So many things wrong with level 2. Bucatini is not really good for anything except Amatriciana, in other words not this. Cacio e Pepe's better with Spaghettoni. Pan's too small for pasta. Pasta needs a giant pot to move around. He left it in the pan for several minutes after it was cooked. At least strain it into bowl or something if you want the pasta water. He used Parmigiano-Reggiano in a 100% Pecorino dish. If you're going to call it authentic, please don't use Parmigiano. He should of toasted the pepper before smashing it with Mortar and pestle. Added cheese to a hot pan which will break the cheese. Looks a bit grainy. Pasta water probably isn't hot anymore by the time he made the sauce. And just the usage of olive oil, arugula, and red pepper flakes.
He used the worst technique for making the sauce out of all of them. Even the level one cook had the right idea to mix the starch water and cheese seperately.
I like Saul acknowledges that he's "messing up" with someone else's food while at the same time smirking as in "yeah we do that but come on it's not that serious. It's food. Enjoy!"
@@alicetwain it's my personal opinion that a cook should at least try to cook with the original recipe before "messing" with a recipe. Saul clearly shows that he knows what he was doing and made his own modifications without significantly deviating from the original recipe.
Yes, because he added too much cheese and did not emulsify it enough, you can see the cheese chunks. In a good Cacio e Pepe, it has to be smooth and not chunky.
dude added pasta to water that wasn't even boiling yet. it seems he had only looked at his mother's cooking before and thought that he could do the same.
@@Ann-yo6sv Then he tastes pasta that clearly isn't cooked yet while telling us how he recognizes perfectly cooked pasta by looking at it. That really got me. 💀 Then after the pasta is cooked he leaves it in the water for like 10-15 min? is he crazy? that's mooshy pasta witch chunky "sauce".
I think Saul is right when he’s comparing Italian and Mexican cooking. I don’t have an Italian market very close, but I can walk into a Mexican market and feel like I’m in an Italian market. There’s definitely a common ground when it comes to the quality of the ingredients.
I think that the common theme for BOTH Mexican and Italian cuisines is that anything that grows naturally from the good earth is what makes both cuisines great (I'm sure that it also applies to other cuisines, but Italians and Mexicans capitalize on that concept).
I mean, it's no coincidence many people of hispanic origin are called "latino/a/x," the operative part of the word is "latin." Spain was a Roman colony (two colonies actually, hispania citerior and hispania ulterior), and the spanish and italian language, culture, and cuisine are all directly descended from Romes.
@@jesusgamboa9899 I mean, yes and no. Certainly they didn't bring pasta and pizza, but have you ever heard of cilantro? Yeah. The romans introduced it to spain. Along with, well. . . a lot of other commonly used ingredients in spanish cuisine.
It really shows in the major ingredients the two cultures use. Tomatoes, oregano, garlic, cheese, beans, olives and peppers are staples in both. Corn is not served whole, but processed into tortillas/tamales/polenta. Tostadas resemble pizza and enchiladas and burritos are like stuffed pasta.
He didn't exactly make a better job, but he was at least honest and didn't have an attitude of "I am Italian and I know how to make such dishes" and then make basically every mistake in the book.
@@jesusgamboa9899 rome has some tradition of using fresh egg dough pasta (fettuccine anyone?), And many of the classic Roman pastas are actually from Abruzzo, the same region chitarrine are from. His iluse of chitarrine for cacio e pepe isn't that odd at all.
@@alicetwain I was mainly referring to Steven. Saul technically used the "wrong" type of pasta, but his "mistake" worked out in his favor. And you are right about Chitarrine being one of the correct types of pasta to use on Cacio e Pepe.
Why is no one talking about how Joseph left his "al-dente" pasta in the water for that long, while prepping the sauce? By the time his was done I bet those noodles was soggy af...
I’ll sound snobby, but I bought fancy pasta like that once from NYC by accident. They’re VERY hardy, and take forever to cook (if you saw him say 5 more minutes.)
I genuinely adore Stephen!!! He always cracks me up and he's not one of the people who know everything yet are labeled as Level 1. I feel like we could all actually make his dishes and I love the way he explains his choices. 🤗😁
When someone insists they're doing it the "right" or "traditional" way that often, they either know they're doing it wrong or think they can do no wrong. From his lack of knowledge on WHY things are done the way they are, to his lumpy results, I'm gong to say that holds true. The real tradition he's following is the American one- confidently claiming to understand a country's culture because your grandmother was from there. I'm not calling him a liar, I'm sure she did do things that way. I'm also sure that a few kilometers in any direction, there's another grandmother willing to fight her in the street over it.
Came here to say this!!! I feel like he saw molly baz or carla formerly from Bon appetit (love them) do it this way and he made it his whole personality because that’s what the lady on TH-cam said to do. Fixation on “traditional” really shows that someone knows very little about a dish
the traditionalist italian cook often forgets that their great-great-grandparents saw a weird foreign fruit and adopted it into a myriad of tomato sauce based dishes.
Shotout to Steven for using De Cecco pasta. It is a famous pasta company in Italy and, unlike others like Barilla, they don't change the recipe in US💪🏻
Nope. when making cacio et pepe or carbonara, you don't actually want your pasta water to be too salty. Both the cheese and the guanciale add a lot of salt already, and you can always add salt at the end, but you can't remove salt when it becomes too salty. So there are definitely pasta recipes where you want to go a little easy on the salt in the pasta water. It's not a one type fits all kinda thing.
Italian grandmas will support Joseph... They also ain't putting a lot of salt to boiling water in their pasta dishes, just from observing them.. My source: Pasta Grannies
@@davidlambert3132 too salty usually, it's just a saying. Sea is approx 4% salinity, but most ppl prefer 1-2% salinity. Anymore and it tends to be too much, from experience
@@mandyg5444 I mean, the dude said he added oil to keep the pasta from sticking to each other and to help the sauce stick to the pasta. Someone needs to tell him that's not how it works. If it keeps the pasta from sticking to each other, it will keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta. Dude isn't very bright.
