Italiano
Cooking is an act of love, an outlet for creativity, a social activity, and what else…
But above all it is science, dealing primarily with chemical reactions and physical processes.
So, who better than a team of scientists could study the steps for an optimal recipe?
The recipe in question is cacio e pepe: a peasant food, as they say, originating from the central regions of Italy.
The ingredients are very simple: black pepper, cheese (preferably pecorino romano) and pasta (preferably a long pasta shape, such as spaghetti or bucatini).
The difficulty lies in knowing how to mix these ingredients wisely.
And this is where the work of scientists comes in handy!
The study, conducted jointly by 6 Italian researchers from the University of Padua (Italy), the Max Plank Institute in Dresden (Germany), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), and the Institute of Science and Technology in Wien (Austria), found the solution that for the perfect sauce:
it needs 2%–3% cornstarch by weight.
This amount of starch is above that typically found in pasta boiling water, which is traditionally used to mix pasta and cheese sauce. So, researchers recommend using a solution containing cornstarch to prepare the cheese sauce to add to the pasta, which must be strictly “al dente“, so that it can finish cooking together with the other ingredients.
It’s not very clear, right?
Well… here you have a link to the video.
Warn you tho: it won’t be easy to follow the entire recipe step by step.
But, you know… in case you want to peer-review the study!
And if you’re after some content for your catering and/or hospitality business, just give me a shout!
