Latest news with #epepe
RTÉ News
30-04-2025
- Science
- RTÉ News
Science-backed method for the perfect cacio e pepe recipe
Cacio e pepe, a beloved pasta dish from Italy's Lazio region, is made with just three ingredients: pasta, ground black pepper, and, most importantly, authentic Pecorino Romano cheese. However, the simplicity of its ingredients can be misleading. Many assume it's easy to make, only to end up with a clumpy mess instead of the silky, creamy sauce they hoped for. Intrigued by the challenge, researchers from the University of Barcelona, the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, the University of Padova, and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria took it upon themselves to investigate the physics behind mixing cheese with water. Now, they believe they've cracked the code to perfecting this classic dish. Explaining the motives behind this study, which was published in Physics of Fluids, author Ivan Di Terlizzi said: "We are Italians living abroad. We often have dinner together and enjoy traditional cooking. "Among the dishes we have cooked was cacio e pepe, and we thought this might be an interesting physical system to study and describe. And of course, there was the practical aim to avoid wasting good Pecorino." After conducting tests that honed in on the quantities of these ingredients, the researchers determined that a 2 per cent to 3 per cent starch-to-cheese ratio created the smoothest and most consistent sauce. To achieve this level of precision, the team recommend using powdered starch – such as potato or corn starch – instead of depending on the unpredictable starch content of pasta water. "Because starch is such an important ingredient, and the amount of starch can sharply determine where you end up, what we suggest is to use an amount of starch which is precisely measured," advised Di Terlizzi. "And this can only be done if you have the right amount of powdered starch in proportion to the amount of cheese that you're using." Once the starch is added to the water, the authors' instructions say to blend it with the cheese for a uniform consistency, before adding the sauce back into the pan and slowly heating it up to serving temperature. If you've ever attempted to make cacio e pepe, you might have noticed that excessive heat can cause pieces of grated cheese to clump together, resulting in that dreaded, lumpy texture. To avoid this, the researchers experimented with different temperatures and recommend letting the water cool slightly before adding the cheese, and then to gradually warm up the sauce to reach the desired consistency. Then mix in the pepper and pasta, and eat. And after perfecting the cacio e pepe recipe, the team are keen to conduct further experiments on other popular Italian dishes. "There's a recipe called pasta alla gricia, which is cacio e pepe plus guanciale, cured pork cheek," said author Daniel Maria Busiello. "This recipe seems to be easier to perform, and we don't know exactly why. This is one idea we might explore in the future."
Forbes
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
What Physicists Perfecting Cacio E Pepe Misses About Why We Cook
Science may have perfected the sauce, but the real recipe was always about something more: memory, ... More ritual, and making meaning through imperfection. When scientists recently unveiled a physics-based method to perfect cacio e pepe—eliminating the dish's infamous clumping through a mathematical model—it felt like a breakthrough. Or maybe a provocation. Published by the American Institute of Physics, in the journal Physics of Fluids, the study framed the dish as a technical problem: a sauce destabilized by heat and starch, solvable through precise emulsification timing and temperature control. It's an impressive feat of culinary chemistry. They cracked the code of a process and a dish that so many of us couldn't get right. But for many of us, it also misses the point. Because if you've ever stood at a pan over a hot stove, trying to time each ingredient just right—your heart pounding, the cheese clumping, the sauce refusing to come together—you know cacio e pepe, like so many weeknight dishes, is about emotion and intuition as much as execution. It's a dish that can humble even the most seasoned cooks. It's got character and soul. And that's part of the appeal. This isn't the first time someone has tried to conquer cacio e pepe. YouTuber