Originally Posted by
Stripe
The cacio e pepe has been around AA for some time. A proper cacio e pepe consists of spaghetti, black pepper and Pecorino Romano. That's it. It's also notoriously difficult to do really well, and probably impossible as an airplane meal. I suspect AA chooses to ruin it with the spicy Calabrian chilis (if that's what the red sauce really is) simply to cover up their mediocre version. I'd be curious to taste the middle part before swirling in the red stuff.
That's pretty much it... They modify the cacio e pepe itself and serve it over the red sauce (both) to stabilize it... Even the best cacio e pepe wouldn't taste like anything at altitude, and it certainly wouldn't stand up to all the chilling/holding/reheating/etc it has to do -- it would be a dried out mess. As an Italian, I understand why they can't serve a proper cacio e pepe, but it kills me to see them twist this into something so completely different in order to make it functional for the domestic catering process and physical inflight limitations. Just pick a different pasta dish completely.