@@mandyg5444 precisely, you can add a bit of unsalted butter when you're mixing the pasta, the cheese and a bit of the cooking water to help with the creaminess, but if you use oil of any kind you'll get the cheese sauce clumping up and the pasta being basically "in bianco" (meaning with no sauce sticking to it)
He gives off the vibe of someone who watches way too much cooking youtube and doesn’t spend much time actually cooking, and buckled under the pressure of remembering everything Bon appetit told him so he started mixing up his rules
Steven's "believe in yourself Steven" I related so much. I like Chef Saul's attitude too. He makes pasta making so easy I might have to try and then ruin it somehow lol.
Steven sort of made Pasta al Burro without knowing he did (interestingly, he made an American-style Fettuccine Alfredo a while back while Julie and Frank actually made Pasta al Burro).
Can we get Emily with Steven as lvl 1, Lorenzo with Gabrielle as lvl 2 and Frank with Saul as lvl 3 duos? And of course Rose as lvl 4. That would be awesome !!!
I'm floored that level 2 would use pre ground cheese (which has anti clumping agents) and would add olive oil to the pasta. I'd expect a level 2 to be more informed than that.
@@englishatheart packaged cheese and pre-ground cheese are different things. What are you trying to talk about? Pre grated cheese is never the best option as it contains anti caking agents and coats with a sort of flour that isn't easy to blend with other items
Wait the Level 2 chef criticised Saul for using different kinds of pepper but then added red pepper flakes to his pasta at the end? That ain’t it! He’s definitely not a level 2 chef.
Whenever I need to watch a trainwreck, I come back to watch this video for the “level 2” chef. Calling Joseph a level 2 and Stephen a level 1 here is just a downright insult to Saul and Stephen and unfair to Rose to have to try and justify his choices 😂
As an Italian, I do squirm a little when i see someone make non-traditional changes to Italian recipes, but I really like Saul addressing it and acknowledging that it's not traditional. It's when people try to pass off those changes as unimportant or don't understand the value of tradition when it comes to culture and food that there's an issue. Saul's not doing that, he's having fun with it and trying to improve upon things with how fortunate we are in today's world to have access to different ingredients that weren't around when the recipes were created, which at it's base is what cooking is about
I mean, for this kind of dish, it makes more sense to use dry, semolina pasta. Its the perfect bite and richness for the rich sauce of the Cacio e Pepe. Hes gotta improve his mortar and pestle technique and add more pasta water though.
You can use a mortar and pestle a number of ways, depending on the result you want. If you pound peppercorns, you'll get powder. They don't want powder.
10:19 "you don't need any cream or butter" but you just added a lot of oil to help it emulsify...... and still somehow the level 1 result is better than level 2.
@@dorkhydrogen Cacio and Pepe is only made with Pasta, Pecorino (or a blend of Pecorino/parm if you are not used to Pec), and crushed black peppercorns. You achieve the creaminess if you use the proper techniques of adding the freshly boiled pasta along with its water to the cheese/pepper mixture and mixing it with a fork or spoon until the cheese melts and becomes creamy, not stringy.
It's very rare here in Italy find someone that pairs cacio e pepe with an egg fresh pasta, I would say it is considered an "error", but Saul did a great job of course and I'm sure it is delicious. I love the pepper profile he selected.
From a technique stand point, only Saul did a proper mantecatura(to cream the sauce). Level one sort of cheated by using butter, while the cheese on level 2's still looked clumpy.
Agreed, Saul definitely did an amazing job at emulsifying everything together to create the sauce. Plus, although it’s not traditional,I like the use of the various peppercorns because they add more flavor and color to the dish
Calling it "clumpy" is an insult to the word clumpy! That looked AWFUL, I couldn't tell if the sauce broke or not but it looked like a gloopy, gluey mess - I'm guessing it tastes okay but the texture/mouth-feel has GOT to be awful. Total fail given this dish is all technique and his was terrible.
@@anasmaaz5731 I would assume he had the pasta going while making the sauce and that it was just edited that way to show the different components or something
It's been a good while since I watched 4 Levels Of... and it's nice to see that Stephen has been learning. He's come a long way from the cheesecake incident.
To be fair, what Steven made was something closer to Pasta al Burro due to the addition of butter. We need to think of Cacio e Pepe as the original and master recipe (like in Julia's Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking book) in which the name of the dish changes if you add another ingredient to the original recipe.
Glad others noticed how terrible his was - given it's all technique, with how simple the ingredients are, he completely and totally failed. I'm sure it tastes fine but man does it look AWFUL.
The editing in this was a lot fun. Obviously it's such a simple dish that you gotta fill the time somehow, but I like how there was interaction between what the cooks were doing. Especially Stephen's "AH!"
I would love to see them all try each other’s dishes. It would be interesting to see and I feel like they would be really good at building each other up.
I don't know man caccio a pepe is never made with fresh pasta, you just need some texture from dried pasta. Why add all these random things? This dish is supossed to be simple, that's the whole point
@@alicevanbiesen3823 Hey Alice, I understand that, my comment was more like out of the 3 versions, I'll choose Saul's one (and I know the real thing is dry pasta, pepper and pecorino)
Actually, Saùl was the only one of the three to get close to the Italian tradition (with a few cheffy detours but that's fine). Joseph made true poster glue. An Italian would not be in the same room with that mess.
@@sabrinamd96 he may be doung things the way they are done in the US. He couldn't be further form the Italian (Roman in this case) tradition and from basic pasta management and use.
Why? Why specifically _all_ men? Why men at all? Why can’t his humor just be his and his alone and why does it need to apply to other people? Why’d you write your comment the way you did? What’s your point and why is that your point? Just, why?
I would like to see if someone destroys your traditions and your culture. 👍👍 It’s all wrong, this recipe is perfect because it is very simple and fast, please stop watching the videos of Gordon Ramsey and companions and look for Italian chefs to explain these recipes. Yet there is Google Translate. It's easy.
