Cacio e Pepe
Tonnarelli, Pecorino Romano, and cracked black pepper, a Roman pasta with three ingredients and no place to hide. The technique is everything: pepper toasted in a dry pan, cheese melted into starchy water, everything emulsified over fierce heat into a sauce that clings. Twenty minutes, absolute discipline, dinner for two.
- Cook Time
- 20 min
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Pairing
- Frascati
The Story
Cacio e pepe was shepherds' food, carried into the Roman hills as aged pecorino, dry pasta, and a pocket of peppercorns, ingredients that survived days unrefrigerated. The dish they invented has become the purest test of a cook's patience in the Roman repertoire. There is no cream, never cream, and no rescue if the cheese seizes. The sauce is nothing more than cheese, pepper, and pasta water persuaded into an emulsion at the right temperature, folded over the drained pasta off the heat until every strand shines. Done right it is glossy, sharp, and warming, the work of twenty minutes.
Ingredients
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Nutrition for this recipe’s ingredients is not yet verified against FoodData Central.
Method
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Frascati
Crisp, faintly almond-scented and almost weightless — the everyday white of Rome, made to sit beside its simplest dishes.
Pairing notes
This pairing is editorial guidance for the dish — look for a bottle from Lazio at any wine shop you like. No retailer links are active on this site. See our affiliate disclosure.