Pasta Carbonara

medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
This is the carbonara recipe we like best of the several we've tried. It's actually on our meal plan list for next week.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/12/pasta-carbonara-sauce-recipe.html

Spaghetti Carbonara – Serious Eats
Ingredients
· Kosher salt
· 1 pound (450g) dried spaghetti (see note)
· 1/2 cup diced guanciale, pancetta, or bacon (about 3 ounces; 85g) (see note)
· 3 tablespoons (45ml) extra-virgin olive oil, divided
· 2 whole large eggs plus 6 yolks
· 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano (about 1 ounce; 25g), plus more for serving
· 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 1 ounce; 25g), plus more for serving
· 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (ground medium-coarse), plus more for serving
Directions
1. 1.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring, until al dente.
2. 2.
Meanwhile, combine guanciale (or pancetta or bacon) with 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil in a large skillet and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat, until fat has rendered and guanciale is crisp, about 7 minutes. In a large metal heatproof mixing bowl, whisk together whole eggs and yolks, Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and black pepper.
3. 3.
Using tongs and/or a strainer, transfer pasta to skillet with crisped guanciale and its fat; be sure not to drain boiling pasta water. Add remaining 1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil to pasta and stir to combine; let cool slightly. Scrape pasta, pork, and all the fat into the egg mixture. Measure 1/2 cup (120ml) pasta-cooking water and add to pasta and egg mixture. Stir well to combine.
4. 4.
Set mixing bowl over pot of boiling pasta water (make sure bottom of bowl does not touch the water) and cook, stirring quickly with tongs, until sauce thickens to a creamy, silky consistency and leaves trails as you stir. Remove from heat, season with salt if needed, and divide into bowls. Serve right away, topping with more grated cheese and freshly ground pepper as desired.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Re: The long search is over, found some Guanciale!

Great - thanks, John and Karen!

Lee
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Karen,

I moved this into a new thread because I wanted to talk more about carbonara.

Did you and Craig try the NTimes recipe? Same ingredients as your Serious Eats recipe, but the quantities and proportions are a bit different.

Lee


New York Time Spaghetti Carbonara
Ingredients
Salt
2 large eggs and 2 large yolks, room temperature
1 ounce (about 1/3 packed cup) grated pecorino Romano, plus additional for serving
1 ounce (about 1/3 packed cup) grated Parmesan
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 ½ ounces of slab guanciale (see recipe), pancetta or bacon, sliced into pieces about 1/4 inch thick by 1/3 inch square
12 ounces spaghetti (about 3/4 box)

Preparation
Place a large pot of lightly salted water (no more than 1 tablespoon salt) over high heat, and bring to a boil. Fill a large bowl with hot water for serving, and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and pecorino and Parmesan. Season with a pinch of salt and generous black pepper.
Set the water to boil. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the pork, and sauté until the fat just renders, on the edge of crispness but not hard. Remove from heat and set aside.
Add pasta to the water and boil until a bit firmer than al dente. Just before pasta is ready, reheat guanciale in skillet, if needed. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain pasta and add to the skillet over low heat. Stir for a minute or so.
Empty serving bowl of hot water. Dry it and add hot pasta mixture. Stir in cheese mixture, adding some reserved pasta water if needed for creaminess. Serve immediately, dressing it with a bit of additional grated pecorino and pepper.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12965-spaghetti-carbonara
 

medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
Sometimes I do replace some of the yolks with whole eggs if I don't plan on using whites for something else. And, truth be told, I'm probably a lot more generous with the guanciale since we cut it up in quarterish pound pieces and vacu-bagged it to freeze when we got that huge piece.

Mainly I like the method and explanation on how to cook on serious eats because it's really easy to end up with scrambled eggs instead of a silky sauce. Still tastes good but texture is funky. And I prefer it with a little heat put to the egg mixture, besides the pasta water, because it still tastes raw eggy to me if I don't.

Oh, cook the guanciale or pancetta on med to med low when rendering and crisping because it will smoke up your house if heat too high.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Thanks, Karen!

I look forward to making this soon!

Lee
 

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
Site Supporter
Here is is a stupid question. I’ve never had carbonara. It sounds like Alfredo with bacon added. Is it? I have made Alfredo with and without eggs. I usually make it without eggs because it is lighter but I really like the richness of it with.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Well, I made the carbonara using the proportions in NYtimes and using the technique in medtran's Serious Eats recipe.

Wonderful! I LOVED the guanciale!!!

Served with salad and garlic bread. Omg, delicious!

Lee
 

Attachments

  • carbonara.JPG
    carbonara.JPG
    138.4 KB · Views: 565
Top