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Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Created by Chef Graziella
The true carbonara of Rome, where eggs, guanciale, and pecorino form a silken sauce through technique alone. No cream touches this pan. What you leave out defines what it is.
Carbonara is not a recipe that tolerates improvisation. It is guanciale, pecorino, eggs, black pepper, and pasta. That is all. The moment you add cream, you have made something else. The moment you substitute bacon for guanciale, you have abandoned Rome for an American fantasy.
The sauce forms through technique, not ingredients. You toss hot pasta with a cold egg and cheese mixture, using the residual heat of the pasta and a splash of starchy cooking water to create an emulsion. Too much heat and you have scrambled eggs. Too little and the sauce stays thin and raw-tasting. This narrow window between failure and success is why carbonara defeats so many home cooks.
I have watched Americans pour heavy cream into carbonara and call it authentic. I have watched them use bacon, Parmesan, garlic, onion, parsley. Each addition takes them further from Rome. The dish is simple, which means every ingredient must earn its place. What you keep out is as significant as what you put in.
Ingredients
spaghetti or rigatoni
Quantity
1 pound
guanciale
Quantity
8 ounces
cut into strips about 1/4 inch thick
egg yolks
Quantity
4 large
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| spaghetti or rigatoni | 1 pound |
| guancialecut into strips about 1/4 inch thick | 8 ounces |
| egg yolks | 4 large |
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