@@invitapriore I did the same thing and I found on USA info only antidepressants, weapons, obesity, no health, the population that believes more in angels and an average level of funional illiteracy 🤣
The Italian way to salt the pasta water is "Abbondante acqua salata" or "salato come il mare".... use enough salt to where the water tastes like sea water. Then you don't have to salt at the end especially if you're using the starchy pasta water to thicken your sauce
General ratio is 1000:100:10 (Water:Pasta:Salt, eg 1l water to 100g pasta to 10g salt) but less salt if you have a high quality pasta where you want to keep as much of its original flavour as possible or if you have a saltier ingredient later (e.g. a cheese or cured meat) that would over-salt with the pasta water. Less water and salt when you want a starchier water to use in dishes like CeP or midnight spaghetti. Sea water is way, way saltier than any of the above.
Not often does the lvl 1 look better than the lvl 2 but that is certainly the case this time. I think lvl 2 might have traditional American and traditional Italian mixed up.
The level 1 seems more like a level 2 here. Most level 1 home cooks don't even use a pepper grinder. They use pre-ground pepper and they sure don't make Cacio e Pepe.
@@stinooke Maybe to you it's "farrrr too much cheese". But that's like saying "the level 1 guy used too much salt and the level 2 used too little". It's all on personal preference. You like one thing, Saul likes another.
@@jesusgamboa9899 perhaps, though normally when it’s that clumpy it’s because the cheese wasn’t tempered properly and has gone stringy. Which has happened to me a few times when I made Caico e Pepe
I wouldn't call Stephen's pasta traditional by any means, but at least he aknowledged his limits and went the easy way to get a creamy texture. Cacio e pepe can be deceiptfully tricky: 3 ingredients and only a couple a passages, but very easy to get it wrong by having the sauce break and be lumpy like Joseph's.
I'm sad that the level 2 doesn't really look creamy.... but it's surely homey. Lots of people believe that olive oil helps your pasta not stick together.
I find it kinda funny bc he went out of his way to talk about how his is traditional, and even lowkey criticized Chef Saul for using different peppercorns.
I'm very surprised that he used pre grated. Given that pre ground cheese has an anti clumping agent in it it's inherently more difficult to mix. And yes! Cooking videos always harp on not adding olive oil to pastas since it makes everything slip off.
This video has solidified my theory that there are two kinds of chefs. One who don't heard the melody of food, and those who do. That determines greatness
The "level 2" (whatever that means) chef at 3:00 had to take a bite at that to realize it wasn't cooked yet? It's clearly stiff my guy! 😂 EDIT: What a surprise, his cacio e pepe was horrible and the cheese curded really bad. xD
Sorry, Italian-American Joseph, take it from an Italian-Italian: of the three of you the only one that made a dish an Italian would not refuse outright is Saùl's. (disculpe Saùl, solo tengo teclado Italiano sin acentos Espanoles). Both you and Stephen let the pasta sit and get horribly overcooked and mushy. And let me just ignore the salad on a pasta dish and the combination of pepper and peperoncino. Saùl, you are a true adoptive Italian!
Italian pro Chef here, with 40+ years on duty. Without being too tied up on traditions and whatnot, I like to give my opinion on this. Although Saul untraditionally used 3 kinds of peppers, his homemade pasta made him step above anyone else. Furthermore, as expected from a pro, he was the only one blending the pasta with the sauce at the right temperature: right after the cooking time. Lovely the extra effort to use cheese form as a serving plate. Very '80 here... Both the others let the pasta cool down too much. To be honest, I'm impressed by Steven's performance: despite some "amateur" mistakes he came out with an excellent result, in pair visually with Saul's dish, and worthy of an Italian.Excellent job. The bucatini guy...where to start? Next time much, much more water where you cook the pasta; rules dictate 0,26 gl water for every 3,5 oz pasta. Mix with sauce as soon as you drain: use the heat from the pasta to melt the cheese, no need to use extra heat. And the pepper was a little too much; sometimes less is more. NOTE for Saul: Chef, to better gauge the correct thickness of the spaghetti alla chitarra, just measure the space between the strings of the "chitarra"; that's how thick the pasta should be, so once cut, they should have a "square" section.
I made cacio e pepe for the first time a couple days ago, and it looked nothing like level 2. I had a creamy, silky sauce. His looked like he made it with Cotija instead of pecorino.
When I started learning how to cook about 5 years ago, Cacio e Pepe was the first real thing I learned how to make from scratch. It came out absolutely terrible. Nowadays, I have it down, and I'll always have a happy place in my heart for it because of the experience. This is very much a nice, comfy dish to see on the series. :)
Steven is very impressive!!! Cacio e Pepe is a difficult dish to perfect. I’ve been trying for a while and still haven’t been able to make a completely smooth sauce but he did it flawlessly! I’m sure Joseph’s tastes good but he needs to work on his sauce. I’m not even sure you can call his a sauce.
No, level 2. You're meant to bring fresh pasta. The level 1 always brings dry, the level 3 always makes their own, that's the way it's got to be, as Emily/Lorenzo/Frank ordained.
I don't understand why Americans always try to do MORE in the kitchen. I am Italian, and cacio e pepe is probably my favourite pasta dish. If I have to choose, I'll pick level 1. If I don't have to choose well, I would cook my own... Fresh pasta has no bite, which is essential here. Level 2 sauce is not even a sauce when he put pasta over it. And pecorino is already fat enough, you don't need extra butter or oil, if it's not creamy enough is a matter of balancing the water.
A level 1 chef with better technique than the level 2. Then there’s Saul. The man, the myth, the legend.
Level 2 had me shook 😭 im not italian but I wanted to help him
Better Call Saul😉...
Level 2 was cringe worthy, leaving his cooked pasta sitting there for several minutes before he even starts the sauce.
So many things wrong with level 2. Bucatini is not really good for anything except Amatriciana, in other words not this. Cacio e Pepe's better with Spaghettoni.
Pan's too small for pasta. Pasta needs a giant pot to move around.
He left it in the pan for several minutes after it was cooked. At least strain it into bowl or something if you want the pasta water.
He used Parmigiano-Reggiano in a 100% Pecorino dish. If you're going to call it authentic, please don't use Parmigiano.
He should of toasted the pepper before smashing it with Mortar and pestle.
Added cheese to a hot pan which will break the cheese.
Looks a bit grainy. Pasta water probably isn't hot anymore by the time he made the sauce.
And just the usage of olive oil, arugula, and red pepper flakes.
