Halal-conscious recipe
Cacio e pepe with checked cheese
Roman pepper-and-cheese pasta made with butter, toasted black pepper and a pecorino or Parmesan-style cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Photo: sarahstierch · CC BY 2.0
Why Halal checks matter here
The dish is almost all cheese, and Parmigiano-Reggiano's rules require calf rennet, while pecorino labels may also list animal rennet; scholars differ on rennet from animals not slaughtered the Halal way.
Cacio e pepe means "cheese and pepper", and those two plus pasta, butter and the starchy cooking water are the whole dish. With no meat or wine in it, the cheese is the only thing to check. Parmesan made as Parmigiano-Reggiano must use calf rennet, and pecorino labels can list animal rennet too. Scholars differ on rennet from animals that were not slaughtered the Halal way.
This version keeps BBC Good Food's method and uses a hard cheese that names microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet on the label. If your school accepts animal rennet from permitted animals, a traditional pecorino follows that ruling instead.
The trick is the melt: scatter the cheese over the pasta and leave it for 30 seconds before tossing. Stirring it straight in makes it clump.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Pecorino or Parmesan Parmigiano-Reggiano's production rules require calf rennet, and some pecorino labels list animal rennet. Scholars differ on rennet from animals not slaughtered the Halal way. Use a cheese that names microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, or one your school accepts. See Parmesan and Rennet.
Safe substitutes
- Animal-rennet pecorino or Parmesan → A hard cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet
Allergens
gluten (pasta), milk (butter, cheese)
Ingredients
Pasta
- 200 g (7 oz) bucatini or spaghetti
- to taste salt, for the pasta water
- 25 g (2 tbsp) butter
- 1 tsp ground black pepper, or 2 tsp whole peppercorns freshly ground
- 50 g (⅔ cup) pecorino or Parmesan-style cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, finely grated
Nutrition per serving
Estimated for 1 of 2 bowls.
| Calories | 560 kcal |
|---|---|
| Fat | 18 g |
| of which saturates | 11 g |
| Carbohydrate | 76 g |
| of which sugars | 3 g |
| Fibre | 3 g |
| Protein | 21 g |
Calculated from the metric quantities in the ingredient list, divided by 2, using USDA FoodData Central values for each raw ingredient. Cooking losses aren't modelled and brands differ, so these are estimates, not a lab analysis.
Sodium isn't given: part of the salt in the cooking water stays in the food, and how much isn't known.
Not counted: salt (poured away with the cooking water).
Where the list offers a choice, the first option is counted.
Pecorino is counted as USDA Romano cheese.
How each ingredient was counted
| Ingredient | USDA food | Counted |
|---|---|---|
| bucatini or spaghetti | Pasta, dry, enriched | 200 g |
| butter | Butter, salted | 25 g |
| ground black pepper | Spices, pepper, black | 2.3 g |
| pecorino or Parmesan-style cheese with microbial | Cheese, romano | 50 g |
Method
- Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the pack says.
- Toast the pepper. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium frying pan over a low heat, add the black pepper and toast it for a few minutes.
- Toss with pasta water. Drain the pasta, keeping 200 ml of the cooking water. Tip the pasta and 100 ml of the water into the pan with the butter and pepper and toss briefly.
- Melt in the cheese. Scatter the cheese evenly over the pasta and don't stir: let it melt for 30 seconds, then toss everything well into a smooth, shiny sauce. This stops the cheese clumping. Add a splash more pasta water to loosen it if needed and serve straight away with more black pepper.
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Cacio e pepe' (bucatini or spaghetti cooked 2 minutes short, black pepper toasted in butter, the pasta tossed with pasta water, then the cheese scattered over and left to melt for 30 seconds before tossing into a glossy sauce). We specified a cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet in place of its pecorino or Parmesan. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Technique and ingredient sources
-
Cacio e pepe — BBC Good Food
Retrieved:
Serves 2: 200 g bucatini or spaghetti, 25 g butter, 2 tsp whole black peppercorns (or 1 tsp ground), 50 g pecorino or Parmesan; 100 ml of pasta water tossed in, cheese melted 30 seconds before tossing. We specified a rennet-checked cheese.
-
Parmesan analysis — isithalal.food
Retrieved:
Rennet in Parmigiano-Reggiano and Parmesan-style cheeses.