Carbonara
- Author
- Christian Leue
- Servings
- 4-6
- Category
- Dinner
Ingredients
- a bit more than a pound of dry pasta (500 grams) (I usually use spaghetti or bucatini)
- 3/4 cup grated (90 grams) Pecorino Romano, or 50:50 Pecorino:Parmigiano Reggiano
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature (if you have a compromised immune system, buy pasteurized eggs)
- 1/3 pound (150 grams) guanciale (traditional), pancetta, bacon, or country ham, chopped into small pieces or thin slices
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste, I usually do a teaspoon and a half)
- Olive oil
Directions
- Bring 5 liters of water with 25 grams of fine sea salt (about 5 teaspoons) to a boil in a large pot (this is half the amount of salt I usually use for pasta water, but the cured meat and cheese will add salt to the dish so it’ll balance). Add the pasta and start cooking it, stirring well at first to avoid clumping and making sure that everything is submerged.
- Combine the cheese, eggs, and pepper in a bowl and mix well until combined.
- In a large straight-sided sauté pan or skillet heat some olive oil over medium-high heat. If your meat is fatty use 2 tablespoons, if it’s lean use 3 tablespoons. Add the meat and fry, stirring occasionally, until it’s as crispy as you like, 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- When the pasta is finished, reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water (I usually just dip a coffee cup in there and set it aside), then drain the pasta*.
- Add the drained pasta to the pan and mix well, then add the cheese/egg mixture and stir rapidly with tongs or chopsticks to coat the pasta and make the sauce. The residual heat in the pan and pasta will cook the eggs without scrambling them, just make sure to keep stirring as it thickens. If the sauce is thicker than you like, add some reserved pasta water to thin it out, mixing well.
- Serve in warm bowls. Garnish if you like with more cheese or pepper. I often don’t because I just want to eat is as quickly as I can.