Latest news with #IvanDiTerlizzi
The Star
29-06-2025
- Science
- The Star
How to avoid lumps in cheesy pasta sauce, according Italian physicists
A group of scientists figured out why hard cheeses like Pecorino sometimes goes lumpy when added into a sauce. — SIMONE FRAU/American Institute of Physics/dpa How do you mix cheese and hot water without making it lumpy? This is the question for anyone who has ever tried to make the popular Italian pasta dish cacio e pepe, which consists of pasta, the Italian hard cheese Pecorino and pepper. Physicists have now taken on the challenge of solving this complex culinary puzzle and sharing it with pasta enthusiasts around the world. In the journal Physics of Fluids, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany, the University of Padua in Italy and other institutions report their findings – and provided what they consider to be a "foolproof recipe". Normally, fatty substances like cheese do not mix well with water, which is why starch is an important binding agent. Through tests, the research team discovered that 2-3% starch relative to the amount of cheese is optimal for a creamy, uniform sauce. With less than 1%, the risk of lumps is too high, while more than 4% makes the sauce stiff and unappetising. Heat is also crucial, as the sauce cannot tolerate much of it. Excessive temperatures destroy the proteins in the cheese, causing it to form lumps – a process the researchers refer to as the undesirable "mozzarella phase". That's why the water should be cooled slightly before mixed it with the cheese, the scientists say. "A true Italian grandmother or a skilled home chef from Rome would never need a scientific recipe for cacio e pepe," the study states. "For everyone else, this guide offers a practical way to master the dish." For those attempting the recipe, the researchers recommend preparing a starch solution – ideally with potato or corn starch – rather than relying on pasta water, where the starch content is unknown. Dissolve 4g of starch in 40g of water and heat it until it reaches a gel-like consistency. To this gel, add another 80g of water to cool the mixture. Only then should the Pecorino (160g in this example) be stirred into the starch solution until a homogeneous consistency is achieved. Finally, warm the sauce to serving temperature. Add pepper, mix in the pasta, and the dish is ready. The researchers had not only scientific curiosity but also a personal interest in the project. "We are Italians living abroad. We often have dinner together and enjoy traditional cooking," co-author Ivan Di Terlizzi from the Max Planck Institute is quoted as saying in a statement by the American Institute of Physics. Cacio e pepe, he said, seemed like an interesting dish from a physics perspective. "And of course, there was the practical aim to avoid wasting good pecorino." – dpa
Fast Company
06-05-2025
- Science
- Fast Company
Scientists just designed the perfect cacio e pepe recipe
Chances are, if you're not an Italian grandma or a skilled home chef from Rome, you've probably messed up while trying to make cacio e pepe. At least, that's the thesis underpinning the scientific study ' Phase behavior of Cacio e Pepe sauce,' published on April 29 in the journal Physics of Fluids. The study—conducted by a group of scientists from the University of Barcelona, the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany, the University of Padova in Italy, and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria—is pretty much what its title suggests: a full-on scientific investigation into the most 'optimized recipe' for the creamy, peppery pasta dish. 'We're Italians living abroad, and we often get together for dinner to enjoy traditional recipes from home,' says Ivan Di Terlizzi, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute. 'Among the dishes we've cooked, cacio e pepe came up several times, and every time, we were struck by how hard it is to get the sauce right. That's when we realized it might actually be an interesting physical system to study. And of course, there was also the very practical motivation of avoiding the heartbreak of wasting good pecorino!' A very brief history of pasta-based physics experiments This isn't the first time that pasta has been used as inspiration for physicists. Probably the most famous example of 'pasta as experiment,' Di Terlizzi says, is the observation that spaghetti almost never breaks cleanly in half, tending to snap into three or more fragments instead. This fact originally puzzled renowned physicist Richard Feynman (who died in 1988) and wasn't fully explained until 2005, when a team of French physicists showed that it's caused by cascading cracks traveling along the pasta. Another example, Di Terlizzi adds, is the physics of ring-shaped polymers, which are 'notoriously hard to understand.' A study in 2014 used a type of circular pasta, which the researchers called 'anelloni,' to explain why these looped polymers behave so strangely in experiments. With cacio e pepe, the physics question of interest has to do with the sauce's unusual behavior under heat. 'The main goal of our work wasn't just culinary; it was to explore the physics of this system,' Di Terlizzi says. 'The sauce's behavior under heat shares features with many physical and biological phenomena, like phase transitions or the formation of membrane-less organelles inside cells. The recipe is, in a sense, the practical byproduct of everything we learned.' The most optimal cacio e pepe recipe, according to scientists Cacio e pepe traditionally only includes three ingredients: pasta, pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. While it seems like a simple enough concoction, the sauce's creamy smoothness (the backbone of the dish) can be quite finicky to achieve. When the temperature gets too high or the mixing of cheese and pasta water isn't done carefully, the cheese proteins will denature—essentially 'unfolding' and losing their normal 3D structure. In the unfolded state, the proteins then stick together and the emulsion breaks. 