Spaghetti Carbonara
Discover the ultimate Spaghetti Carbonara recipe, a culinary gem from Rome, boasting crunchy pork, spicy pepper, and creamy cheese sauce. Perfected through years of tasting and cooking, this dish highlights quality ingredients.
Equipment
- 1 frying pan
- 1 middle pot
- 1 mesh skimmer or sieve
- 1 mixing bawl
- 1 cheese grater
Ingredients
- 8 oz (1 package) (250g) of fresh uncooked pasta or 6 ounces (200g) of dry egg pasta (spaghettoni or staghetti)
- 5 oz (150g) guanciale (jowl bacon, seasoning 3-4 months) or pancetta / bacon
- 3 units egg yolks + 2 for serving (optional)
- 1 oz (30g) Pecorino Romano cheese (to grate)
- 3/4 oz (20g) Pecorino Romano cheese (to grate) to add just before serving
- 1 1/3 oz (40g) Grana Padana cheese (to grate)
- Freshly ground pepper generous
Instructions
- Chop guanciale/pancetta, having first removed any rind, into thick cubes as in the picture. Make sure the bites you cut are not too small, as they may burn in the process and won't yield enough melted fat (also, don't add any oil to the pan - no need for that).
- Finely grate Pecorino Romano and Grana Padana cheese and mix them together.
- Bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Add a small amount of salt because the sauce will be pretty salty. Opt for a larger-sized pot while cooking pasta to ensure it has enough room in the water. Once boiled, add pasta. I highly recommend using thick spaghetti (spaghettoni or spaghetti alla chitarra) for this recipe. If you are using fresh pasta that is ready in a few minutes, start cooking the bacon first.
- Put a frying pan to medium heat and melt fatty juice out of the pork bits. Increase the heat, and fry the pieces a bit more for a crispy finish. Try not to overdry it, though.
- To make sure the pasta is ready, try a small bit first before putting it off the heat. Stope cooking pasta 1 minute before. as it will continue to be cooking while mixing with the sauce.
- Leave a cup of pasta water right before draining the pasta and put it aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine 3 egg yolks with grated Pecorino, Grana Padana and black paper and mix well.
- Put the bowl onto the bain-marie (water bath) on the pasta pot and stir well.
- Use a mesh skimmer or sieve to separate the melted fat from the bacon and add it to the egg and cheese mixture, putting bacon bites aside.
- Add a bit of pasta water to the sauce and keep steering, making sure the water bath is gradually heating the mixture, but not too much so that the yolks are not getting cooked.
- Keep steering, adding some more pasta water if needed, until you achieve this amazing firm and creamy texture that you see in the picture.
- To ensure the sauce is ready - try grabbing some of it with the cooking pad and see if it stays in place. Once it does - the sauce is prepared.
- Mix the sauce with pasta, adding a bit more pasta water, stir well.
- Add bacon bites, stir gently and serve.
- Finish with additional Pecorino cheese and more black pepper. Optionally you can put an extra egg yolk on top of pasta (I usually do it for my husband - he loves it this way).Enjoy!