Risotto ‘Cacio e Pepe’ by Chef Massimo Bottura

This delicious risotto dubbed cacio e pepe is a take on the classic Roman pasta dish cacio e pepe . This dish has an amazing history to it, which was revealed by Massimo on the famous Netflix series Chef’s Table. He developed the method after the earthquake that devastated the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy in 2012.

During the earthquake nearly 1,000 wheels of the famous locally-produce Parmigiano Reggiano were affected. Local growers were in a dire state as they couldn’t unload such a large quantity of Parmigiano Reggiano in a short time frame. Massimo came to help designing a risotto recipe that quickly became hugely popular around the world and helped local producers sell the Parmigiano Reggiano in a very short time.

It is very weighty that the temperature does not exceed 90°C (194°F). When the cheese starts becoming stringy, remove the pan from the heat.

Reheat it to 80°C (176°F) again and let it cool. Cover and chill in the fridge overnight, or for 8 hours.

The liquid should separate into 3 densities: a creamy Parmigiano paste on top, milky Parmigiano liquid in the middle and solid Parmigiano proteins on the bottom. Pepper Distillation Crush the peppers and vacuum-pack them with the water.

Place the liquid in a rotary evaporator and distillate at 24°C (75°F). Put the distillation in a vaporizer and keep cool. Risotto Place the Parmigiano stock in a pan and keep it warm.

Begin by moistening the rice with one ladle of Parmigiano stock at a time and stirring, as for a classic risotto. Three quarters of the way through cookery start adding a spoon of Parmigiano cream and the rest of the black pepper oil. When the rice is almost cooked, work in the rest of the parmigiano cream and the rest of the black pepper oil.

Leave it for 1 minute to rest in the pan, still stirring. Pour the risotto on to a plate and flatten it, then spray the pepper distillation over the risotto to enhance the pepper taste. Chef’s Pencil is part of the Amazon Associate Program and earns from qualifying purchases.