'Instead of a creamy consistency, you get a gooey mess, which we call salsa impazzita. . . that is, crazy sauce,' Di Terlizzi says. The physics-based solution to 'crazy sauce'? It's all about starch. It turns out that, by perfecting the ratio of starch in the pasta water to cheese mass, the cacio e pepe sauce becomes far more resistant to heat, which stabilizes the emulsion and prevents clumping. 'Without starch, the so-called 'mozzarella phase' kicks in at around 65°C, where the proteins start forming large aggregates,' Di Terlizzi says. 'But if the starch concentration is above 1% relative to the cheese mass, the clumps stay small, and temperature becomes much less critical, making it much easier to get a good result.' This is similar to using polymers to stabilize emulsions in soft matter physics, he adds. 'Phase behavior of cacio e pepe sauce' contains ultra-detailed steps to a foolproof cacio e pepe, but here are the instructions in condensed terms: Step 1: For a pasta dish for 'two hungry people,' start with 300 grams of the preferred tonnarelli pasta—or opt for spaghetti or rigatoni, if you must. From there, you'll need 200 grams of cheese. 'Traditionalists would insist on using only pecorino Romano DOP [protected designation of origin], but some argue that up to 30% parmigiano Reggiano DOP is acceptable; though this remains a point of debate,' the recipe notes. Proceed based on your own personally held cheese preferences. Step 2: To prepare the sauce, dissolve 5 grams of starch—like potato or corn starch—in 50 grams of water. Heat this mixture gently until it thickens and turns from cloudy to nearly clear. This is your starch gel. Step 3: Add 100 grams of water to the starch gel. Instead of manually grating the cheese into the resulting liquid, blend the two together to achieve a homogeneous sauce. Finish the sauce by adding black pepper to taste (for best results, toast the pepper in a pan before adding). Step 4: To prepare the pasta, cook in slightly salted water until it is al dente. Save some of the pasta cooking water before draining. Once the pasta has been drained, let it cool down for up to a minute to prevent the excessive heat from destabilizing the sauce. Finally, mix the pasta with the sauce, ensuring even coating, and adjust the consistency by gradually adding reserved pasta water as needed.
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."
BreakingNews.ie
30-04-2025
- Science
- BreakingNews.ie
Scientists reveal top tips to perfect your 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 that they hoped for. Advertisement 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. All you need is pasta, Pecorino Romano cheese, pepper and some starch (Alamy/PA) 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% to 3% starch-to-cheese ratio created the smoothest and most consistent sauce. Advertisement Use powdered starch, suggest the researchers (Alamy/PA) 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. Advertisement 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.' Advertisement
The Guardian
29-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Physicists find key to perfect pasta – but not how Mamma used to make it
It may be only pasta, pecorino and black pepper, but cacio e pepe is not nearly as easy to make as some would imagine. However, researchers have come up with a scientific recipe that avoids a lumpy sauce every single time – but it all gets a lot more complicated. Cacio e pepe is made by cooking pasta and using the resulting starchy water to create a sauce with grated cheese and pepper. Now researchers recommend that the perfect recipe for two involves dissolving 5g of powdered starch in 50g of water rather than using the reserved pasta water – as traditional recipes do. Then, heat the mixture gently until it thickens and turns clear. Next, add 100g of water to cool the mixture, before blending it with 200g of cheese and adding toasted black pepper. The resulting sauce should then be mixed with 300g of pasta that has been cooked in slightly salted water until it is al dente, drained and allowed to cool slightly. This step helps prevent the excessive heat from destabilising the sauce. Finally, they say a little reserved starchy water can be used to adjust the consistency as needed. '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,' the researchers write. 'For everyone else, this guide offers a practical way to master the dish.' Dr Ivan Di Terlizzi, one of the co-authors of the research, said the team consumed about 6kg of cheese for the study, with 'most of it eaten with bread'. 'Although we are still not tired of this delicious dish, one of the authors had blood tests showing very high cholesterol levels,' he added. 'It's the price of science!' 'When heated, cheese proteins change their configuration and, therefore, aggregate,' said Dr Daniel Busiello, another co-author of the study from Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany. Starch, he said, mitigates this effect by binding to the cheese proteins, reducing their direct interactions and hence their formation of clumps. To explore the secret to a smooth and creamy sauce, researchers carried out a number of experiments using a fixed cheese-to-water ratio, but with varying concentrations of starch. The latter was controlled by dissolving known quantities of dry corn starch in the water. The results revealed fewer clumps occurred at lower temperatures, regardless of starch concentration, with the team adding that the proteins did not start to clump below 65C. As temperatures increased, higher concentrations of starch were needed to avoid clumps forming and prevent the 'mozzarella phase' – where huge wads of cheese appear. 'At higher starch concentrations, temperature becomes less of a concern, as the sauce remains smooth even with less precise heat control,' said Busiello. Busiello added pasta water alone contains too little starch to reliably prevent clumping, only producing a smooth sauce with careful temperature control. 'Our recommended scientific approach uses a starch to cheese ratio between 2% and 3% by weight, allowing home cooks to reliably create a smooth sauce without worrying too much about temperature,' he said.
