Grate the parmesan cheese using a microplane grater or the box grater (using the side with smaller holes). Don’t use pre-grated cheese.

Boil the pasta for the time indicated on the pack minus 2 minutes. To boil it, first set a pot of water on medium-high heat, bring it to a boil, salt the water, and add the pasta to the salted boiling water. Never add pasta to a pot of cold water!

While the pasta is cooking, on a pan, over medium heat, add a handful of black peppercorns. Toast for about 3 minutes. Note: If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can just toast already ground black pepper and skip the next step.

Transfer the toasted peppercorns to a pestle and mortar and grind them.

Transfer the freshly ground pepper back to the pan on low heat and add 1/3 cup of the pasta water.

Make the cheese paste. To the bowl of the grated pecorino romano, add 1/3 cup of paste water (a bit at a time while stirring continuously to make a cheese paste and avoid lumps in the sauce later on). Once the paste is formed, set it aside.

Add the pasta and 1/2 cup of water to the pan with the pepper water. Continue cooking for another 2 minutes while stirring.

Once the pasta is cooked, turn the heat on the pan off and wait about 20 seconds while stirring to help cool it down faster.

Add the cheese paste, stirring quickly and continuously, to form a lump-free cheese sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit more pasta water. If it’s too thin, add some more Pecorino.

Finish with a final dusting of grated Pecorino Romano cheese once served on the plate or in a bowl.