Cacio E Pepe

Ingredients

• spaghetti
• grated pecorino romano
• peppercorns

Method

Toast the whole peppercorns in a large, dry pan over medium heat until fragrant and their oils release — about 2 minutes. You'll smell the shift from raw pepper to something warm and slightly sweet. Coarsely crush them on a board with a pestle. The fragments should be uneven: some powder, some pieces the size of a lentil. Fine powder clumps when it hits the starchy water; too-large chunks don't distribute. This matters.

Cook the spaghetti 2 minutes under the package time. It wants to finish in the pan, not on the plate. Reserve 250ml of the starchy cooking water before you drain. The starch is your emulsification agent — it binds the cheese and fat into a creamy sauce rather than leaving you with gritty claggy paste or oily strands.

Tip the drained pasta into the pan with the toasted pepper over low heat. Add 100ml of the reserved water and stir constantly for 1–2 minutes until the pasta relaxes and the liquid loosens slightly. You're waking the starch.

Grate the pecorino romano into a bowl. Add 60ml of the pasta water and stir with a fork until you have a thick, pourable cream — the consistency of double cream, not soup. This prevents the cheese from seizing into clumps when it hits the hot pasta. Off the heat, pour the cheese cream into the pan and fold through using two forks, working quickly. The residual heat sets the emulsion. If it tightens up, loosen it with a splash more pasta water, a tablespoon at a time.

Plate straight away into warmed bowls. The sauce thickens as it cools, so speed matters. Finish with a scatter of the remaining crushed pepper and a grind of black pepper over the top. The toasting of the peppercorn is non-negotiable — raw pepper is sharp and flat-tasting; toasted pepper is rounded and almost floral. That's the difference between a dish and a mistake.