Alex of French Guy Cooking spent weeks attempting to nail the dish's elusive sauce in a now-beloved video series. His journey wasn't just about pasta—it was about patience, failure, and the quiet satisfaction of learning something the hard way. In one episode, he admits it wasn't the ingredients holding him back—it was his technique. His own hands. That moment resonated because it was honest. Mastery, for most of us, isn't sterile. It's messy. It's deeply personal. And sometimes, what we remember most isn't the finished dish—it's the muscle memory we build while trying. It's the feeling of getting closer, even if we never quite stick the landing. In a culture craving comfort and connection, our obsession with 'perfect' food may be missing what ... More people are truly hungry for: emotional resonance. This pursuit of 'perfect' cooking is unfolding in a moment when people are actually craving the opposite. According to Barilla's 2025 Trend Watch, there's a notable return to classic pasta dishes like carbonara, amatriciana, and cacio e pepe—beloved not for their technical challenges but for their comfort, familiarity, and emotional resonance. These are dishes being refreshed, not reinvented. There's a cultural hunger right now for food that feels safe, known, and human. That often means embracing imperfection—not solving for it. At the same time, cooking has never been more emotionally charged. A 2018 study in the journal Appetite found that 'cooking anxiety'—the stress and fear of messing up in the kitchen—is common, especially among less confident home cooks. And in an era shaped by food influencers, TikTok recipe hacks, and hyper-edited cooking shows, the pressure to perform has only grown. So when science steps in to 'perfect' a dish like cacio e pepe, it can feel like an effort that risks flattening the very thing that gives it life: the trial and error, the human error, the emotional stakes. When we crave a dish like cacio e pepe, we're not just chasing a flavor. We're chasing memory, ... More warmth, and the forgiving embrace of imperfection. The truth is, many of us aren't looking for flawless food. We're looking for food that feels like home—even if that home is slightly chaotic. We want recipes and meals that forgive us when we get distracted. We want to feel something. Cacio e pepe, deceptively simple, holds a particular kind of weight: it's the kind of dish you might have tried to recreate from memory. Or from a grandmother's instructions that included more feeling than measurement. Maybe you've made it late at night after a long day, too tired to care about clumping, or felt tempted to make the Americanized version (with cream), just wanting something warm and salty and good enough. That's not something you can model in a lab. You have to live it. In American kitchens—shaped by migration, substitution, and shortcuts passed down like heirlooms—dishes like cacio e pepe take on a different kind of meaning. They're less about nailing tradition and more about negotiating memory. For many of us, the version we grew up with wasn't 'authentic' in the Roman sense, but it was familiar, adapted, and emotionally exact. The butter might have been salted. The pasta water ratio was guesswork. It still fed us. It still stuck. And as philosopher Andrea Baldini writes in a 2020 essay on 'imperfectionism in cooking' published in there's value in that mess. His term describes recipes that emerge not from a flawless plan but from spontaneous adjustments, improvisation, and even mistakes. These dishes aren't lesser versions of their originals—they're expressions of humanity, creativity, and adaptability. They remind us that imperfection isn't a flaw. It's a feature. When we crave a dish like cacio e pepe, we're not just chasing a flavor. We're chasing memory, ... More warmth, and the forgiving embrace of imperfection. In the end, the scientists did solve a real problem. But in doing so, they surfaced a deeper issue: our discomfort with food that doesn't behave nicely. Or maybe our discomfort with ourselves when we don't get it right. But what if getting it right was never the point? Maybe we should keep returning to cacio e pepe, not because it's perfect but because it asks us to try. It offers us a little challenge, a little grace, and a chance to see what happens when we put our hands—and hearts—into something anyway. And maybe that's the kind of perfection we need more of.
