# Spaghetti alla carbonara



## Dianne (Jul 8, 2003)

I know posting this recipe may seem banal, but there are so many myths about the preparation of this very simple, classic Roman dish. I first learned it years ago when I was living in Rome.

Called 'carbonara' because one of the essential ingredients is the heavy speckling with freshly grated coarse black pepper, that somewhat resembles tiny pieces of charcoal, this spaghetti dish is now acclaimed worldwide, and unfortunately often wrongly made.

For four people:

500 gr. spaghetti, of the thicker variety - thin won't do, and it has to be spaghetti, not tagliatelle or any other type of pasta, although you can get away with rigatoni if you find spaghetti difficult to handle at the table.

15 gr smoked streaky bacon - the fat content must be approximately equal to the meat content, evenly cut into tiny cubes - in Italy they use 'guanciale' or pancetta. Guanciale is like pancetta, but from a different cut of pork. Any rind should be removed.

Extra virgin olive oil - about 10 - 15 cl, or enough to shallow-fry the bacon.

2 whole eggs and 2 yolks, very fresh.

Roman pecorino cheese. This is like Parmesan, but made from ewe's milk. It has a stronger flavour than Parmesan and higher acidity, and balances very well with the eggs and the bacon. Failing that, Parmesan will do, but no other cheese.

Lots and lots of fresh coarsely ground black pepper.

Preparation:

Notes: 
The egg mixture must not be heated up after being mixed into the spaghetti - this is fundamental to the finish of the dish.
The heat of the fried bacon, olive oil and cooked spaghetti is sufficient to 'cook' the eggs to the right degree, which should be creamy, not scrambled.

Cream must never be added - it's not 'carbonara'! if it is!!  

Do  not drain the spaghetti totally dry - if you do, reserve a couple of spoonsful of the cooking water to add back to the spaghetti afterwards. This is what gives the nice creamy texture to the sauce - not cream!!

The bacon should be slowly crisped, to dissolve as much of the fat into the oil as possible.

The amount of black pepper: should look as though you've had an accident with the pepper mill.

Cooking:

Cook the spaghetti 'al dente' - any softer spoils the texture of the dish.

Fry the bacon gently in the olive oil until the fat has melted and the bacon cubes crisped.

Beat the eggs and yolks together, and add enough cheese to make it fairly stiff.

When the spaghetti is cooked and mostly drained, add the bacon and oil, then add the egg mix, off the heat, and the black pepper, mix well with the spaghetti so that the pasta is thoroughly coated with the sauce and is well 'speckled' with the black pepper, and serve immediately.

ciao a tutti

dianne


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## leigh (Jul 9, 2003)

Oooh, yum!!  Wish you'd write a cookbook.  A person who reads your recipes learns not only the how but the why, the wherefore, the differences and the history.   Thanks, and keep 'em coming!

PS I'm dead serious about the cookbook.


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## Coco (Jul 11, 2003)

Thanks, Dianne. I have made carbonara several times, but will try this recipe for authenticity. Looks great!


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## Alix (Jun 9, 2004)

This looks wonderful, and totally easy. How come the only carbonara I have seen has cream in it. I am going to try this later this week and I just know everyone will go crazy for it. Thanks Dianne.


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## RAYT721 (Jun 18, 2004)

*THANK YOU DIANNE*

Very eloquent recipe ... extremely informative!!! Thank you!!! /rayt721


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## chefmom (Jul 4, 2004)

*the real thing!*

I was just reading on artisan.net about true Carbonara.  I have only had the American version that has the cheese, pepper, pancetta, but also with mushrooms and green onions. 

I am going to try your recipe!  Carbonara is my husbands favorite dish.  

On Artisan.net they also stated that the butter should be "burnt".  have you tried it that way?  That sounds awesome to me!


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## ironchef (Jul 5, 2004)

Authentic carbonara doesn't use butter

Also, the dish was named partly in honor of the coal miners who would come home in the morning after working all night in the coal mines. The black pepper was to imitate the coal as Dianne said, and this dish was served for breakfast, not lunch or dinner


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## chefmom (Jul 5, 2004)

*carbonara*

Sounds like a great breakfast to me!  Thanks for the tip about the butter!


