science for the dinner table

Illustration by Annika Rui Chen

By Priyanka Matthews

Earlier this month, the Nobel Prizes were announced from their base in Stockholm. But their prestigious diploma ceremony isn’t the event Nature has referred to as “the highlight of the scientific calendar.” (Pilcher, 2004) That honor goes to the Ig Nobels, “a gala mix of awards ceremony, circus, opera, and many other things.” The satirical prize awards “research that makes people laugh, then think” and has honored work on everything from spiceless jalapenos to homosexual necrophilia in ducks. And while the King of Sweden may not be present, the prize is presented by figures just as noble: Nobel Prize laureates. 

This year, one such award went to a group of researchers doing work applicable to anyone who enjoys a good bowl of pasta. Led by the Universitat de Barcelona’s Giacomo Bartolucci, this team explored the phase behavior of the cacio e pepe sauce, measuring its stability at various temperatures upon varying the proportions of cheese, water, and starch. (Bartolucci et al., 2025) They identified two key factors of sauce texture: protein aggregation and phase separation. These factors are controlled by starch and temperature regulation, so, with this information at hand, the group developed a scientifically optimized cacio e pepe recipe.

But before we get into the ground breaking pasta work (or the breakthrough recipe), we have to lay the foundation. Scientifically, what is a cacio e pepe sauce? With water as a solvent, the key players are the cheese and starch. When heated, cheese proteins denature and clump together, forming what researchers call the ‘mozzarella phase’ – rubbery cheese masses that ruin a sauce’s smooth texture. The oil in the cheese can also cause issues, as the most thermodynamically favorable state for the hydrophobic oil and water is the phase separation reminiscent of an Italian vinaigrette. The starch is the key ingredient that stabilizes the emulsion of water and oil, preventing both protein clumps and oily droplets. In order to determine the ideal starch ratio, the researchers performed an experiment in which they kept the ratio of cheese to water fixed while varying the amount of starch.The team then repeated the same procedure for the water and cheese ratio, keeping the starch concentration constant. 

Now, what is the scientifically optimized cacio e pepe recipe? It was found that starch shifts the start of clumping to occur at higher temperatures and decreases the size of aggregates. Too much starch, however, will result in a gelatinous texture. A starch ratio of 2% to 3% allows for a creamy, emulsified sauce. The water to cheese ratio followed binodal distribution, with both too much water and too much cheese resulting in large protein aggregates. It looked like Italian grandmothers’ intuition was spot on, as the scientifically backed ratio for cheese to water is simply 1:1.

​So, the age old question: was the work worth the Ig Nobel? While a scientifically backed pasta sauce has a place in my kitchen, phase separation has taken the spotlight in biochemistry over the past couple of years after the discovery of membrane-less physiological compartments formed through this phenomenon. In fact, research has found that the protein aggregation caused by faulty phase separation in your dinner is comparable to the protein aggregation that results in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. And maybe that’s the ultimate takeaway from the Ig Nobels: even the most whimsical work can stir up serious science.