Spaghetti Carbonara

Should I drain?

Of course, r1. Just reserve a little of the liquid to moisten the pasta.

I use cream instead of the eggs in true fat whore fashion.

So here's how I do it OP (for 6 oz pasta - two servings)

Fry 3 oz pancetta, drain it on paper towel, crumble into small pieces, & set aside

Remove the fat from the pan, substitute a 2 TB extra virgin olive oil, gently saute two medium garlic cloves you put through a garlic press, & then remove the pan from the heat

In a small bowl mix 2 egg yolks, ¼ cup heavy cream, & 1 oz grated pecorino romano cheese and then set aside

Before draining the pasta (that's cooked in salted water), reserve some of that water

Add the drained pasta to the frying pan & mix a little

Add the yolk mixture & again mix

Add 2 TB of the pasta water & give another mix

Let it sit in the pan a few minutes (mixing it about every minute) until the sauce is the desired consistency

For the record, I like Segiano brand linguine for this

That sounds delicious R4!

OP, I love spaghetti carbonara. I'm fortunate to have found a restaurant near me that makes a great carbonara. I'm not a good enough cook to attempt it myself. And you're right, hard to find even in good Italian restaurants.

R3 I’m sure it’s delicious with cream but what you are making is something other than Spaghetti Carbonara.

We should all work to eliminate carbon-based feulsillis from our diet.

You drain the pasta, but you reserve a little of the water.

Fossilfuels??

I make it similar to R4 with some minor changes.... maybe it’s not considered carbonara with these changes.

1. Although I cook with garlic often, I leave it out of the carbonara recipe.

2. I don’t use cream and use about double the amount of egg yolks and much more perorino. I also add red pepper flakes to this mixture.

3. I mix in the egg/cheese mixture after taking the pasta off of the heat. I think it makes the texture nicer and so far haven’t gotten salmonella.

4. I fold in a lot of fresh parsley.

(I know that chefs don’t recommend cooking in olive oil, but I sauté the pancetta in olive oil, don’t crush up the pancetta, and add some of the oil to the pasta water that I mix into the sauce).

I either eat it as a meal with salad or as the pasta dish before a chicken dish.

I'm pretty sure that the original Carbonara which is from the mid 1940's was make with Nestle tinned cream, tinned food make up much of the European diet after WWII.

^^^ Made not Make^^^

Is it necessary to be critical of someone's typo or grammatical error?

We would no more go without it, dear r14, than air or food.

[quote] I mix in the egg/cheese mixture after taking the pasta off of the heat. I think it makes the texture nicer and so far haven’t gotten salmonella.

This was going to be my question for R4. If you're adding the egg mixture into in the hot pan, how do you avoid scrambled eggs? A double boiler?

R16, Whoever wrote that recipe must like to create work for herself. A hand blender? Double boiler? I mix up the egg/cheese mixture with a fork for a few seconds before mixing it with the pasta. Everything melts and the texture is silky. Carbonara is one of my go-tos when I want to make something fast with not much effort. It’s really a simple recipe.

(R16) You have to vigorously toss the items in the pan by shaking the pan and by folding in the items with a spatula.

[quote] I use cream instead of the eggs in true fat whore fashion.

If you're talking about just egg yolks, the yolks probably have more fat than heavy cream.

The meat is supposed to be guanciale, but it's not easy to find. Pancetta is more readily available, and at least it's more authentic than bacon.

[quote] For the record, I like Segiano brand linguine for this

Linguine sounds better than spaghetti for carbonara sauce.

No cream, that’s what ruins it. Eggs and cheese only

(R20) I had to order my guanciale from a butcher out of state.

My buddy from college and his wife both made excellent spaghetti carbonara. They used raw eggs too. I've yet to taste anything as good. Whenever I came over to study or visit, his wife, who is truly a sweetheart, made it almost every time I came to visit. Sometimes, she'd add shrimp or chicken. He'd cook it sometimes too; she taught him.

She always said you had to pay attention to detail and mix the eggs properly or they'd taste and feel like scrambled eggs.

R19, but egg yolks have many nutrients and are definitely better for you than cream.

Totally agree R21. Carbonara is a rustic dish and the thicker the pasta, the better (my opinion). I like to make my own and cut it wider than fettuccine.

[quote]This was going to be my question for R4. If you're adding the egg mixture into in the hot pan, how do you avoid scrambled eggs? A double boiler?

[quote]R16, Whoever wrote that recipe must like to create work for herself. A hand blender? Double boiler?

Re the first quote, the egg mixture isn't being added to a hot pan. As I said @ R4, you remove the pan from the heat after you "gently saute" the garlic - meaning the pan wouldn't have been over high heat in the first place, and the pan is then off the heat while the pasta is cooking - leaving the pan time to cool a bit. Also, the egg mixture, as I mentioned, is being added to the pasta, so it won't scramble the egg, and the result is a silky texture.

Re the second quote, it;s not really additional work. I use neither a hand blender nor a double boiler, but a teeny little whisk or a fork. I combine them - egg/cheese because I like to add them simultaneously, so combining them makes sense.

If you are interested in the genuine article, there is NO cream in carbonara.

And you do not drain the fat from pancetta (or better yet guanciale). Carbonara is all about the pork fat. That's why guanciale is preferred because it's so fatty.

Absolutely no parsley. But you do need lots of freshly ground black pepper. It is essential. And freshly grated pecorino or parmesan. Or both.

The traditional pasta used is spaghetti, but I prefer linguini.

This is supposed to be a dish that is fast and effortless. No double boilers or other contraptions to make it. Just 4 ingredients: guanciale, egg yolks, pecorino, spaghetti. Plus salt and pepper. And that's it.

The entire dish is prepared in the time it takes the pasta to cook.