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## Claire (Sep 13, 2004)

I'm so pleased .... pretty close to the way I make it!  I also heard a story that it was popular to feed to American soldiers during WWII when they wanted the (not typical for Europe) breakfast of bacon and eggs.  A favorite of mine, nice to see the way it's really done since I don't think I'll be in Italy any time soon.


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## Alix (Apr 17, 2013)

Hey pacanis, I'm bumping up another oldie! This thread is where I learned to make carbonara and its still the best instruction I've seen. 

I'm actually bumping it up because I'm making this for dinner tonight and I want to find it easily if I need a reference. LOL! I've made it so often, I doubt I will, but its lovely to have all the same.


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## pacanis (Apr 17, 2013)

Thanks Alix.
It was interesting to compare to ragno's recent carbonara recipe.


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## Alix (Apr 17, 2013)

Are they similar? I'll have to do a search on that one.


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## Andy M. (Apr 17, 2013)

Alix, thanks for reviving the thread.  I love this dish.

However, I have two thoughts.

1.  The OP states the traditional meat is guanciale or pancetta, which are unsmoked then calls for smoked streaky bacon (American bacon) in the recipe.  What's up with that?  She is presenting this as an authentic recipe.

2.  The recipe calls for 15 grams of said bacon (half a rasher).  That seems woefully inadequate to flavor a full pound of pasta (500 grams).  I'd think several rashers would be better, perhaps a quarter pound.

Alix, I'm not asking you.  Consider these as hypothetical questions.


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## Andy M. (Apr 17, 2013)

I just skimmed ragno's recipe.  He calls for guanciale as well and rejects bacon as an option.  His recipe calls for 150 grams of meat, about a quarter pound.  Maybe diane's recipe was a typo (15 gr).

There are other, minor differences but the recipes are essentially the same.


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## Andy M. (Apr 17, 2013)

Just to complicate the matter further...

I checked Marcella Hazan's (I've always considered her an authority on Italian cooking) recipe for carbonara.  She includes white wine, onion and parsley and parm reg plus romano for cheese.

I also looked at Mario Batali's recipe for this dish.  He's another chef that presents his versions as traditional Italian recipes.  In a quick scan, I found several different recipes for the same dish.  His calls for guanciale but suggests pancetta or bacon as alternatives.  Several versions of his recipe call for parm reg and one for pecorino romano.

I guess the bottom line is make the recipe you like best.


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## Alix (Apr 17, 2013)

I recall PMing with Dianne long long ago and it WAS a typo. I've always used a larger amount of bacon. 

As well, I use bacon but eliminate any olive oil. I suspect the point was really to have some hot grease of some kind in there to parcook the eggs. 

I do like that folks are not totally married to any one particular meat. Use what works IMO. 

I'd not seen ragno's recipe before reviving this. His IS quite similar. 

Big thing for me with this dish is the cracked pepper. LOTS of it. And nothing can substitute for that IMO. Its got to be fresh, cracked pepper. I put a bunch in when I cook the dish then add more when I get it to my plate.


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## Andy M. (Apr 17, 2013)

I agree.  The best plate of carbonara I've had was at an Italian restaurant in a couple's home in Aruba.  Wife did most of the cooking and hubby helped in the kitchen and shmoozed the customers.  A great dining experience.  I think she used bacon.  I've tried to make it at home but haven't attained the great flavor I want yet.


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## Alix (Apr 17, 2013)

I think the eggs play a bigger role than I'd realized too. I messed up once and used whole eggs instead of mostly yolks. Didn't taste bad, just didn't have the texture I wanted.


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## fairygirl69 (Apr 17, 2013)

Dianne said:


> I know posting this recipe may seem banal, but there are so many myths about the preparation of this very simple, classic Roman dish. I first learned it years ago when I was living in Rome.
> 
> Called 'carbonara' because one of the essential ingredients is the heavy speckling with freshly grated coarse black pepper, that somewhat resembles tiny pieces of charcoal, this spaghetti dish is now acclaimed worldwide, and unfortunately often wrongly made.
> 
> ...