Daily Mail
29-04-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Italian scientists reveal the 'perfect' recipe for Cacio e pepe pasta - and how to avoid the dreaded clumps
It's the beloved Italian dish that tastes delicious but is frustratingly difficult to cook. At first glance Cacio e pepe looks like a simple recipe containing only three ingredients – pasta, Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper. Professional pasta chefs and Italian grandmothers have the ability to turn out a smooth, creamy sauce time and time again. But as anyone who has tried to make it will know, the cheese will often clump when added to hot pasta water, turning it into a stringy, sticky mess. Now, Italian scientists reveal how to make the perfect Cacio e pepe – without any of the dreaded clumps. 'We are Italians living abroad,' said Dr Ivan Di Terlizzi, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany, said. 'We often have dinner together and enjoy traditional cooking. 'Among the dishes we have cooked was Cacio e pepe, and we thought this might be an interesting physical system to study and describe. And of course, there was the practical aim to avoid wasting good pecorino.' So, will you give their recipe a try? Most people attempting to create the dish will collect their drained pasta water before stirring in the cheese. While fatty substances like cheese cannot mix with water, the starch from the pasta helps bridge that gap. In tests, the researchers discovered that a 2-3 per cent starch-to-cheese ratio produced the smoothest, most uniform sauce. And the best way to ensure this proportion is to make your own starchy water, rather than relying on drained water from pasta, they said. They recommend using powdered starch like potato or corn starch, and weighing out a quantity that is 2-3 per cent of the amount of cheese being used. 'Because starch is such an important ingredient, and the amount of starch can sharply determine where you end up, what we suggest is to use an amount of starch which is precisely measured,' Dr Di Terlizzi said. 'And this can only be done if you have the right amount of powdered starch in proportion to the amount of cheese that you're using.' Once the starch is added to the water, the authors' instructions say to blend it with the cheese for a uniform consistency, before adding the sauce back into the pan and slowly heating it up to serving temperature. How to make the perfect Cacio e pepe For two hungry people: Ingredients - 300g pasta (tonnarelli is preferred, though spaghetti or rigatoni also works well) - 200g cheese (traditionalists would insist on using Pecorino Romano DOP) - 5g powdered starch (potato starch or corn starch) - 150g water - Black pepper (toasted whole black peppercorns, which are then grounded, are best) Step 1: Dissolve the powdered starch in 50g water, heating the mixture gently until it thickens and turns from cloudy to nearly clear. Step 2: Add 100g cold water to this mixture to cool it down. Step 3: Using a blender, add the cheese to the starchy sauce. Step 4: Add a generous amount of black pepper to the mixture. Step 5: Meanwhile, cook the pasta in slightly salted water until it is al dente and leave to cool for a minute. Save some of the pasta cooking water before draining. Step 6: Add the sauce back into the pan, stir in the pasta and heat it up very slowly to serving temperature. Step 7: You can adjust the consistency by gradually adding the saved pasta water as needed. Step 8: Garnish with grated cheese and pepper before serving. This brings the researchers to another key element of the perfect Cacio e pepe sauce – heat, or rather, a lack of it. They warned too much heat denatures the proteins inside the cheese, causing it to stick together and leading to the dreaded clumps. Instead, the authors advise letting the starchy water cool before mixing in the cheese and bringing the sauce up to temperature as slowly as possible. Then, the final steps are to mix in the pepper and pasta, and eat. Writing in the journal Physics of Fluids the team said: 'A true Italian grandmother or a skilled home chef from Rome would never need a scientific recipe for Cacio e pepe, relying instead on instinct and years of experience. 'For everyone else, this guide offers a practical way to master the dish. 'Preparing Cacio e pepe successfully depends on getting the balance just right, particularly the ratio of starch to cheese. 'The concentration of starch plays a crucial role in keeping the sauce creamy and smooth, without clumps or separation.' They said their method is 'particularly useful for cooking large batches of pasta, where heat control can be challenging and requires extra care'. The team also included researchers from the University of Barcelona, the University of Padova and the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria. For future work they plan to look at other recipes including pasta alla gricia, which is Cacio e pepe plus cured pork cheek. 