ciao, Christine.
For about 4 people use about a pound of pasta and about a cup and a half of grated cheese. Enough water to form a paste (as little as possible. It’s very much a wing it kind of recipe.
Wow, back again, Elizabeth. Just read the negative comments from Blake Danforth, and all your supporters’ comments. Can’t believe someone would take the time to read a blog and then make all those negative comments. What comes through for me is your love of Italy, its food, and its people. I completely agree with you, having an Italian son-in-law and having been to Italy five times. Keep doing what you’re doing. You have many more lovers than haters!
Thank you Christine!!!
Wow… just came upon this and thanks so much for sharing. Caccio e pep has become a favourite and we have tried a few recipes without luck in replicating some of our Roman experiences, but this looks great.
The recipe failed for me because it was difficult to use a hand blender with the smaller volume I was making. I switched to a magic bullet and it worked perfectly.
I think this recipe is a restaurants way to make a large volume of sauce and then create individual servings as needed.
Still it beats the messy cheese goop I have created in the past. Maybe put a clump of butter in the bottom of the bowl
Were you only making it for one person? Then yes, I would imagine that you would have great difficulty using a hand blender. As would any recipe that divides in four. You could always make the full recipe, and keep the rest for later use. It stores quite well, and you really can use it many other ways. No to butter! Yes, that will help things blend together, but then you’ve got much more butterfat and it really does change the entire taste and texture. That’s the restaurant short cut, by the way.
You (and Signor Velavevodetto) have saved me! For YEARS I’ve been trying and failing to make this dish taste as well as I’ve experienced in a few of my favorite Italian restaurants. This week I was determined to figure out what I was doing wrong. A fair amount of research led me to your wonderful blog and THE cacio e pepe solution. Molte grazie! Keep up the great work!
I like to read your blogs/places to visit and or eat. We love our vacations in Italy, so much fun, food and getting to experience the Italian slow life. Thanks.
Thank you for this recipe! I saw so many methods but this one was so straight forward and turned out to be DELICIOUS!!!