The main difference between classic carbonara is the use of traditional products and the correct cooking technique. If you can make your home carbonara in a way that is more convenient for you, then in the classic version you should follow the advice.
What ingredients do Italians use?
- Quality durum wheat spaghetti. The spaghetti should be thin. How the creamy sauce is distributed directly depends on this.
- Italian bacon "pancetta". It differs from the bacon we are accustomed to in that it rolls in salt, sage and rosemary. You can also use "guanchiale" - dry-cured pork cheeks.
- Pecorino Romano cheese. It has a rather pungent taste and aroma. If you don't like it, then go for Parmesan, which goes well with all the flavor characteristics of carbonara paste.
- Fresh eggs. Necessarily fresh! According to the rules of Italian chefs, for every 500 g of spaghetti, you need to take three chicken eggs and one glass of grated cheese.
Instructions for making classic carbonara pasta
The main and prerequisite is to introduce the sauce so that it does not have time to curl up from the heat. To avoid this, you can wait a little while the pasta or sauce cools down, and only then start introducing it. The pasta cooking technique itself is familiar:
- fry bacon;
- make a sauce of cheese and chicken eggs;
- cook spaghetti;
- combine spaghetti with bacon and sauce;
- add cheese and ground pepper.
What is needed to make carbonara paste?
- good, thin spaghetti 200 g;
- cream 15-20% fat 150 ml;
- yolk 2 pcs.;
- black peppercorns 5 pcs.;
- Parmesan cheese or pecorino 100 g;
- bacon 150 g;
- salt to taste.
How to cook pasta?
- Pour water into a saucepan, put on fire and wait for a boil. Then add salt to taste and after boiling, add spaghetti.
- While the pasta is cooking, cut the bacon into medium slices. It is advisable to remove the skin, if any. Fry the bacon in a skillet until golden brown. Approximately 5 minutes. Do not add oil as a lot of fat will come out of the bacon.
- Pour the cream into the bacon skillet. Heat them a little and do not bring to a boil.
- Grate the cheese on a medium grater. Separate the yolks from the whites and combine with the cheese. Leave some parmesan (pecorino) to sprinkle before serving.
- Grind five black peppercorns in a mortar. You can also use a regular spoon and glass. Or grind the pepper with a knife on a board.
- Add cooked spaghetti (cook one minute less than indicated on the package) in a skillet with bacon and cream. Immediately start introducing the cheese and egg dressing. Stir quickly and quickly.
- Arrange the carbonara on plates, sprinkle with cheese and pepper on top. Serve.