'This recipe seems to be easier to perform, and we don't know exactly why,' co-author Daniel Maria Busiello said. 'This is one idea we might explore in the future.' HOW CAN YOU MAKE SPAGHETTI SNAP IN TWO? Spaghetti's unusual shattering process has stumped science's best brains for years, including Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman. However, researchers from MIT have finally shown how and why it can be done. Two MIT students, Ronald Heisser and Vishal Patil, built a mechanical fracture device to uncontrollably twist and bend sticks of spaghetti. Two clamps on either end of the device held a stick of spaghetti in place. A clamp at one end could be rotated to twist the dry noodle by various degrees, while the other clamp slid toward the twisting clamp to bring the two ends of the spaghetti together, bending the stick. They used the device to bend and twist hundreds of spaghetti sticks and recorded the entire fragmentation process with a camera, at up to a million frames per second. They found that by first twisting the spaghetti at almost 360 degrees, then slowly bringing the two clamps together to bend it, the stick snapped exactly in two. They found that if a 10-inch-long spaghetti stick is first twisted by about 270 degrees and then bent it will snap in two. The snap-back, in which the stick will spring back in the opposite direction from which it was bent, is weakened in the presence of twist. And, the twist-back, where the stick will essentially unwind to its original straightened configuration, releases energy from the rod, preventing additional fractures.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
I Cook For A Living, And These Are The Trader Joe's Freezer Aisle Staples I Rely On For Cheap, Stress-Free Meals
Trader Joe's is a cult classic for a reason: it's affordable, it's on trend, and pretty much anyone can find something they love among the tiny-but-efficient aisles. Whether you need prepped veggies (I love their mirepoix!), a frozen lunch for work, or a fun snack for your next game night, TJ's has you covered. As a chef, I've come to rely on a handful of their products to make quick and easy meals throughout the week, which I'm often in need of after cooking for work all day. Sometimes, the lowest-effort meals are actually the best, and when it's cheap, too, it's a win-win. These are some of my favorite frozen items that you'll always find in my freezer! Browns Let's start with a real crowd-pleaser: the frozen hash browns. You will never not find these in my freezer, because they're literally my favorite thing to have on my breakfast plate. They're even better than McDonald's hash browns, especially because of their price point — but I think they taste better, too. These are typically $2.99 for a whole pack of 8. Can't beat it. I cook mine in the air fryer while I prep some breakfast sausage and fried eggs, then finish them with a little salt for the perfect hash brown at home. There was a time when they ran out of these hash browns for a few months, and let me just say: thank god that time has passed! Cacio E Pepe This is a little embarrassing to admit, but I've messed up cacio e pepe quite a few times when making it from scratch. For some reason my sauce tends to get clumpy, no matter what trick or method I've tried. I'm still working on that, but in the meantime, I've gotten by with TJ's frozen Spaghetti Cacio E Pepe. As a chef, it feels a bit crazy to recommend a frozen pasta dish, but this one is actually delicious, and I've never had anything like it. All you need to make this baby into a complete meal is a little garlic bread or chicken to go on top. I also really love adding broccoli to this pasta! Ginger Cubes One of my favorite things to cook with is ginger. It adds a nice bit of spice to any dish, whether you're using it in a lemony ginger salad dressing or in a stir-fry sauce. What I don't love is prepping ginger; peeling it is annoying, and it's quite fibrous which makes it hard to grate sometimes. TJ's saves the day by offering frozen cubes of ginger that come in a little plastic tray. When you need some ginger, you can pop out single cubes and keep the rest in the freezer. This is a genius product, in my humble opinion. Style Fried Rice Trader Joe's typically has two types of fried rice in stock: one Chinese version and another Japanese. I am obsessed with their Japanese Fried Rice. It has edamame, carrot, a little bit of tofu, and some seaweed in the mix. I love using this as the base of a quick stir-fry dinner: just cook a protein to go on top, and you have a really quick, filling meal. For budget-friendly recipes and easy dinners, download the free Tasty app, where you can save any of our 7,500+ recipes for the week ahead — no subscription required. Chocolate Croissants Have you tried the frozen TJ's croissants? Because you definitely