@@xanderscookingschool1497 on point on everything but, bucatini is also good for arrabiata, puttanesca and honestly any not so creamy tomato sauce.
The level 2 guy talked like he was level 3, but for some reason his cooking looked and felt like level 1 xD
He is a level 1 cook for sure😅
😂 stole the words out of my mouth
Even worse than level 1. Just a complete mess.
Dude cooked the pasta for 20mins lol
He used the worst technique for making the sauce out of all of them. Even the level one cook had the right idea to mix the starch water and cheese seperately.
I like Saul acknowledges that he's "messing up" with someone else's food while at the same time smirking as in "yeah we do that but come on it's not that serious. It's food. Enjoy!"
I would love to see his reaction to Rachael Ray's pozole.
He messes in the right direction. I am not so sure about the pecorino toscano, but it's cetranly much better than sticking freaking salad on a primo.
@@alicetwain it's my personal opinion that a cook should at least try to cook with the original recipe before "messing" with a recipe. Saul clearly shows that he knows what he was doing and made his own modifications without significantly deviating from the original recipe.
@@jesusgamboa9899 most importantly he used the right techniques. You can do a lot of things with a recipe,as long as you use the right techniques.
true; thing is he knows the rules enough to tell you that he's gonna bend & break which ones. that's how everyone knows he knows his stuff, IMHO
“Once in a while you have to take a break, you can’t make everything from scratch all the time” - Chef Saul, 🙏🏼❤️👏🏼👏🏼
Proceeds to make pasta from scratch..
@@TheFierywaters hahaha ha right lmao.
Cuz he is all about the shortcuts. LOL
Don't let Chef Frank know!! XD
I'm not even Italian and I KNOW that the way the level 2 guy made it is 1000% not the traditional way
level 1 guy did a better job and didn't brag about being “”””””Italian””””””
Yes, because he added too much cheese and did not emulsify it enough, you can see the cheese chunks. In a good Cacio e Pepe, it has to be smooth and not chunky.
dude added pasta to water that wasn't even boiling yet. it seems he had only looked at his mother's cooking before and thought that he could do the same.
@@Ann-yo6sv Then he tastes pasta that clearly isn't cooked yet while telling us how he recognizes perfectly cooked pasta by looking at it. That really got me. 💀
Then after the pasta is cooked he leaves it in the water for like 10-15 min? is he crazy? that's mooshy pasta witch chunky "sauce".
bro took a 23andMe and made it his whole personslity
I think Saul is right when he’s comparing Italian and Mexican cooking. I don’t have an Italian market very close, but I can walk into a Mexican market and feel like I’m in an Italian market. There’s definitely a common ground when it comes to the quality of the ingredients.
I think that the common theme for BOTH Mexican and Italian cuisines is that anything that grows naturally from the good earth is what makes both cuisines great (I'm sure that it also applies to other cuisines, but Italians and Mexicans capitalize on that concept).
I mean, it's no coincidence many people of hispanic origin are called "latino/a/x," the operative part of the word is "latin." Spain was a Roman colony (two colonies actually, hispania citerior and hispania ulterior), and the spanish and italian language, culture, and cuisine are all directly descended from Romes.
@@eyespliced mainly language.
@@jesusgamboa9899 I mean, yes and no. Certainly they didn't bring pasta and pizza, but have you ever heard of cilantro? Yeah. The romans introduced it to spain. Along with, well. . . a lot of other commonly used ingredients in spanish cuisine.
It really shows in the major ingredients the two cultures use. Tomatoes, oregano, garlic, cheese, beans, olives and peppers are staples in both. Corn is not served whole, but processed into tortillas/tamales/polenta. Tostadas resemble pizza and enchiladas and burritos are like stuffed pasta.
”My mother would be shocked if someone mixed different colored peppers🤪”
10 min later:
“Now I’m adding red pepper flakes”
Different types, not differently colored.
And olive oil
He added red chilli flakes, completely different thing.
I also hate how he's so proud of being partially italian and then pronounces it "pey-pey"
@@AneXineohp lvl 2 was a disaster, that's the point
YAAAY STEPHEN IS BACK! One of the absolute most relatable Level 1 chefs.
and he killed this one. Right pasta, good sauce.
I can’t fully agree on him being relatable. Remember the time when he put a cheesecake in his pancake batter? 💀🤣 like wtf, that was sooo random🤣
@@vaclavvrana5200 that's the best episode 🤣
@@paulatjandraputri7865 That is for sure! 🤣
@@vaclavvrana5200 every time he shows up, I say "here comes a *whole* cheesecake!" 🤣
is it just me, or did the level 1 guy do a much better job than the level 2 guy?
He didn't exactly make a better job, but he was at least honest and didn't have an attitude of "I am Italian and I know how to make such dishes" and then make basically every mistake in the book.
@@alicetwain he even got the pronunciation wrong
@@alicetwain True, but he also used the wrong type of pasta (although I give him thumbs up for not using Barilla pasta).
@@jesusgamboa9899 rome has some tradition of using fresh egg dough pasta (fettuccine anyone?), And many of the classic Roman pastas are actually from Abruzzo, the same region chitarrine are from. His iluse of chitarrine for cacio e pepe isn't that odd at all.
@@alicetwain I was mainly referring to Steven.
Saul technically used the "wrong" type of pasta, but his "mistake" worked out in his favor. And you are right about Chitarrine being one of the correct types of pasta to use on Cacio e Pepe.
Why is no one talking about how Joseph left his "al-dente" pasta in the water for that long, while prepping the sauce?
By the time his was done I bet those noodles was soggy af...
I was gonna say, and when he tested to see if it's al dente, you could tell that it's not
I’ll sound snobby, but I bought fancy pasta like that once from NYC by accident. They’re VERY hardy, and take forever to cook (if you saw him say 5 more minutes.)
I cook pasta all the time, and watching that made me cringe so hard my skin was about to turn inside out.
They didn’t look soggy when he was eating it
Never call pasta noodles or noodles pasta pls…. We know that u r American but pls…..
I genuinely adore Stephen!!! He always cracks me up and he's not one of the people who know everything yet are labeled as Level 1. I feel like we could all actually make his dishes and I love the way he explains his choices. 🤗😁
You gotta love him. He knows his lane in terms of food. Knows what is over his head and what isn't. Not a bad skill for life in general.
