Spaghetti cacio e pepe

While the water heats

1. 1Put the water on

   Start
   Cooking 12–15 minHeat high

   Bring 3.5 l of water to the boil in the large pot, covered, over a high heat.

   Check A full, rolling boil.

   Tip Our guide: about a litre of water for every 100 g of pasta, the usual measure for plenty of water.

2. 2Grate the pecorino

   I’m here
   Hands-on 5 min

   Grate the 100 g of Pecorino Romano on the fine holes of the grater into a bowl. Set aside about 2 tablespoons of it in a cup: they go into the tureen at the end, to thicken the sauce if it runs, or simply tossed in last if it does not.

   Check Fine, fluffy shreds, with no coarse pieces or crumbs of rind.

   Tip Our guide: holding a little back is ours, so you can correct the sauce; all 100 g still go into the dish.

   Tip Our guide: finely grated cheese melts evenly into the water; coarse shreds are slower to melt and more likely to stay as strings.

3. 3Grind the pepper

   I’m here
   Hands-on 1 min

   Grind black pepper into a small dish: about 1 teaspoon, or as much as you like, since the dish should taste clearly of it.

   Check Freshly ground and fragrant.

   Tip Ground just before use, it has far more scent; the pepper can also be pounded in a mortar.

Cooking the pasta

1. 4Salt the water and cook the spaghetti

   I’m here
   Cooking 11–13 minHeat highStart 11 min timer

   When the water boils, salt it lightly, about 5 g per litre, then add the 350 g of thick spaghetti and stir so they do not stick. Cook them, uncovered and at a lively boil, until al dente.

   Check Bite a strand: tender, with a thin, firm thread at the centre.

   Tip Our guide: about half the usual salt, because the pecorino is very salty. Use the packet time as your guide and start tasting a minute or two before it.

2. 5Warm the tureen

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   Hands-on 2 min

   While the spaghetti cook, ladle about 150 ml of the boiling water into the tureen, swirl it round and leave it for a minute, then pour it away and dry the tureen.

   Check The tureen is warm to the touch, not too hot to hold.

   Tip Our guide: the tureen should keep the pasta warm, no more. A scalding bowl makes the cheese clump.

3. 6Warm the plates

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   Hands-on 2–10 min

   Warm the four plates while the spaghetti cook: put them in the oven at its lowest setting, about 60 °C, for about 10 minutes, or rinse them under very hot water and dry them just before draining, which takes about 2 minutes.

   Check The plates are warm to the touch, not hot.

   Tip Our guide: how to warm them is ours. A warm plate keeps the cream soft for longer; on a cold one it sets sooner.

4. 7Set aside some cooking water

   I’m here
   Hands-on 1 min

   A minute before the spaghetti are done, scoop about 250 ml of their cooking water into the jug and keep it beside the tureen.

   Check A jug of cloudy, starchy water within reach.

   Tip Our guide: the starch in the water is what turns the cheese into a cream. By the time you use it, it has dropped a little below the boil.

Making the cream

This is the moment that makes the dish: the heat of the pasta and of the water melts the pecorino, and the starch in the water binds it into a cream. It takes a minute or two, off the heat, and all your attention.

1. 8Drain the spaghetti, not too much

   I’m here
   Hands-on 1 min

   Lift the spaghetti out of the pot with the tongs, letting them drip only for a moment, and put them straight into the warm tureen, still wet with their water.

   Check The spaghetti glisten with water; there is no pool of it at the bottom of the tureen.

2. 9Add the water, the pecorino and the pepper

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   Hands-on 1 min

   At once, pour about 60 ml (about 4 tablespoons) of the cooking water from the jug, by now a little below the boil, over the spaghetti, then scatter over the pecorino and the pepper.

   Check The cheese is spread over the pasta, not heaped in one place.

   Tip Our guide: about 4 tablespoons is our reading of ‘a few spoonfuls’; add more, a spoonful at a time, as the cream needs.

   Tip Our guide: scatter the pecorino in two or three goes, tossing a little between them, so it never lands in one lump on the hottest pasta.

3. 10Stir at length

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   Hands-on 1–2 min

   Toss and stir the spaghetti with the tongs or two forks, lifting them and turning them over, without stopping, until the cheese has melted and coats every strand in a smooth cream. If it looks dry or pasty, add more cooking water, a tablespoon at a time, tossing between each.

   Check A glossy, smooth cream clings to every strand and loosens slightly when you lift them, with no strings or lumps of cheese and no water left at the bottom of the tureen.

   Tip Too thick or dry: a tablespoon of cooking water at a time, tossing well between each.

   Tip Too runny: scatter in the pecorino you set aside, a spoonful at a time, and keep tossing.

   Tip Our guide: if the sauce is right without it, toss in the pecorino you set aside at the end all the same, so all the 100 g go into the dish.

   Tip The cream forms below about 65 °C; hotter, the pecorino clumps.

   Tip Our guide, if it clumps: stop adding cheese, add a tablespoon of the water from the jug, which is now cooler, and toss hard: small clumps loosen. Cheese that has set into rubbery lumps will not melt back; lift them out, and next time scatter the cheese in smaller goes, tossing between them.

   Tip Do not add oil, butter or cream to rescue it: they are the most serious mistakes made with this dish.

4. 11Serve at once

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   Hands-on 1 min

   Share the spaghetti between the warm plates, spooning the last of the cream over them, and serve straight away.

   Check Hot, glossy and creamy on the plate.

   Tip The cream sets as it cools, so do not let the plates wait.

   Tip Our guide: if any is left, put it in the fridge within 2 hours, in a shallow container, and eat it within 3 days, reheated until steaming hot, 75 °C at the centre. The sauce will not be creamy again.