should. They have a few varieties and they are all super delicious — I really love the double chocolate variety, but even the mini plain croissants are great, too. Just remember that these are best if you thaw them and let them rise at room temperature overnight. It seems like a long time, but it's worth it when you're rewarded with a warm, freshly baked croissant for your perfect brunch at home. Waffles If you can't tell from my favorites list, I'm big on breakfast. So is Trader Joe's, which is probably why I'm always in there. For the longest time, I didn't have a waffle maker, so I soothed my cravings with TJ's Frozen Belgian Waffles. These pop right into the toaster, and trust me when I say the perfect breakfast consists of one or two of these babies with one of those crispy, to-die-for hash browns… and maybe some eggs or bacon for protein. Squash Mac & Cheese This mac and cheese is enough of a meal on its own. Super creamy with some delicious butternut squash in the sauce, this macaroni is always in my cart when I check out. To build out the perfect meal, I'll roast a chicken (also from TJ's, of course -– I love their newer heirloom chickens!), and serve it with this mac and some sauteed spinach or asparagus for a satisfying Sunday supper type of meal. Pastry Pups Any time I'm hosting friends, I hit up the appetizer section in the freezer aisle. The Parmesan Pastry Pups are basically bougie pigs in a blanket, and their crispy little blankets are made of puff pastry. I make these in the air fryer also and sometimes pair them with the samosas or spanakopita for a fun little appetizer board. & Ginger Soup Dumplings Another great option for a quick lunch is the Pork and Ginger Soup Dumplings. They're microwavable and each package comes with 6, which I find to be enough for a light lunch. If I'm trying to make more of a meal out of it, I'll serve them with some of the aforementioned Japanese Fried Rice or a quick salad with smashed cucumber, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Lava Cakes It'd be weird not to comment on any of the amazing desserts TJ's offers in the frozen aisle, and I had a hard time choosing just one to include (chocolate croissants kinda count, right?). That being said, the Chocolate Lava Cakes are so indulgent and come in handy when you wanna end a meal on a sweet note. I love that these can be microwaved or baked in the oven depending on how much time you have. I do recommend baking them in the oven if you can because they'll get a tiny bit crisper rather than that microwave-steamed texture you get from mug cakes or other microwaveable desserts. These are absolutely divine on their own, but topping them with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream really puts them over the top. Mention: Mini French Baguettes Okay, one more item to round out this list. The Mini French Baguettes! I love bread, and I make sourdough at home, but that literally takes a day in the fridge to rise, and sometimes I just need a little bit of warm bread to complete a meal. These are so good and crisp up perfectly in the oven, giving you fresh-baked bread vibes at home. Truly delicious with a little salty butter and jam. What's your favorite freezer aisle find at Trader Joe's? Share your go-to's in the comments!
Buzz Feed
20-03-2025
- General
- Buzz Feed
11 Best Trader Joe's Frozen Items According To Pro Cook
Trader Joe's is a cult classic for a reason: it's affordable, it's on trend, and pretty much anyone can find something they love among the tiny-but-efficient aisles. Whether you need prepped veggies (I love their mirepoix!), a frozen lunch for work, or a fun snack for your next game night, TJ's has you covered. As a chef, I've come to rely on a handful of their products to make quick and easy meals throughout the week, which I'm often in need of after cooking for work all day. Sometimes, the lowest-effort meals are actually the best, and when it's cheap, too, it's a win-win. These are some of my favorite frozen items that you'll always find in my freezer! Hash Browns Let's start with a real crowd-pleaser: the frozen hash browns. You will never not find these in my freezer, because they're literally my favorite thing to have on my breakfast plate. They're even better than McDonald's hash browns, especially because of their price point — but I think they taste better, are typically $2.99 for a whole pack of 8. Can't beat it. I cook mine in the air fryer while I prep some breakfast sausage and fried eggs, then finish them with a little salt for the perfect hash brown at home. There was a time when they ran out of these hash browns for a few months, and let me just say: thank god that time has passed! Spaghetti Cacio E Pepe This is a little embarrassing to admit, but I've messed up cacio e pepe quite a few times when making it from scratch. For some reason my sauce tends to get clumpy, no matter what trick or method I've tried. I'm