The way he said “soup” made me lol too hard. Such a charming fellow 😂
When someone insists they're doing it the "right" or "traditional" way that often, they either know they're doing it wrong or think they can do no wrong. From his lack of knowledge on WHY things are done the way they are, to his lumpy results, I'm gong to say that holds true. The real tradition he's following is the American one- confidently claiming to understand a country's culture because your grandmother was from there.
I'm not calling him a liar, I'm sure she did do things that way. I'm also sure that a few kilometers in any direction, there's another grandmother willing to fight her in the street over it.
Hahaha 😂
Hes just got to put more pasta water.
@@thealrightchef2800 yeah it looked like he put two small scoops of water and called it a day
Came here to say this!!! I feel like he saw molly baz or carla formerly from Bon appetit (love them) do it this way and he made it his whole personality because that’s what the lady on TH-cam said to do. Fixation on “traditional” really shows that someone knows very little about a dish
the traditionalist italian cook often forgets that their great-great-grandparents saw a weird foreign fruit and adopted it into a myriad of tomato sauce based dishes.
Shotout to Steven for using De Cecco pasta. It is a famous pasta company in Italy and, unlike others like Barilla, they don't change the recipe in US💪🏻
Exactly. As soon as I saw him bust that out, I thought “he’s already on the right track.”
It must be a paid add, product placement, they show it too many times, while they don't show the other brand used, Afeltra
Take a shot every time Joseph says "Traditional"
Ah thsuuj 1¹ shoot ereny tyne sh u ik
I don't think my alcohol tolerance is that strong....
Lmao the way it wasn’t even traditional, he just acted like he knew what he was talking about when he didn’t
How about when he says “looking to”
The level 2 guy not liking how Saul used multiple types of peppercorn and then topping his with red pepper 🙄 I stg
I'm just 🤌🤌🤌🤌 right now
Joseph: is worried that if his pasta water is too salty, he did it wrong.
Frank: *ADDS A LARGE BLOCK OF SALT TO A POT OF WATER*
When You cook pasta/rice it's meant to be salty like the sea
Frank: It's treason then
Nope. when making cacio et pepe or carbonara, you don't actually want your pasta water to be too salty.
Both the cheese and the guanciale add a lot of salt already, and you can always add salt at the end, but you can't remove salt when it becomes too salty.
So there are definitely pasta recipes where you want to go a little easy on the salt in the pasta water.
It's not a one type fits all kinda thing.
Italian grandmas will support Joseph... They also ain't putting a lot of salt to boiling water in their pasta dishes, just from observing them..
My source: Pasta Grannies
@@davidlambert3132 too salty usually, it's just a saying. Sea is approx 4% salinity, but most ppl prefer 1-2% salinity. Anymore and it tends to be too much, from experience
"I like this dish because you don't have to add cream or butter to make it creamy." Proceeds to add a bunch of olive oil instead.
Which I’ve always been told is a no no by my Italian aunts. Keeps the sauce from sticking to the pasta. Eh, everyone has their own way I suppose
@@mandyg5444 I mean, the dude said he added oil to keep the pasta from sticking to each other and to help the sauce stick to the pasta. Someone needs to tell him that's not how it works. If it keeps the pasta from sticking to each other, it will keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta. Dude isn't very bright.
Proceeds to plate chunky cheesy pasta that doesn't look creamy at all
@@mandyg5444 precisely, you can add a bit of unsalted butter when you're mixing the pasta, the cheese and a bit of the cooking water to help with the creaminess, but if you use oil of any kind you'll get the cheese sauce clumping up and the pasta being basically "in bianco" (meaning with no sauce sticking to it)
He gives off the vibe of someone who watches way too much cooking youtube and doesn’t spend much time actually cooking, and buckled under the pressure of remembering everything Bon appetit told him so he started mixing up his rules
Steven's "believe in yourself Steven" I related so much. I like Chef Saul's attitude too. He makes pasta making so easy I might have to try and then ruin it somehow lol.
Steven sort of made Pasta al Burro without knowing he did (interestingly, he made an American-style Fettuccine Alfredo a while back while Julie and Frank actually made Pasta al Burro).
The level 2 just doesn’t look… good. It’s grey. And dry. And tacky.
Also, LOVE level 1 chef. So funny, so relatable
Agreed on the level 2, and his pasta doesn't look great either
He cooks like a level 1, maybe level 1.3
The presentation was very cringy
it's kinda green ..... from all that olive oil
"Add olive oil in pasta so it won't stick to each other but sauce will stick to the pasta" Is he really level 2? 🤣
That was the shittiest Level 2 chef I’ve ever seen on this series.
Can we get Emily with Steven as lvl 1, Lorenzo with Gabrielle as lvl 2 and Frank with Saul as lvl 3 duos? And of course Rose as lvl 4. That would be awesome !!!
Love this!!
rather penny and frank
Yes I 100% Agree! 🎉 they should do a DUO episode!!!
Hold Lorenzo and it’s perfect 👌🏼
Let's replace Gabrielle with Beth. What do you think??
I'm floored that level 2 would use pre ground cheese (which has anti clumping agents) and would add olive oil to the pasta. I'd expect a level 2 to be more informed than that.
I never have any issues with packaged cheese. It always works fine for me.
@@englishatheart packaged cheese and pre-ground cheese are different things. What are you trying to talk about?
Pre grated cheese is never the best option as it contains anti caking agents and coats with a sort of flour that isn't easy to blend with other items
I know hes too busy trying to import it from Italy to really check if the quality is better.
You should be more floored that he takes a lot of short cut cause he doesn't have time, yet chooses a morder and pestle for his pepper.
Wait the Level 2 chef criticised Saul for using different kinds of pepper but then added red pepper flakes to his pasta at the end? That ain’t it! He’s definitely not a level 2 chef.
The red pepper flakes are grinded chillies, but level 2 is still wrong about everything lol
When I saw that cheese wheel I immediately assumed it was Frank. Saul was an amazing surprise!! 😄
Frank is out milking the cows to make the cheese wheel
Imagine the cost of that cheese bowl.