I’m still confused. What is my role around here?

This is the recipe I use, but with bacon or pancetta. I find guanciale to be too fatty. The pasta is combined with the egg mixture and cooked together in a double-boiler to cook the egg through.

[quote] And you do not drain the fat from pancetta (or better yet guanciale). Carbonara is all about the pork fat. That's why guanciale is preferred because it's so fatty.

This part makes sense, esp. if you're replacing the fat with olive oil. (I can understand skimming off fat because there's simply too much of it.) Pancetta and guanciale appear to be not smoked, so, no excessive smokey flavor.

But, to each his own. If you like the olive oil, then that's what you like.

Cook's Country Spaghetti Carbonara (just listing the ingredients):

3 large eggs + 2 large yolks

2.5 oz. Pecorino Romano, grated

1 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. salt

4 oz. guanciale, cut into 1/2-in. chunks

2 Tbs. EVOO

1 lb. spaghetti

R29 Actually that's not a bad way to do it for people squeamish about raw eggs. Italians don't have a problem with raw yolks and remember, Americans do eat poached eggs and the like with raw yolks. But the ingredient list is is right and so is the one at R31. Italian guanciale is so fatty that you do not need to use oil to cook it.

Even if you don't make it the way Antonio does, you owe it to yourself to watch his 5-minute video. If you can't get guanciale, you can use hog jowl or pig's cheek , found in lots of big American grocery stores, it's nearly the same thing. Pancetta is usually in the deli case of most similar places. He insists, "no cream". He was a great spirit, and is worth investigating further on youtube. His videos on wild mushrooms are hypnotic.

[quote] I’m sure it’s delicious with cream but what you are making is something other than Spaghetti Carbonara.

Yes I know, but unlike the other posters I use bacon , as this recipe was originally created to be like a pasta based bacon and eggs for American soldiers. Sometimes I use eggs but most of the time I'm lazy or have them earmarked for some other purpose.

[quote] If you can't get guanciale, you can use hog jowl or pig's cheek , found in lots of big American grocery stores

Only if you shop in the Clampetts' neighborhood.

[quote] Absolutely no parsley.

This is why I prefaced my comment with

[quote] maybe it’s not considered carbonara with these changes

Carbonara is very fatty, and I usually don’t eat this way. The parsley really mellows it out for me.

If you think that every Italian dish is made in exactly the same way in every Region you need to do a bit of a culinary tour of the Country, they can differ from town to town.

It's not KFC of McDonald's.

.

I ate pasta carbonara so many times while in Italy I thought my arteries were going to close up.

I've had it from time to time in the US, but it NEVER tasted as good as it did over there.

Hopefully, the copious amounts of red wine helped mitigate the damage.

Haiyaaaaaaa R28

You don't have to worry about 'scrambled' egg if you thoroughly rinse the pasta after cooking it.

Don't skimp on the pancetta or the cheese, and don't try to use a different cheese.. I use garlic and onion. Yes, don't mix over a fire. Pepper flakes. NO parsley.

R40 OH DEAR oh dear oh dear (and I'm not referring to your grammar)

When I was kid back in the 80s, I was staying over with my grandparents and my grandma asked what I wanted to eat so I asked her to make spaghetti carbonara. We ate it fairly often at home. But my grandma thought it was scary to toss raw egg yolks through the pasta, so she made an omelette, chopped it up, and tossed that through the spaghetti. Of course it totally missed the point of the dish and what the egg yolks are doing there. I didn’t mind, though. It may not have been spaghetti carbonara, but she made it with love, and it tasted good. I still always think of her when I make spaghetti carbonara now.

R37 There are no regional differences with carbonara. It's not as if it's prepared one way in Rome and another in Bolzano. It is what it is. Add variations and it becomes another dish.

The finer points are whether to use whole eggs, or just yokes or a combo. Pancetta or guanciale. Only pecorino or parmesan too.

If you want to add cream or onions or garlic or whatever you want...why not if that's what you like. It's all good. But it's not what is known as carbonara.

R37 La carbonara... alla pugliese!

R45 That's a chef's own recipe. This is what la carbonara looks like in la cucina Pugliese. The same as it does everywhere :

It's just damn 'sketti with bacon bits in it!

I never knew the shit had a fancy name.

R46 Most decent Restaurants all over Italy have their own recipes, otherwise you may as well just eat in a downmarket Trattoria.

What is a "downmarket Trattoria"? There are good and bad restaurants and trattorias. If you go to a good place where Italians eat, your carbonara will classic. That is what Italians expect. If a chef makes his own take on a classic recipe it will be identified as such.

R49 Trattoria by definition serve fast inexpensive food, the equivalent to US Diners. In my experience most are pretty horrible.

R50 Oh my. You know nothing about Italy, or what a trattoria is.

R50, are you talking about trattorias in Italy or elsewhere?

When I was in Paris, it seemed like even the crappiest places had good food (to my American palate).

I would imagine even the dumpiest trattoria in Italy would have decent food (for an American's palate).

Italy is a country of trattorias. The most highly rated and loved eateries.

[quote]The finer points are whether to use whole eggs, or just yokes or a combo

Oh, dear.

The old yokes are the best yokes!

Thanks all for dinner idea and saving me a trip to store. Plan to serve with asparagus & leftover duck confit (why not)

Sounds delicious R56. I bet if you diced up the left over duck and fried it in the pork fat, it would be delicious.

pasta queen and pasta bro to the rescue

R54 Oh dear indeed. Sorry about that. English is my second language.

My hubby makes his own pasta for carbonara. Dee-lish-us. Jealous, bitches?

That woman in r58 seems like the Italian Sofia Vergara.

R60 Jealous? No. Carbonara is made to be eaten using dry pasta, not fresh.