/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Any Italian fags or other cacio e pepe experts here? I'm trying to make it again, I've already watched probably all available online tutorials but I still mess it up.

I follow the classic recipe, so toast and grind peppercorns, add them to the cold pan, add some pasta water, add pasta, add finely grated pecorino and stir, but I still get clumps. Pecorino is as finely grated as possible. I start with a completely cold pan so it shouldn't be too hot, or do I need to wait a little bit to let it cool even further? Is the cheese pic rel legit or did I get scammed? What other mistakes am I making?

Any tips?