The level 2 Cook on this episode can easily be a level 1.
He overcooked the pasta, plus left it in the water.
Agreed. His technique and skill is level one. Just because he used fancier ingredients shouldn't mean he's lvl 2
More like Level 0.
@@jmorales9780 He didn't even have to taste his pasta the first time. You could easily see it was still uncooked. Dude is clueless.
@@ErebosGR I think he got put as a level 2 by the producers but he definitely doesn't seem accustomed to cooking often.
Whenever I need to watch a trainwreck, I come back to watch this video for the “level 2” chef. Calling Joseph a level 2 and Stephen a level 1 here is just a downright insult to Saul and Stephen and unfair to Rose to have to try and justify his choices 😂
THE FACES I made during Joseph's dish....... I'd send that back. 100%.
As an Italian, I do squirm a little when i see someone make non-traditional changes to Italian recipes, but I really like Saul addressing it and acknowledging that it's not traditional. It's when people try to pass off those changes as unimportant or don't understand the value of tradition when it comes to culture and food that there's an issue. Saul's not doing that, he's having fun with it and trying to improve upon things with how fortunate we are in today's world to have access to different ingredients that weren't around when the recipes were created, which at it's base is what cooking is about
Italian culture….lol please get over yourself
@@ml.9417 Hey buddy! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!
concordo con te
It’s not that deep.
Saul preaching that Italian-Mexican unity 🇮🇹❤🇲🇽
And as an Italian I say…. not only do the two cuisine have something in common, but also the colors of our national flags are the same. 😊
Only Saul can do an Italian dish on the same level as Frank
I love how Joseph doesn't have time to make pasta from scratch, but uses a mortar and pestle for the peppercorns LOL
He doesn't even know how to use it properly. 🤣
@@ErebosGR I know! 😂 Uncle Roger would say his pounding is not good!
I mean, for this kind of dish, it makes more sense to use dry, semolina pasta. Its the perfect bite and richness for the rich sauce of the Cacio e Pepe. Hes gotta improve his mortar and pestle technique and add more pasta water though.
You can use a mortar and pestle a number of ways, depending on the result you want. If you pound peppercorns, you'll get powder. They don't want powder.
Smashing peppercorns is easier than making pasta.
10:19 "you don't need any cream or butter"
but you just added a lot of oil to help it emulsify...... and still somehow the level 1 result is better than level 2.
1 looks creamy and delish, but man, 3 is what I'd like to try
Steven cheated by using butter.
@@jesusgamboa9899 He didn't use butter tho
@@The_White are you blind? He did use butter on the sauce.
@@jesusgamboa9899 How is adding butter cheating?
@@dorkhydrogen Cacio and Pepe is only made with Pasta, Pecorino (or a blend of Pecorino/parm if you are not used to Pec), and crushed black peppercorns. You achieve the creaminess if you use the proper techniques of adding the freshly boiled pasta along with its water to the cheese/pepper mixture and mixing it with a fork or spoon until the cheese melts and becomes creamy, not stringy.
It's very rare here in Italy find someone that pairs cacio e pepe with an egg fresh pasta, I would say it is considered an "error", but Saul did a great job of course and I'm sure it is delicious. I love the pepper profile he selected.
Yeah although it’s not 100% traditional, it does look very good and he definitely did a great job at emulsifying the sauce
I’ve made this dish a few times, but I got the best results from the fresh pici pasta that I made.
How the level one chefs pasta turn out better than the level twos. come on man, get that sauce creamy
From a technique stand point, only Saul did a proper mantecatura(to cream the sauce). Level one sort of cheated by using butter, while the cheese on level 2's still looked clumpy.
Agreed, Saul definitely did an amazing job at emulsifying everything together to create the sauce. Plus, although it’s not traditional,I like the use of the various peppercorns because they add more flavor and color to the dish
Calling it "clumpy" is an insult to the word clumpy! That looked AWFUL, I couldn't tell if the sauce broke or not but it looked like a gloopy, gluey mess - I'm guessing it tastes okay but the texture/mouth-feel has GOT to be awful. Total fail given this dish is all technique and his was terrible.
@@ross-carlson totally and he said he grew up in an Italian American household. They would be ashamed of him for producing that cacio e pepe!
The Italian American guy had his pasta in the cooking water the whole time. Probably overcooked it as well.
@@anasmaaz5731 I would assume he had the pasta going while making the sauce and that it was just edited that way to show the different components or something
It's been a good while since I watched 4 Levels Of... and it's nice to see that Stephen has been learning. He's come a long way from the cheesecake incident.
if he keeps it up he can be promoted level 2 like Emily was recently
Omg cheesecake pancakes
Stephen: I'll be making a Cacio e pepe
Epicurious: sweating because there could be a chance that Stephen puts cheesecake in his sauce 👀
To be fair, what Steven made was something closer to Pasta al Burro due to the addition of butter. We need to think of Cacio e Pepe as the original and master recipe (like in Julia's Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking book) in which the name of the dish changes if you add another ingredient to the original recipe.
@@jesusgamboa9899 Is there black pepper in pasta al burro? Pecorino romano?
The level 2 cacio e pepe was terrible and the guy kept saying "traditional way". Mammma miaaaaaa
truly, cringe.
Thank the lord you seen that too. It was HORRIBLE! Cacio e Pepe is NOT a greasy lumpy ball of cheese and noodles.
Glad others noticed how terrible his was - given it's all technique, with how simple the ingredients are, he completely and totally failed. I'm sure it tastes fine but man does it look AWFUL.
He said it was great that it was creamy without using butter? I'm not sure that's what he said, but he used a LOT of olive oil in that one plate.
Steven and Saul were both so great to watch!! Love seeing the different skill levels both having so much fun and being so relatable. ❤
The editing in this was a lot fun. Obviously it's such a simple dish that you gotta fill the time somehow, but I like how there was interaction between what the cooks were doing. Especially Stephen's "AH!"
I would love to see them all try each other’s dishes. It would be interesting to see and I feel like they would be really good at building each other up.
