Pasta Carbonara (Amalfi Coast Recipe) - Tastefully Grace (2024)

FAQs

What is the golden rule of cooking carbonara? ›

The golden rule to silky carbonara is to whisk your egg whites so that they're completely incorporated with the egg yolks. This will create a smooth, velvety sauce. As like any pasta dish, including carbonara, cook the pasta perfectly al dente so that it's soft but still firm, with some bite.

Should carbonara have cream? Typically carbonara sauce is only made of eggs, bacon, parmesan, olive oil, seasoning, and sometimes, vegetables. As for cream, Italians will tell you that is a big no no.

What not to put in Spaghetti Carbonara? Don't put garlic, cream, milk or butter. It is not needed. It is fine if you want to make a dish with those ingredients, but if you want to learn how to make this dish correctly, use only pecorino, eggs/egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale, and pasta water.

1. Adding your eggs while the pasta is still on the heat. This is one of the most common mistakes when making carbonara. It is very easy to end up with pasta a la scrambled eggs instead.

As the fat renders, he removes some of the molten liquid with a spoon. The lean part of the meat ultimately caramelises and becomes a sort of "popcorn guanciale": crunchy outside and tender inside. His carbonara is very yellow in colour since he only uses egg yolks – one per 60g of pasta.

The Italian version doesn't use cream or ham. It is made with pancetta (pork belly meat that is salt cured, also referred to as Italian bacon), Parmigiano Reggiano or pecorino romano cheese, eggs, and black pepper—called the basics. The pork is fried in fat, usually olive oil.

Cacio e uova is documented as far back as 1839 and, according to researchers, anecdotal evidence indicates that some Italians born before World War II associate that name with the dish now known as carbonara.

Why is adding garlic to carbonara seen as a huge no-no in Italy or by Italians? - Quora. Because carbonara is a codified recipe and its ingredients are guanciale, black pepper, egg yolks, grated pecorino (or a mixture of pecorino and Parmigiano Reggiano). That's all.

Must-have ingredients

that there are only five ingredients: pasta, pork cheek, eggs, cheese and pepper. That's it. A real carbonara does not contain onion, garlic, or cream.

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

Do you put raw egg in carbonara? ›

What distinguishes carbonara from other pasta dishes is its technique of combining eggs, hard cheese, cured pork, and black pepper into a rich, silky sauce. This recipe calls for raw eggs that are gently cooked by the hot sauce. If you prefer, you can use pasteurized eggs instead.

Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano – I like to use a combination of Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano. While these two cheeses ARE similar, I strongly recommend you use BOTH (and not sub one for the other), as it adds a layer of complexity to the flavors.

Carbonara refers to bucatini as the coal man's wife would have prepared it. A traditional Carbonara recipe calls for only a perfectly al dente pasta, guanciale, egg and cheese, but we love to add more flavor with some hot pepper and crushed garlic.

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

The use of thermal processing is the most effective method for Salmonella inactivation in preparations containing eggs. Consequently, according to regulatory agencies, it is generally mandatory that these preparations must be completely cooked to a temperature of at least 70 °C.

And indeed, there's plenty of recipes that cheat by adding in cream. But today, we're making spaghetti carbonara properly, the authentic, traditional way. No cream. Just egg, cheese and a splash of starchy pasta cooking water.

I like to use a ratio of 1 whole egg to 3 egg yolks because it balances the richness. If you are looking to avoid using raw eggs, I would recommend making my Cacio e Pepe recipe – this is another one of the four classic Roman pastas but requires only three ingredients (cheese, pepper, and pasta).