still working on that, but in the meantime, I've gotten by with TJ's frozen Spaghetti Cacio E a chef, it feels a bit crazy to recommend a frozen pasta dish, but this one is actually delicious, and I've never had anything like it. All you need to make this baby into a complete meal is a little garlic bread or chicken to go on top. I also really love adding broccoli to this pasta! Frozen Ginger Cubes One of my favorite things to cook with is ginger. It adds a nice bit of spice to any dish, whether you're using it in a lemony ginger salad dressing or in a stir-fry sauce. What I don't love is prepping ginger; peeling it is annoying, and it's quite fibrous which makes it hard to grate sometimes. TJ's saves the day by offering frozen cubes of ginger that come in a little plastic tray. When you need some ginger, you can pop out single cubes and keep the rest in the freezer. This is a genius product, in my humble opinion. Japanese Style Fried Rice Trader Joe's typically has two types of fried rice in stock: one Chinese version and another Japanese. I am obsessed with their Japanese Fried Rice. It has edamame, carrot, a little bit of tofu, and some seaweed in the mix. I love using this as the base of a quick stir-fry dinner: just cook a protein to go on top, and you have a really quick, filling meal. For budget-friendly recipes and easy dinners, download the free Tasty app, where you can save any of our 7,500+ recipes for the week ahead — no subscription required. Double Chocolate Croissants Have you tried the frozen TJ's croissants? Because you definitely should. They have a few varieties and they are all super delicious — I really love the double chocolate variety, but even the mini plain croissants are great, remember that these are best if you thaw them and let them rise at room temperature overnight. It seems like a long time, but it's worth it when you're rewarded with a warm, freshly baked croissant for your perfect brunch at home. Belgian Waffles If you can't tell from my favorites list, I'm big on breakfast. So is Trader Joe's, which is probably why I'm always in there. For the longest time, I didn't have a waffle maker, so I soothed my cravings with TJ's Frozen Belgian Waffles. These pop right into the toaster, and trust me when I say the perfect breakfast consists of one or two of these babies with one of those crispy, to-die-for hash browns… and maybe some eggs or bacon for protein. Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese This mac and cheese is enough of a meal on its own. Super creamy with some delicious butternut squash in the sauce, this macaroni is always in my cart when I check out. To build out the perfect meal, I'll roast a chicken (also from TJ's, of course -– I love their newer heirloom chickens!), and serve it with this mac and some sauteed spinach or asparagus for a satisfying Sunday supper type of meal. Parmesan Pastry Pups Any time I'm hosting friends, I hit up the appetizer section in the freezer aisle. The Parmesan Pastry Pups are basically bougie pigs in a blanket, and their crispy little blankets are made of puff pastry. I make these in the air fryer also and sometimes pair them with the samosas or spanakopita for a fun little appetizer board. Pork & Ginger Soup Dumplings Another great option for a quick lunch is the Pork and Ginger Soup Dumplings. They're microwavable and each package comes with 6, which I find to be enough for a light lunch. If I'm trying to make more of a meal out of it, I'll serve them with some of the aforementioned Japanese Fried Rice or a quick salad with smashed cucumber, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Chocolate Lava Cakes It'd be weird not to comment on any of the amazing desserts TJ's offers in the frozen aisle, and I had a hard time choosing just one to include (chocolate croissants kinda count, right?). That being said, the Chocolate Lava Cakes are so indulgent and come in handy when you wanna end a meal on a sweet note.I love that these can be microwaved or baked in the oven depending on how much time you have. I do recommend baking them in the oven if you can because they'll get a tiny bit crisper rather than that microwave-steamed texture you get from mug cakes or other microwaveable desserts. These are absolutely divine on their own, but topping them with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream really puts them over the top. Honorable Mention: Mini French Baguettes Okay, one more item to round out this list. The Mini French Baguettes! I love bread, and I make sourdough at home, but that literally takes a day in the fridge to rise, and sometimes I just need a little bit of warm bread to complete a meal. These are so good and crisp up perfectly in the oven, giving you fresh-baked bread vibes at home. Truly delicious with a little salty butter and jam. What's your favorite freezer aisle find at Trader Joe's? Share your go-to's in the comments!