Level 3 - Chef Saul: "I like making everything from scratch"
Level Frank - Chef Frank: "Today we doing our own flour"
Did Mr. Italian American really use pre-grated cheese? 🤨🤨🤨
Chef Saul did kill it as usual. There are some angry italian grandmas looking for the 2 other guys
I don't know man caccio a pepe is never made with fresh pasta, you just need some texture from dried pasta. Why add all these random things? This dish is supossed to be simple, that's the whole point
@@alicevanbiesen3823 Hey Alice, I understand that, my comment was more like out of the 3 versions, I'll choose Saul's one
(and I know the real thing is dry pasta, pepper and pecorino)
I'm glad Rose had all this time to explain. Interesting details!
"You don't need any cream or butter to make a creamy pasta"
*literally just added a fat (olive oil) to make it creamier*
Level 2 guy 100% puts on the Santa outfit after cooking Christmas dinner for the fam
Stephen: I'm gonna do what my wallet tells me
Joseph: I'm gonna do what tradition dictates
Saul: I'm gonna do.... WHAT I WANT 👑
Actually, Saùl was the only one of the three to get close to the Italian tradition (with a few cheffy detours but that's fine). Joseph made true poster glue. An Italian would not be in the same room with that mess.
@@alicetwain oh snap, really? Damn. The way he kept saying "tradition" or "traditional" I just assumed he was staying true to form
@@sabrinamd96 he may be doung things the way they are done in the US. He couldn't be further form the Italian (Roman in this case) tradition and from basic pasta management and use.
@@sabrinamd96 Joseph is the typical Italian American whose "Italian" food is anything but traditional.
Chef Saul also mastering in italian cuisines, bravo!
Saul’s Cacio y Pepe looked UNBELIEVABLE 😍
steven grinding the pepper cracked me up the guy is effortlessly hilarious
Saul rocks my world 😂 all men need to have his humor 💁🏻♀️💁🏻♀️
Why? Why specifically _all_ men? Why men at all? Why can’t his humor just be his and his alone and why does it need to apply to other people? Why’d you write your comment the way you did? What’s your point and why is that your point? Just, why?
@@AneXineohp I guess some people wanna be mad to be mad. I’m sorry you’re having your time spent on trolling but I hope you the best :)
Rose really had time in this one and the added details were presented in an interesting way. Really liked this!!
you know its still early when no italians are complaining in the comment section yet
I would like to see if someone destroys your traditions and your culture. 👍👍
It’s all wrong, this recipe is perfect because it is very simple and fast, please stop watching the videos of Gordon Ramsey and companions and look for Italian chefs to explain these recipes. Yet there is Google Translate. It's easy.
@heymoona was going to say ohp I found one in the comments but looks like they found you first! 😀
and it begins- 😂
@@jergoz I used Google Translate on an Italian chef's video and it just said "I cooka da meatball" over and over again
@@invitapriore I did the same thing and I found on USA info only antidepressants, weapons, obesity, no health, the population that believes more in angels and an average level of funional illiteracy 🤣
The Italian way to salt the pasta water is "Abbondante acqua salata" or "salato come il mare".... use enough salt to where the water tastes like sea water. Then you don't have to salt at the end especially if you're using the starchy pasta water to thicken your sauce
that's actually just a myth, you need to have 1% salt in pasta water; the ocean has 3,5% which would be way too salty
General ratio is 1000:100:10 (Water:Pasta:Salt, eg 1l water to 100g pasta to 10g salt) but less salt if you have a high quality pasta where you want to keep as much of its original flavour as possible or if you have a saltier ingredient later (e.g. a cheese or cured meat) that would over-salt with the pasta water. Less water and salt when you want a starchier water to use in dishes like CeP or midnight spaghetti.
Sea water is way, way saltier than any of the above.
When I see Saul, I like and watch.
Thanks, Saul, for trying something that does not involve any meat and stuff!!!! The best way to eat Cacio e Pepe!!!
His quesadilla didn't have meat either.
Not often does the lvl 1 look better than the lvl 2 but that is certainly the case this time. I think lvl 2 might have traditional American and traditional Italian mixed up.
I actually think his looks the best. Saul's is just farrrr too much cheese for the amount of pasta IMO.
@@stinooke wait but like Saul literally has less cheese than lvl2 guy
The level 1 seems more like a level 2 here. Most level 1 home cooks don't even use a pepper grinder. They use pre-ground pepper and they sure don't make Cacio e Pepe.
@@stinooke Maybe to you it's "farrrr too much cheese". But that's like saying "the level 1 guy used too much salt and the level 2 used too little". It's all on personal preference.
You like one thing, Saul likes another.
@@shine_yang Saul literally used half a wheel of cheese plus a mountain of parm and pecorino
I admit, when I saw the wheel of cheese on the thumbnail I expected Frank, but Saul is always a pleasure too
“My pasta is cooked perfectly al dente .”
Me: “It’s RAW!” -Gordon Ramsay
Steven is so adorable. "I didnt know other coloured peppers existed" Me neither m8.
Take a shot every time the middle guy says traditional or authentic lol like we get it
Finish your drink every time he does something deeply inauthentic (pre-grated cheese, olive oil, bucatini, barely salted water)
Saul is my favorite of the level 3s
When level 1 chef has a more traditional and better product than level 2....
Level 1 used butter so it’s not more traditional though level 2’s sauce was pretty clumpy
@@damaran834 can a clumply Cacio e Pepe be rectified with hot pasta water?
@@jesusgamboa9899 perhaps, though normally when it’s that clumpy it’s because the cheese wasn’t tempered properly and has gone stringy. Which has happened to me a few times when I made Caico e Pepe
I wouldn't call Stephen's pasta traditional by any means, but at least he aknowledged his limits and went the easy way to get a creamy texture.
Cacio e pepe can be deceiptfully tricky: 3 ingredients and only a couple a passages, but very easy to get it wrong by having the sauce break and be lumpy like Joseph's.
If you're going to add butter to Cacio e Pepe, please don't even bother doing that recipe. Just make Mac and Cheese.
Saul is the "kitchen dad" we all want and need.
You know it will be a great episode when Saul is the level 3 chef. 🙂
I'm sad that the level 2 doesn't really look creamy.... but it's surely homey.
