This is a classic recipe for carbonara with the most fundamental ingredients that have been developed throughout centuries. Why do I call it "classic"? Because throughout the chronicle of history, despite several additions of ingredients and adaptation, the recipe that most Italians grow up eating always has 4 fundamental ingredients: guanciale, eggs, black pepper and hard cheese.
Nevertheless, one shouldn't limit their creativity when it comes to cooking. Most of the Italians I know, even the one that does not know much about cooking, know how to make carbonara in the traditional way and they love carbonara for the way it is - luscious egg sauce, peppery taste, savory and fatty guanciale, cheesy, salty and complex flavor from pecorino. However, it doesn't mean that vegetarians cannot enjoy this dish, or it is a crime to add heavy cream and seafood to carbonara. Carbonara per se is a versatile dish with very simple ingredients, so it definitely gives space for people to adjust the recipe according to their preferences. However, there are limits to how far a traditional dish can be changed. Traditional carbonara was a beautiful result of cooking techniques and ingredients that have been refined throughout the year. Therefore, once being modified, the title "traditional" or "classic" should not be alongside "carbonara" as a way to respect the cooking tradition of the dish per se.
I stay in Rome so I can easily find ingredients for “traditional” carbonara and I have made Carbonara multiple times. Why do I still bother writing a whole recipe for Carbonara if it is such a classic and popular recipe? I would say that I have made it so many times that I have collected a list of common mistakes which I hope my readers don’t repeat. Also, from my personal experience, since carbonara is made of only 4 simple ingredients, each ingredient plays an important role in the dish as well as the techniques, attention to the heat and the texture of ingredients at each stage.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs (2 egg yolk and 1 egg)
- 200 gr of spaghetti or rigatoni
- 100 gr of guanciale
- 70 gr of grated pecorino romano
Mise en place
- Cut off the rind outside of the guanciale then cut it into large and thick chunks.
- Separate the egg yolk from egg white, keep 1 whole egg.
- Grate the cheese of your choice.
- Weigh and measure the pasta.
Cooking Instructions
1. Start boiling water for making pasta. When water is boiled, put in a little salt. It should taste savory and not too salty. Put pasta in boiling water and cook it 1 minute less than the time instructed on the box as it will be cooked one more time later when we mix it in the rendered guanciale. I used spaghetti for this recipe and the box instructs to cook it for 8 minutes, so I put my timer on for 7 minutes.
2. While waiting for the pasta, put the guanciale in the pan over high heat without oil. When the pan reaches high temperature and the guanciale starts rendering fat, lower the heat to medium high. After the pan is filled with rendered fat, let the guanciale cook a little bit more until it turns slightly brown and crispy. After they get slightly brown, take them out of the pan. (Some Italians may tell you that you should not put olive oil in the pan to render guanciale but a little bit won’t hurt anybody. In the Italian restaurant that I worked at, I saw Italian chefs always put a bit of oil to render guanciale because olive oil acts as a thermal interface between guanciale and the pan, sometimes making it faster for the guanciale to render fat).
3. After the pasta is cooked, save a cup of pasta water for the sauce and drain the pasta, put it aside.
4. While waiting for guanciale, beat the egg yolks and the whole egg together, add grated cheese and continue whisking until the texture becomes smooth and thick, add a little rendered fat and pasta water that has cooled down. Don’t put boiling hot pasta water into this mixture otherwise it will scramble the eggs. Whisk until the mixture has the texture of a sauce.
5. Mix the drained pasta with the rendered guanciale fat in the pan over high heat and mix quickly to make sure the pasta takes in all of the flavor from the fat.
6. After the pasta has absorbed all the fat, switch off the fire and immediately pour in the sauce and mix everything together. This is the most important step to achieve the creamy texture of carbonara so pay attention!
7. To garnish, grate some pecorino and sprinkle some black pepper and voila!