That's my recipe exactly except for 2 added ingredients: a cup of wine to deglaze the pan and garlic.  You're right, no other cheese but pecorino or Parmesan works.  Also in leau of wine I use Woodchuck hard apple cider.  It adds a flavor like nothing else.


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## Kayelle (Apr 17, 2013)

*I make* *Spaghetti Carbonara nearly the same way as Diane, we love it and it's perfect for us.

I notice however how passionate Italian cooks can be about what is "authentic" and what is not with this dish, it makes me roll my eyes..

How about we start a discussion on authentic American meatloaf?
We all know there's no such thing, nor do we care. 

*


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## Andy M. (Apr 17, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> *...**I notice however how passionate Italian cooks can be about what is "authentic" and what is not with this dish, it makes me roll my eyes.....*



It's not just the Italians.  I've had discussions here with several members over this.  One guy tried to convince me there is only one authentic Hungarian Goulash recipe.  There are very few dishes that can be traced back to a documented single point of origin that makes it the original for real.

The vast majority of traditional recipes had multiple points of origin in households in a region and spread out from there.  I'm sure every housewife in Hungary back in the old days had their own version of goulash and their families liked hers best.

Not to mention that food doesn't recognize political borders.  I'd bet some of the Austrian households just over the border from Hungary make a goulash very much like their Hungarian neighbors across the street.


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## Kayelle (Apr 17, 2013)

*+1* ^


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## frenchguycooking (Apr 18, 2013)

Thanks for posting this nice recipe ! Spaghetti alla carbonara are definitely delicious and one of my favorite pasta dishes ( with Bucatini all'amatriciana)


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## LanceD (Apr 22, 2013)

Oh what a great recipe -- thank you so much for posting!


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## Claire (Apr 22, 2013)

I make it often, and have heard probably dozens of reasons why it is called what it is.  Scramble eggs, add some finely grated good cheese, sliver some ham or bacon.  When pasta (preferably, to me, some long pasta) is boiled and barely drained, add the egg mixture.  It will cook on the pasta just from the heat.  One of my husband's favorites.


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## justplainbill (Apr 22, 2013)

Thank you for your recipe, Diane.  It will be an interesting exercise to reconcile your recipe with the one recently posted on DC by ragno nero cuocet.


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## Kylie1969 (May 17, 2013)

Thanks for sharing the recipe


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## CharlieD (Aug 5, 2014)

I doubt I am going to be making this any time soon. If my wife finds out I put raw egg in a dish she would never, never allow kids to touch it or touch it herself.


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## GA Home Cook (Sep 8, 2014)

I tried this recipe this weekend and was disappointed that it lacked the creaminess I have had a resturants.  The flavor was good, but for the lack of a better word, it seemed dry.  What did I do wrong?


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## Rocklobster (Sep 8, 2014)

A couple of things I find with Carbonara. Authentically, it is a pretty dry dish. From my experience, Italians use a lot more olive oil than we would normally. This would help keep the pasta moist. I think the cream was introduced to help stretch the sauce and make it more of, well, a sauce. From what I remember, the chef I worked with did all of the mixing in a bowl. Not the pan. This kept the egg mixture a bit cooler so it didn't cook hard onto the noodles. The liquid egg stayed runny. Not everybody's cup of tea, but really the best flavor, and texture... plus, fire in an extra egg to make sure you have enough to cover the noodles. Whatever you don't eat will stay in the pan or on your plate....Easy recipe. Just adjust every ingredient to your liking.


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## Mad Cook (Sep 9, 2014)

Dianne said:


> I know posting this recipe may seem banal, but there are so many myths about the preparation of this very simple, classic Roman dish. I first learned it years ago when I was living in Rome.
> 
> Called 'carbonara' because one of the essential ingredients is the heavy speckling with freshly grated coarse black pepper, that somewhat resembles tiny pieces of charcoal, this spaghetti dish is now acclaimed worldwide, and unfortunately often wrongly made.
> 
> ...


I will try this as my efforts at Carbonara heve been middlin disastrous. Either spahetti with scrambled eggs or spaghetti with slimey raw egg. Cqn't get it right.


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## Kayelle (Sep 10, 2014)

I think many people make the mistake of draining the pasta too well. Some starchy pasta water is needed for it to be successful.

