Spaghetti Carbonara - Homemade Traditonal Italian Recipe

Carbonara is a traditional Italian pasta sauce. Its name comes from carbone, which is Italian for coal, and many believe the dish derives its name because it was popular among charcoal makers. Others believe, however, that the dish is called carbonara simply because of the black, freshly milled pepper that is used.The original Roman recipe is made from eggs, parmigiano reggiano, pecorino romano, guanciale (unsmoked pig cheeks), black pepper, and either strutto, olive oil or butter. Cream is not an ingredient in the original recipe, and is not generally used with pasta in central Italy.

The Anglo-American carbonara recipe is made from cream, eggs, parmesan cheese (sometimes with pecorino romano cheese), and pancetta (or some other type of bacon). Some American recipes add salt, pepper (white or black), and/or garlic to taste; with peas added for color.

In both versions of the recipe, the eggs are added to the sauce raw, and cook with the heat of the pasta itself. source : wikipedia.org

This is my version of the traditional Italian recipe.

The cheese I used was pecorino romano. First make some finely grated pecorino romano and set aside.

Pan-fry some chopped pancetta dolce in extra virgin olive oil. Straightly speaking, guanciale should be used instead of pancetta in the traditional Roman recipe, but since guanciale was not availabe, pancetta is an acceptable alternative.

In the mean time, boil some spaghetti in salted water and make sure you time it according to the instruction to make it al dente. Drain the spaghetti and mix it in a hot bowl or dish with the pancetta dolce, olive oil and grated pecorino romano. Lastly, add an egg yolk per person’s serving and mix together.

For style, I put an egg yolk in the middle of the spaghetti and let the guest stir in the egg themselves.

Of course you can always stir in the egg yolk before serving it.

Finally, sprinkle some freshly grounded black pepper to serve.

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