Three (3) ingredients only: bucatini, pecorino Romano, black pepper. Make sure to purchase real pecorino Romano, it will have a black rind. Do not add olive oil or butter. Make it authentic. This is an extremely easy dish to make, but rather difficult to master.

Bring a shallow pot of salted water to a boil using less water than normal. The pasta water needs to be very starchy to make the sauce correctly. Meanwhile, finely grate 2 cups of pecorino Romano cheese using a microplane.

Add the pasta to the water and toast 2 tsp of fresh cracked black pepper in a pan until fragrant. Once fragrant, pour one ladle of pasta water into the pan and bring to a simmer.

Remove the pasta about 3 minutes before the cooking time indicated on the box by adding it directly to the pan with the black pepper, turn off the heat. Toss continuously and add more pasta water as needed until the pasta is al dente, turn off the heat. Allow the pasta and sauce to sit and cool for 3-4 minutes. If you add the cheese while the pasta is too hot, the cheese will clump.

Add the pecorino romano a handful at a time with a splash of pasta water to emulsify. Repeat until all of the cheese is added and the sauce is thick and velvety.

Serve with a few more turns of fresh cracked black pepper.