Lots of people believe that olive oil helps your pasta not stick together.
Yeah, it looks dry. I don't think he used enough pasta water.
I find it kinda funny bc he went out of his way to talk about how his is traditional, and even lowkey criticized Chef Saul for using different peppercorns.
I'm very surprised that he used pre grated. Given that pre ground cheese has an anti clumping agent in it it's inherently more difficult to mix. And yes! Cooking videos always harp on not adding olive oil to pastas since it makes everything slip off.
@@SterlingIngleMead he's cute, but he mistreated those poor bucatini in every way imaginable.
It does help the pasta not stick with each other, but it also makes the sauce not stick to the pasta, and you definitely want the sauce to stick.
Was hoping for Stephen to finish his pasta in a block of cheesecake
This video has solidified my theory that there are two kinds of chefs. One who don't heard the melody of food, and those who do. That determines greatness
I think you don’t heard the melody of grammar
Epicurious, we need Chef Saul and Chef Frank show down like Chopped. Have the two chefs compete to see who the best is.
More Saul content is needed.
Saul is still killing it on this one ! 👑
Cheers from San Diego California 🇺🇸
I LOVE Saul. His humor is awesome and his food always looks amazing. He needs his own show.
I’m so glad Rose has more time again! Love her explanations ❤
Chef Saul... Always excited to see your work!
Me: might skip this episode
*sees chef Saul*
I’m watching this NOW
The "level 2" (whatever that means) chef at 3:00 had to take a bite at that to realize it wasn't cooked yet? It's clearly stiff my guy! 😂
EDIT: What a surprise, his cacio e pepe was horrible and the cheese curded really bad. xD
Also, he left the pasta in the water for ages after he cooked them. He's gonna have a soggy mess in the end
@@dogoku yep. Rookie mistake.
Sorry, Italian-American Joseph, take it from an Italian-Italian: of the three of you the only one that made a dish an Italian would not refuse outright is Saùl's. (disculpe Saùl, solo tengo teclado Italiano sin acentos Espanoles). Both you and Stephen let the pasta sit and get horribly overcooked and mushy. And let me just ignore the salad on a pasta dish and the combination of pepper and peperoncino. Saùl, you are a true adoptive Italian!
The way my boyfriend and I just cheered when Saul appeared on the screen. 😂
Any vid with Saul gets a like, no questions asked
Italian pro Chef here, with 40+ years on duty. Without being too tied up on traditions and whatnot, I like to give my opinion on this. Although Saul untraditionally used 3 kinds of peppers, his homemade pasta made him step above anyone else. Furthermore, as expected from a pro, he was the only one blending the pasta with the sauce at the right temperature: right after the cooking time. Lovely the extra effort to use cheese form as a serving plate. Very '80 here...
Both the others let the pasta cool down too much. To be honest, I'm impressed by Steven's performance: despite some "amateur" mistakes he came out with an excellent result, in pair visually with Saul's dish, and worthy of an Italian.Excellent job.
The bucatini guy...where to start? Next time much, much more water where you cook the pasta; rules dictate 0,26 gl water for every 3,5 oz pasta. Mix with sauce as soon as you drain: use the heat from the pasta to melt the cheese, no need to use extra heat. And the pepper was a little too much; sometimes less is more.
NOTE for Saul: Chef, to better gauge the correct thickness of the spaghetti alla chitarra, just measure the space between the strings of the "chitarra"; that's how thick the pasta should be, so once cut, they should have a "square" section.
Saul could give Frank a run for his money. Mucho love
As per Joseph he grew up in an Italian-American family and still doesn’t know how to pronounce cacio e pepe properly 😂😂😂
It's the famous American humbleness
I was like… okay… good for you, do you want a gold star for participation? Because I don’t think you’re level 2 at all
I made cacio e pepe for the first time a couple days ago, and it looked nothing like level 2. I had a creamy, silky sauce. His looked like he made it with Cotija instead of pecorino.
When I started learning how to cook about 5 years ago, Cacio e Pepe was the first real thing I learned how to make from scratch. It came out absolutely terrible. Nowadays, I have it down, and I'll always have a happy place in my heart for it because of the experience. This is very much a nice, comfy dish to see on the series. :)
Steven is very impressive!!! Cacio e Pepe is a difficult dish to perfect. I’ve been trying for a while and still haven’t been able to make a completely smooth sauce but he did it flawlessly! I’m sure Joseph’s tastes good but he needs to work on his sauce. I’m not even sure you can call his a sauce.
No, level 2. You're meant to bring fresh pasta. The level 1 always brings dry, the level 3 always makes their own, that's the way it's got to be, as Emily/Lorenzo/Frank ordained.
Brilliant rendition of a classic by Chef Saul. Really enjoyed this episode.
Saul, you a legend man.. he is just the best… i can watch this guy cooking all the time. Not only cooks great but also is a great entertainer ;)
I just came to see people roasting lvl 2 for using olive oil lol
❤🎉 YES!!! Chef Saul! Clicked liked👍🏼 and KNEW it was gonna be a GREAT episode!!!
th-cam.com/video/TKoksrEZTCw/w-d-xo.html
Always a good day when there’s a new four levels!
Frank's force ghost nodding approvingly with Saul's cheese wheel bowl
When Chef Saul took a bite, I can hear the creaminess of the sauce and I love cheese.
03:00 - If you need to taste to see that it's not ready, something is wrong.
"if my pasta water comes out tasting like the atlantic ocean, i've done it wrong"
somebody lied to him several times
Always always always… salt your water so that it is literally as salty as the sea. Don’t listen to level two. This takes pasta from good to great!
I don't understand why Americans always try to do MORE in the kitchen. I am Italian, and cacio e pepe is probably my favourite pasta dish. If I have to choose, I'll pick level 1. If I don't have to choose well, I would cook my own...
Fresh pasta has no bite, which is essential here. Level 2 sauce is not even a sauce when he put pasta over it. And pecorino is already fat enough, you don't need extra butter or oil, if it's not creamy enough is a matter of balancing the water.
Agree! I know this is an American channel with American chefs but it's crying out for actual Italians (home or pro) to be involved here.
Saul always for the win. Fancy, but italian approved.