Physics of the perfect cacio e pepe sauce

Want to make the perfect pasta? Physics finally has the answer

Cacio e pepe has just three ingredients, but mastering it is harder than it looks.

Researchers Have the Perfect Cacio e Pepe Recipe Down to a Science—Literally

Cooking the famous, creamy pasta sauce is as delicious as it is frustrating, because the cheese tends to clump when exposed to heat. That's why Italian scientists created a new technique that's "simple yet precise"

Physics of the perfect cacio e pepe sauce

The trick: add corn starch separately to make the sauce rather than using pasta water.

A scientific method for flawless cacio e pepe

The beloved Italian pasta cacio e pepe is perhaps best known for two things: being delicious and being frustratingly difficult to cook. At first glance, it looks like a simple recipe, containing only three ingredients: pasta, pecorino romano cheese, and black pepper. But as anyone who has tried to make it will know, the cheese will often clump when added to the hot pasta water, turning what is supposed to be a smooth, creamy sauce into a stringy…

Cheese, water, pasta and physics: researchers have revealed the secret of perfect Cacio e Pepe.A recipe that not only tastes but does not guarantee clumpHow to mix cheese with hot water without the cheese clumping?A crucial question for those who have tried – more or less successfully – to prepare the popular Italian pasta recipe Cacio e Pepe, consisting of pasta, Italian hard cheese Pecorino and pepper.

"A real Italian grandmother would never need a scientific recipe for cacio e pepe" – for physicists, it's sometimes necessary. Researching one's own favorite dish isn't usually on the to-do list. Exceptions prove the rule.