When making cacio e pepe in the past, I never bothered to slowly bloom the ground pepper in the oil and butter at the beginning of the process. I used to add the pepper towards the end. Then I saw Evan Funke do a demo where he toasted the peppercorns in his fats first. A lightbulb went off. That is smart. I tried it. The peppercorns acquire a toasty flavor, and the oil and butter become spicy and aromatic. I built my sauce from there. The resulting cacio e pepe was otherworldly. The flavors were deeper and more pronounced. The spice was intense but not assertive. The noodles were crushable and craveable. I observed, paid attention, stole the process, and used the findings to discover delicious.
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