Roman Pastas

There are four "Roman classic" pasta dishes that you can find at most restaurants/trattorias in Rome:

• Cacio e pepe - (Pecorino Romano) cheese and pepper, like if maccaroni and cheese died and went to heaven

• Gricia - add guanciale (cured pork jowel), which is like if bacon died and went to heaven

• Carbonara - add egg yolks for an unctuous, creamy sauce punctuated by the crackle of the guanciale

• Amatriciana - remove the yolks and add tomato sauce; a satisfying, cheesy tomato sauce that is the easiest of the four to make

Even though the "recipes" are simple (and rarely written down in Italy), it's important to get high-quality ingredients and the execution is tricky: the first few times I made cacio e pepe it was a lumpy, sad mess.

Here's what has worked for me so far:

Pasta Cacio e Pepe

• 2 main "tricks":

  • Grate the cheese with a "star" box grater - NOT a Microplane, which created the lumpy, sad mess mentioned earlier. A box grater can create the powdery, fine cheese that you need to get a good emulsion (I use this Oxo grater; Serious Eats did a deep dive into graters and cacio e pepe)

  • Add cold water to the cheese before stirring - ideally ice cold water but even room-temperature is OK; basically you make a "paste" with the cheese, so it's less likely to get lumpy or stick together when the hot pasta/pasta water hits it (I learned this from Flavio de Maio of the famed Roman restaurant Flavio Velavevodetto, by way of Elizabeth Minchilli, who also has a slower video with her explaining things)

  • (there's also a "foolproof" or "restaurant" version by Luciano Monosilio which involves corn starch and a blender; Ethan Chlebowski goes into more detail about the science behind this version) 

• Traditionally this is made with tonnarelli, which is like spaghetti but with a square instead of circle cross-section...that being said, spaghetti is fine (do make sure it's a good quality one though)

• Ingredients

  • ~2 cups grated Pecorino Romano (you can also do 1/2 pecorino, 1/2 parmigiano reggiano)

  • 1 pound pasta

  • ~2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper (more or less to taste)

• Instructions

  • Cook the pasta (doesn't need much salt since the cheese has a lot of salt...also use minimum water in the pot to raise the starch content in the water, which helps your emulsion)

  • Grate the cheese; add pepper to the cheese and stir to combine

  • Add a small amount of cold water to the cheese, and stir vigorously to create a paste

  • When the pasta is al dente, reserve some of the pasta water and drain

  • Place the pasta in a large bowl, add the cheese paste, and some of the reserved pasta water; quickly stir (I've found that a large set of tweezers works less, but you can use chopsticks or a meat fork) to create an emulsion

  • Serve immediately with extra cheese & pepper on top

Pasta Carbonara

• This recipe is based on the one made by Luciano Monosilio, who is known as the "king of the carbonara" in Italy; we were lucky enough to try his version at Luciano Cucina Italiana (now one of our favorite restaurants in Rome), and it's amazing!

• Do NOT try to do more than 1 pound of pasta; every time I've tried, it came out as a clumpy mess

• You can use bacon instead of guanciale, but it won't be quite the same...

• You can watch Chef Monosilio cook this recipe in this video...and Alex "French Guy Cooking" Aïnouz goes through the technique in more detail in this video

• Ingredients

  • 1 package spaghetti (or other pasta; rigatoni are often used traditionally)

  • 50 grams (~1/2 cup) grated cheese, on box grater star side (I often use all pecorino romano, but original recipe calls for 20g pecorino & 30g grana)

  • ~5-6 oz guanciale, with “skin” removed and cut into ~1 cm cubes

    • in San Francisco, we've found some amazing guanciale from Alle Pia Salumi at Limoncello

  • 4 egg yolks

• Instructions

  • Brown guanciale on all sides in a pan on ~medium heat, turning down to low as necessary so it doesn’t burn (and stays soft on the inside); meanwhile, start water boiling for pasta

  • Drain rendered guanciale fat into a bowl & set guanciale aside to cool to room temperature

  • Cook pasta (as with cacio e pepe, above, relatively little salt & water helps) until al dente; reserve some pasta water

  • Whisk egg yolks with cheese, then whisk in a small amount of hot pasta water to loosen & help “temper” the yolks

  • Whisk egg mixture over a bain marie, slowly adding in half of the guanciale fat to create an emulsion

  • Once egg mixture is sufficiently thick (like a custard), remove from bain marie and whisk in some more pasta water (to further “temper” the yolks & make it easier to coat)

  • Toss the sauce with the pasta (mixing with a set of tweezers works well)

  • Add guanciale on top & season with pepper (and more cheese) to taste