It’s been a while since I posted anything but it’s been a busy summer. After D&L visited us in Valréas with our grandson H, we went to north west Spain to see the eclipse. I had intended to add some posts about that trip, not least as we had some great meals—for example at Restaurante Paprica in Lugo—but boring realities (power cuts and freezers full of no-longer edible food, for example) keep getting in the way.
So rather than worrying about not having covered things past, I’ll introduce another food hero. I’ve mentioned Felicity Cloake a lot in previous posts, but Tim Hayward is another inspiration—but for home DIY food madness rather than cycling. Our neighbours first met us when I was following his instructions on how to deep fry a turkey and I followed that up with an offering of a home-made doner kebab. The turkey was better but likely prompted more questions about my sanity. Whatever, they (and others) appreciated my in-a-dustbin smoked salmon as I eagerly followed Tim’s advice on smoking salmon at home. He has a few good things to say about cooking steak as well…
Anyway, back to cacio e pepe. Much vaunted but I’ve never been that convinced by any of the recipes I’ve seen. Serious Eats, for example, disappoints with the mention of corn starch/flour. So I’ve never attempted it.
But… Tim Hayward to the rescue! In (what I consider to be) a brilliant article in the Financial Times recently, he explains how you can turn out industrial quantities of cacio e pepe, alla Gricia, carbonara and all’Amatriciana on a 5-burner hob: one burner to cook the pasta and one each for pans in which to cook cacio e pepe (oil, cheese & pepper), alla Gricia (guanciale), carbonara (guanciale, cheese & egg) and all’Amatriciana (guanciale, cheese & tomato).
The article explains more clearly than I’ve seen before about how you simply need to emulsify the sauces properly. And I can (ahem) whip up some quite reasonable french emulsified sauces (Hollandaise, …). Suddenly cacio e pepe doesn’t seem quite so scary, especially as the article makes me think I should be doing the final combination in a wok.
Minor problem: I interpret Tim’s “heaps of black pepper” a little too generously. But, other than that, success! I’ll be trying carbona à la Tim Hayward just as soon as I can procure some good guanciale. Sadly that may be a while—the best source is an Italian stall in the Richerenches truffle market which won’t be open again until early December…
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