*"*Do  not drain the spaghetti totally dry - if you do, reserve a couple of  spoonsful of the cooking water to add back to the spaghetti afterwards.  This is what gives the nice creamy texture to the sauce - not cream!!


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## Rocklobster (Sep 10, 2014)

Mad Cook said:


> I will try this as my efforts at Carbonara heve been middlin disastrous. Either spahetti with scrambled eggs or spaghetti with slimey raw egg. Cqn't get it right.


One thing I do is, using a large glass bowl, and after my pasta is sufficiently mixed with the egg and bacon, I give the pasta a liberal sprinkling of parmesan and cover the bowl with a pot lid or plate to help the sauce to "set". It won't cook like scramble egg this way. Adding a lot of Parmesan cheese helps thicken the egg mixture....


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## Alix (Sep 11, 2014)

Oh man, now I'm craving carbonara. This is the best recipe I've found and its one of my "go to" dishes when I'm tired or stumped for ideas. On the list for Friday night methinks.


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## zfranca (Jul 24, 2015)

Mad Cook said:


> I will try this as my efforts at Carbonara heve been middlin disastrous. Either spahetti with scrambled eggs or spaghetti with slimey raw egg. Cqn't get it right.


Like anything else there must be a balance between dry and liquid ingredients.
I have always used egg yolks only. One egg yolk and 75 grams of pancetta per 200 grams of uncooked pasta is my guideline.
P.S I believe there was a typo in the original recipe: 15 gr. of pancetta is not enough for 500 grams of pasta. Most likely she meant 150 grams. (I did not read all previous posts, it is possible that somebody noticed it also).


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## creative (Jul 24, 2015)

CharlieD said:


> I doubt I am going to be making this any time soon. If my wife finds out I put raw egg in a dish she would never, never allow kids to touch it or touch it herself.


Does she know about mousses and tiramisu then?  Many recipes of these dishes contain raw egg.


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## zfranca (Jul 24, 2015)

creative said:


> Does she know about mousses and tiramisu then?  Many recipes of these dishes contain raw egg.


Allow me. The raw eggs will no longer be raw eggs the moment you tossed the hot drained pasta on them.


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## creative (Jul 24, 2015)

zfranca said:


> Allow me. The raw eggs will no longer be raw eggs the moment you tossed the hot drained pasta on them.


Yes I agree.  The same cannot be said for the dishes I mentioned in my post, i.e. in some mousses and tiramisu recipes.  

Perhaps you meant to address your post to CharlieD (not myself) since it was he that brought this up?


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## GotGarlic (Jul 24, 2015)

creative said:


> Does she know about mousses and tiramisu then?  Many recipes of these dishes contain raw egg.



I'm sure if CharlieD made these dishes, he would choose recipes that don't contain raw egg. I know I do.


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## CharlieD (Jul 28, 2015)

It has nothing to do with the fact that egg cooks or not. The sheer knowledge that egg goes in raw and she will not touch it, for that matter she actually doesn't touch anything with egg, I mean like food, desserts are ok, cooked desserts, not mouss. Well, cheese omelet is the only thing I know she eats that is egg.


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## taxlady (Jul 28, 2015)

CharlieD said:


> It has nothing to do with the fact that egg cooks or not. The sheer knowledge that egg goes in raw and she will not touch it, for that matter she actually doesn't touch anything with egg, I mean like food, desserts are ok, cooked desserts, not mouss. Well, cheese omelet is the only thing I know she eats that is egg.


I guess she doesn't eat mayo, or she doesn't know how it's made. I assume you don't go out of your way to make sure she knows stuff like that. 

There are lots of mousses that are not made with egg.


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## CharlieD (Jul 29, 2015)

Listen, she is a big girl, she knows what she likes and I am not about to change her. Neither do I want to.


Sent from my iPad using Discuss Cooking


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## taxlady (Jul 29, 2015)

CharlieD said:


> Listen, she is a big girl, she knows what she likes and I am not about to change her. Neither do I want to.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Discuss Cooking


Sounds like a sensible attitude.


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## CharlieD (Jul 29, 2015)

I learned my lesson the hard way.


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