Spaghetti alla Gricia

Gricia is Roman countryside food from the Lazio Apennines — shepherd cooking, often called "the white amatriciana" because it's amatriciana minus tomato. The name is sometimes traced to grici, vendors of bread and cured goods in 17th-century Rome, but the etymology is contested. Tomatoless, it predates amatriciana; tomato only entered the Lazio shepherd kitchen in the late 1700s.

Lazio Apennine shepherd food, sometimes called 'white amatriciana' because it predates the tomato — guanciale, pecorino romano, black pepper, pasta water. Above 70 degrees C the cheese seizes; pull the pan off the burner before the pecorino goes in.

Dry-looking spaghetti, no red, no cream, no egg — a Roman dish that's basically pasta, pork cheek, sheep cheese, and pepper. Crisped guanciale cubes scattered through; pecorino romano melts into the starchy pasta water and coats every strand. Cracked black pepper everywhere. Salty, fatty, sharp from sheep cheese. If it looks dry on the plate, you forgot to add pasta water.

Guanciale, not pancetta — pork cheek has firmer fat and a peppery cure that pancetta lacks; substituting flattens the dish. The cheese sauce is an emulsion of rendered guanciale fat, pasta cooking water (rich in starch), and grated pecorino, whisked off heat. Above ~70°C the pecorino seizes into clumps; the trick is to pull the pan off the burner before the cheese goes in.