Thank you so much for the feedback and resource! Plating pasta is something I'm slowly working on improving as I get better tools for the job.

There was no broken pasta, but it was just barely al dente. The strands still had enough body that the ends were able to resist gravity, but I do think that proper plating will help me soften the overall shape and help me avoid that spiky profile that makes it look like I committed the ultimate pasta sin. :)

The gluten free pasta is likely it. I use a ton of pasta water when making these dishes and the cheese dissolves into the sauce.

Try mixing in a little potato starch slurry into the pasta water after the pasta is cooked and see if that helps.

My wife and I had the same issue when we started out. We’ve solved it two different ways.

Option 1: Use 3 parts pecorino romano, 1 part parmesano, mix in a bowl and then slowly add to pasta while vigorously stirring (pasta should be very hot still to melt cheese)

Option 2 (my personal preference): Combine a bit of cacio y pepe recipe with a bit of carbonara recipe :)

Mix your cheese with egg (we use 3 eggs + 1 yolk, 3oz pecorino romano, 1oz parm) until it’s a slurry. Add pepper to the mixture. Then add to pasta and stir vigorously.

There’s the OG way of putting the hot pasta into a hollowed out cheese wheel, or for the majority of us.. use a microplane with a block of cheese to get thinner slices that melt easily

Give this video a watch!

https://youtu.be/U4eaNqTbDDA?si=UquMBbzV0CGxhcIr

I've noticed adding just a little olive oil to the grated cheese while you mash, before adding the pasta water seems to help the cheese from clumping. Especially if you're doing larger servings.

Cheese.

Spaghetti are aesthetically pleasing.

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