06 April 2024 , 08:00
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Carbonara is what dreams are made of - but it turns out we've kind of been butchering it.
If you're struggling to decide what to have for dinner tonight, the iconic Italian staple won't let you down - and it is National Carbonara Day after all (April 6). However, many Brits have started to stray from the traditional method of making the dish - which could be ruining its taste.
Luckily, an Italian chef spoke to the Mirror to show us how to perfect the dish without making a foodie 'crime'. The first rule? No double cream... "If you were thinking of adding cream to carbonara, think again and make a cake," said Roberta d'Elia, the head pasta chef from Pasta Evangelists in London. Instead, your sauce should be made from pecorino cheese, egg yolk, and some black pepper. However, that's not the only error we've been making.
You're also messing up the dish if you're using bacon pieces or pancetta in your carbonara, as Italians opt for guanciale only. Guanciale is a cured meat that comes from the pork jowl and is named after the Italian word for cheek - guancia.
So once you've got your meat sorted, you need to chop it up into small pieces and pop it into a pan, making sure the hob is off and there's no heat as you do so. This is a crucial tip, according to Roberta, as a hot pan will cause the meat to burn straight away. Instead, you want to "slowly melt" the guanciale over low heat, letting it sweat out all the fat so it gets nice and crunchy. And once your guanciale is done, be sure to leave all the oil and fat in the pan as you're going to need it later.
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You don't add any cream to your cabonara, instead the sauce is made from pecorino and egg yolks (Courtney Pochin)For the carbonara sauce, you want to grate plenty of Pecorino and add egg yolks to it - adding one yolk per person you are serving. Top with some black pepper and then use a fork to gently mash the ingredients together to create a paste.
This will be softened up by adding two or three spoonfuls of the fat from the guanciale into the egg yolk mixture. After this, remove the guanciale from the pan and add to a bowl, leaving some of the fat behind.
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The yolks and cheese are mashed together, then fat from the guanciale is added to 'soften' the paste (Courtney Pochin)To make the perfect al dente pasta, boil dried spaghetti for four minutes, reserving the pasta water. For the final four minutes, add a ladle of pasta water to the oil left in the guanciale pan and then transfer the spaghetti to this, cooking here and adding a little more of the pasta water as needed until softened.
The starch from the pasta will be released into the water, making the spaghetti nice and creamy without needing to add any cream to the dish. Once the pasta is ready, take the pan off the hob and make sure it's away from the heat before completing the final steps. "If you try and put the eggs in the pan on the hob, you'll end up with a frittata instead of carbonara," warned Roberta.
Buon appetito! (Courtney Pochin)Add the guanciale to the pan and give it a mix through the spaghetti before adding the egg mixture to the pasta. You can add a little extra cooking water to the whole thing if you feel it's looking a little dry.
Then simply plate up your carbonara, adding a few extra bits of guanciale on top if you have any leftover and any extra grated pecorino and black pepper you may desire. And there you have it, buon appetito! A delicious carbonara without adding any cream.
A version of this article was first published on February 24, 2023.