Whenever we are teaching pasta workshops and demonstrating the benefits of a pasta extruder, we make cacio e pepe. It is a dish with just a few ingredients, and that means we need to pay attention when we cook it. It took a moment of inattention, letting the butter brown in the olive oil as we toasted the pepper to create browned butter cacio e pepe. The additional nuttiness and richness from the toasted milk solids added a deep complexity to the sauce. It has me thinking in a few directions. The first is revisiting brown butter stock, simplifying it by pureeing toasted milk solids and pasta water to make a foundation. The other is leaving well enough alone and enjoying the simplicity of browning the butter and making the sauce. Both paths have merit and are worth traveling. The choice will depend on where we want to go with the bowl of noodles.
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