Farro e Pepe

This is delicious. I found that if you grate the cheese with a microplane grater, it melts almost instantly and there's no need for the immersion blender step - just cook the farro, throw in the grated cheese and pepper, stir and thin with cooking water as needed.

After several arguments with a box grater and Kirkland's pecorino/Romano I turned to my food processor for assistance in grinding cheese for caciao e Pepe (the drawback of living in Montana). The second time I employed its assistance I realized how much sweat and elbow grease the food processor would save in making the sauce. The last time I made it, i tried substituted farro for pasta and it was awesome.

if you cook the farro as if making risotto a' la Bittman (saute` onion, add wine, saute` farro, add broth...) and then add previously sauteed vegetables (artichokes especially) with some grated cheese, you have a fabulous farro risotto that never gets too soft. make it ahead and reheat in micro; it's easy and great as a one dish meal or accompaniment to meat or fish.

Terri McFadden, I love that phrase too, but for less experienced cooks like me, I'd love an approximate amount of salt (and is that Kosher or table, since they have different saltiness levels) per quart. Am I supposed to taste boiling salted water repeatedly until it tastes salty? Ouch!! Also, I never drink sea water, so even though the metaphor is lovely, it doesn't really help me.

After extensive testing, the folks at seriouseats.com recommend cooking pasta in water with a salinity of 1%, which translates to 1.5 teaspoons of table salt, or 2 teaspoons of Morton's Kosher Salt, or 3 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt per liter (about one quart) of water. (Sea water has a salinity of 3.5%.) But if you plan to use the pasta cooking water to season or thin the accompanying sauce, taste it before adding it. If it's too salty, dilute it with fresh water first.

Seawater averages about 3% salt. One ounce of salt per quart or 30 grams per liter of water should be in the ballpark.

I cooked this last night and wouldn't do it again. For this quantity of cheese/water, the immersion blender did not work. I used a whisk, but there was no creaminess. Because Farro is a grain, the pecorino paste did not cling the way it does to pasta. The fundamental problem was the flavor. The pungent saltiness of the pecorino and the nuttiness of the farro were somehow incompatible. I can't imagine anyone finding this delicious, let alone palatable. Next time, it's back to spaghetti..

I found that if you grate the cheese with a microplane grater, it melts almost instantly and there's no need for the immersion blender step - just cook the farro, throw in the grated cheese and pepper, stir and thin with cooking water as needed.

NYT Cooking team: "Grated" is an odd verb to use for black pepper. Maybe edit to "ground" or "cracked" to keep an enthusiastic but inexperienced cook from injuring themselves trying to Microplane peppercorns?

In Samin’s article she says she developed this recipe because making cacio e pepe eludes her. I was a bit confused by it too until I found this video. This lovely man will teach you all you need to know about making it! https://youtu.be/kX08C-2nDK8

I have found that the problem she describes with the sauce clumping is the way the hard cheese is processed. The brisk stirring method works but it requires a finely grated cheese. Shredded or coarsely grated will clump. I have never had an issue with the sauce clumping unless the cheese isn't grated finely enough. No immersion blender or other prep needed. This applies to carbonara too.

Butter and parmesan cheese is a different thing than this recipe, which is pecorino and water. Totally changing a recipe and then leaving a comment on said “fabulous” recipe isn’t terribly helpful for people who are looking for insights into THIS recipe, not your totally different butter and cheese thing.

Oh man it sounded great, but this did not work out. I overdid it on the salt—“salty as the sea” ended up being a problem when I then used the cooking water for the sauce. And I don’t own an immersion blender or food processor, so I grated the cheese into small pieces for the paste. When I combined it with the farro in the pan, the cheese melted into globs and separated from the water. I ended up with a salty, sticky, watery mess. Normally I love Samin’s recipes, but this just didn’t work for me!

As usual I find Samin recipes way too salty. You do not need to salt the water. The pecorino is very slaty on its own The salted water adds nothing to to recipe.

I love the phrase "Season generously with salt, until the water is salty as the sea." Ferro is one of my favorite grains. Can't wait to try this recipe.