carbonara

Have you seen the Stanley Tucci show? We as a family are enjoying its deep dive into Italian tourism, learning a little about the history of Italy and a lot about certain delicious dishes. Most of all we’ve been inspired to cook and eat pasta!

We started with Rome’s famous carbonara—which I’ve only had a handful of times and always get confused with alfredo, which is totally different. Carbonara is like many of Italy’s dishes, so simple and relies mostly on good ingredients and some technique. I researched the hell out of making it and even bought a pasta-pan (a wide deep saucepan for mixing the pasta with the other ingredients.) Serious Eats’ Daniel Gritzer did the reporting for me in his article which directed me to this amazing pan.

To prepare I also watched some videos—every chef has a slightly different way to combine the simple ingredients. Some drain the guanciale fat and add it back in at the end (or not); some combine the eggs and cheese over the heat; some use only yolks instead of whole eggs. But most agree that the authentic recipe is simply guanciale or pancetta (not bacon), eggs, pecorino (with maybe some parmesan mixed in), and spaghetti.

I went to Battaglia Brothers in Dobbs Ferry for my ingredients and then decided on a mixture of 4 yolks/1 whole egg and about a cup of mostly pecorino with a little parm. I used De Cecco spaghetti and boiled it in salty water, while I cooked the diced pancetta over low heat (no oil or butter—another mandate from the authentic chefs), then transferred it to my new pasta pan to cool. When the pasta was al dente I added it straight to the pasta pan with the pancetta and slowly mixed in the egg/cheese combo, then added a little more pasta-water to loosen it.

It was delicious but a little salty so next time I’ll have to adjust the water’s saltiness and the cheese ratio (maybe more parm .) We devoured it though—rich and creamy with chunks of fatty salty meat. It was definitely a good place to start on our Italy journey. One day may we eat it in Rome.