The Pastas of Rome: Four Simple, Classic Dishes

Roman food is fairly simple; it’s not where the majority of the country’s produce grows, and the people have historically not been wealthy. So it’s no surprise that the Romans love pasta, or that the ingredients of the four classic Roman pasta dishes are simple and inexpensive. We treat them below in increasing order of complexity. But first, a few words about Italians and pasta.

1) Italian pasta often seems undercooked to people from elsewhere. This is on purpose, and it’s called al dente, meaning it responds to the tooth rather than disintegrating. 2) Italians have rules for food (see Italians Mad at Food on Twitter for a taste of this). As you will soon see, we nearly caused an international incident by asking innocent questions. Experiment all you like in the privacy of your own home, but don’t tell an Italian. 3) Italians are uninterested in hearing about your low-carb diet. Most Italians eat pasta at least once a day. 4) Italians serve bread with pasta, never with butter. It’s for mopping up the sauce at the end (fare la scarpetta, making a little shoe). 5) Italians cook pasta in less water than most other people; this makes the water starchier and thickens the sauce.

Cacio e Pepe

Long pasta (usually tonarelli, thicker and squigglier, but spaghetti will do), cheese, pepper. But don’t go thinking this is easy. It’s surprisingly hard to get right, we have found. The cheese is Pecorino Romano (a hard sheep’s cheese), the pepper is regular old black pepper – though you will want to grind it fresh. Many of our attempts result in broken sauce or clumpy cheese. We have been told that the secret is to use some of the pasta water with the cheese. But that’s not much of a secret – all kinds of pasta dishes do this. So we’re still not sure how the magic happens. Also, we have seen some restaurants mix the pasta in a giant wheel of pecorino; the warm pasta melts some of the cheese inside the wheel, and then they throw a wodge of it onto your plate. Which is itself a kind of magic.

Pasta alla Gricia

Much like the previous, with guanciale, cured pork cheek, which is cooked until crisp to add fat and flavor to the whole dish. Guanciale is necessary – we were nearly attacked for suggesting that perhaps one could use pancetta if guanciale were hard to find while one was meandering. One cannot: pancetta doesn’t have the fat or the flavor to hold this dish up, and guanciale is more delicately textured. We have seen, in real genuine Italian restaurants, this dish served with spaghetti or tonarelli, but also with rigatoni. (But we won’t mention where, in case that’s also not a thing.) We have also seen, and eaten – as in the picture below – pasta alla gricia with nutmeg sprinkled on it. We don’t know if that’s kosher and we are afraid to ask, given the fisticuffs that nearly ensued from our previous questioning. But it tasted pretty good.

Pasta alla Carbonara

Our old pals spaghetti and guanciale appear again in this classic Roman pasta dish, with pepper and Pecorino Romano. Also Parmigiano-Reggiano, a hard cow cheese. (These are not the same and don’t suggest to an Italian, ever, that they are interchangeable. That is like saying to an American that baseball and basketball are kind of the same sport because both involve balls.) And eggs and/or egg yolks. Strong feelings abound here, and we haven’t made enough carbonara to judge for ourselves. But there’s definitely eggs. And cooking eggs in a sauce is high-stress, friends: one false move and we’re looking at a bacon and spaghetti frittata.

Pasta Amatriciana

Here is where things get weird: the regular Roman triumvirate (black pepper, guanciale, Pecorino) now with tomatoes! And, according to some but by no means all, red pepper instead of black. The traditional pasta for this dish is bucatini (wide spaghetti with a hole in the middle, which you may know, cut up into bits, as macaroni). Render the pork, splash in a little white wine to deglaze, add the pepper and canned tomatoes, and then toss with pasta and top with cheese.

Taste Test: Our Favourite Roman Pasta?

We’ve been in Rome for just over a month, and have eaten an awful lot of pasta (also non-Roman pasta dishes, like ravioli and lasagna). We know you want us to pick a favourite Roman pasta, but we can’t. We are big fans of tomato, but we also like the simplicity of cacio e pepe. And who doesn’t like a bit of pork and egg in their food?