Carbonara
Egg, cured pork, hard cheese and pepper. No cream, and no heat under the pan when the eggs go in.
- Prep
- 10m
- Cook
- 15m
- Total
- 25m
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Moderate
Scale
Units
Method
| 120 g | 1 Render slowly until the fat runs and the edges crisp 8m Start in a cold pan. Guanciale renders far better from cold than dropped into hot metal. | 3 Combine the rendered fat with the egg mixture 1m | 5 Toss off the heat until the sauce coats the pasta 2m The pan must be off the hob. Residual heat is all the eggs can take. | |
| 4 | 2 Beat to a smooth paste 3m | |||
| 1 | ||||
| 60 g | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 200 g | 4 Boil until al dente, reserving a cup of water 9m | |||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 1/2 cup | ||||
- 1
Render slowly until the fat runs and the edges crisp
8m- guanciale 120 g
Start in a cold pan. Guanciale renders far better from cold than dropped into hot metal.
- 2
Beat to a smooth paste
3m- egg yolks 4
- whole egg 1
- Pecorino Romano 60 g
- black pepper 1 tsp
- 3
Combine the rendered fat with the egg mixture
1m- from 1 Render slowly until the fat runs and the edges crisp
- from 2 Beat to a smooth paste
- 4
Boil until al dente, reserving a cup of water
9m- spaghetti or rigatoni 200 g
- salt for the water 1 tsp
- 5
Toss off the heat until the sauce coats the pasta
2m- from 3 Combine the rendered fat with the egg mixture
- from 4 Boil until al dente, reserving a cup of water
- pasta cooking water 1/2 cup
The pan must be off the hob. Residual heat is all the eggs can take.
The temperature window
Egg yolk begins to set around 65 °C. Above that you get sweet scrambled egg clinging to pasta. The sauce is therefore built entirely on residual heat: pan off the hob, pasta added, egg mixture poured in, and constant tossing so no part of it sits still against hot metal. If the pan feels aggressive, wait thirty seconds before you start.
Notes
- Yolks for richness, one whole egg for enough liquid to move. All-yolk sauce is stiff; all-whole-egg is thin.
- Add the pasta water in splashes. It loosens the sauce and, being starchy, stabilises the emulsion.
- Serve immediately into warmed bowls. Carbonara stiffens as it cools and does not reheat.