Carbonara is the dish most people think they can make, and the one most people still get wrong. Four ingredients, no cream, and a technique that decides everything.
First things first: there should be no cream in carbonara
The creaminess in a Roman carbonara comes from egg yolk and grated cheese whisked together with hot pasta water. It does not come from cream. Cream is a northern European shortcut that makes the sauce heavier and flattens the flavour of the cheese. The original has four things: guanciale, pecorino romano, egg and coarsely ground black pepper. Bacon is not the same as guanciale either, which is cured pork cheek and gives more fat and a rounder flavour.
What is surprising is how young the dish is. Carbonara does not appear in Italian cookbooks until after the Second World War, and the first printed recipes do not even agree with one another. When La Cucina Italiana printed its version in 1954, the ingredient list said pancetta and gruyère. The set of rules many people defend today is therefore younger than it looks.
Ingredients for four
- 400 g spaghetti
- 200 g guanciale, or pancetta if you cannot get hold of guanciale
- 4 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
- 100 g finely grated pecorino romano, or half and half with parmesan
- 1 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper, and salt for the pasta water
Method
- Cut the guanciale into batons half a centimetre thick. Put them in a cold pan and set it over medium heat. The fat should melt out slowly over eight to ten minutes, until the pieces are golden and crisp at the edges. Too high a heat and the edges burn before the fat is out.
- Cook the spaghetti in well salted water, and take it out a minute before the packet says.
- Toast the pepper in a dry pan for half a minute while the pasta cooks. Pepper that gets a little heat has a clearer flavour than pepper straight from the mill.
- Whisk the egg yolks, egg, cheese and pepper into a thick cream, and loosen it with a couple of tablespoons of pasta water.
- Take the pan of guanciale off the heat. Turn the pasta in the fat and wait half a minute until it stops sizzling.
- Pour in the egg mixture off the heat and stir vigorously. Loosen with pasta water until the sauce settles as a thin coating around each strand. If it gets too thick, add more water. If it turns grainy, the pan was too hot.
- Serve at once with more pecorino and pepper.
Frequently asked questions
Should there be cream in pasta carbonara?
No. The creaminess should come from egg yolk, cheese and pasta water. Cream is used in many Norwegian recipes because it makes the sauce forgiving, but it masks the flavour of the cheese.
Why does my carbonara turn into scrambled egg?
Because the pan was too hot when the egg went in. Egg sets at around 65 degrees. Take the pan off the heat, let it cool a little, and stir the egg in off the heat.
Can I use bacon instead of guanciale?
You can, but bacon is smoked and leaner, and the smoke takes over. Pancetta is a closer swap.
What is the difference between carbonara, cacio e pepe and amatriciana?
All three are Roman pasta dishes that share pecorino and pepper. Cacio e pepe has only cheese and pepper, amatriciana adds tomato and guanciale, carbonara adds egg and guanciale, but never tomato.
Where to find the ingredients
You will find spaghetti and rigatoni on the pasta shelf, and grated Italian cheese gives the sauce its backbone. Whole black pepper from whole spices tastes markedly better than ready-ground. See also pasta sauces, tinned tomatoes and olive oil.
