The Carbonara, the comfort classic. The pasta you eat when you break up. The dish you order when you just want a hug. Or maybe you're just in that honeymoon phase at the beginning of a relationship, and you don't care what you order. You're not counting calories. The meaty classic, the cheap fantastic Carbonara.
It's the type of dish you eat when you're hungover, I've drank too much and this will make me feel better. "I'm starving" or you simply can't decide what to order. It's an Italian classic and an English favourite, it's available at just about every Italian restaurant. It's cheap to make, it tastes rich and the meaty flavour is the star of the dish.
I've tried many Carbonara's, I tried one in Milan on the Piazza del Duomo, which obviously had an amazing view. They used very little meat in this portion, but it still had a rich flavour.
I've bought Guanchciale (cured meat) and Peccerino cheese in Italy and made it the authentic way. Obviously it's a lot easier to source the right ingredients when you're in Italy, so I don't blame the English for not making the authentic recipe.
However, the great common mistake that I see in British "Italian" restaurants is that when they make Carbonara the wrong way. They add cream to the dish and that is just make it the wrong way to make it.
Carbonara should basically consist of six ingredients. Those are pasta and the water it's cooked in, egg yolk, cheese, fatty cured pork and black pepper, and that's it. No garlic, no peas and absolutely no cream!
So, I decided to try a local restaurant, don't ask me why, I was just craving pasta. Does anyone else have double portion pasta days? Or is it just me?
Anyway, I wasn't expecting much. I simply wanted some comfort food. I was in no way prepared for the big plate of mistake I was served here. I mean they had a picture of the leaning tower of Piza on the wall, how bad could it be?
Was it worst carbonara I have ever eaten you ask? Well, read my review.
As an inexpensive dish to make, I thought surely, they can’t get a classic wrong?
Anyway, my carbonara portion when it arrived on the table consisted of some overwhelmed, overcooked spaghetti in a salty cheese sauce, which sadly tasted like it was made from a packet. When I dug my fork in, it sounded squishy, like it belonged in an erotic film.
Giant fried bacon chunks, which were made from the cheapest cuts. Oh, I also had to ask for black pepper. Apparently it doesn't come included in the dish.
The only positive thing I liked was the decor. Not one member of staff was Italian, and with a name like Sopranos doesn't that strike you as odd?
I so often try Carbonara’s that are made the wrong way here in the UK. They usually use cream, which is totally the wrong way to do it but I’ve never tried one, that was made with a cheese sauce?
The real Italian deal
Anyway, have no fear, here to save the day is my trusty Carbonara recipe. Don't waste your money paying for this rubbish at Restaurants. Here's how to make a real authentic Italian Carbonara, the English way.
Ingredients
1 egg yolk per person plus one extra egg yolk.
100g pasta per person
50g per person Fatty Bacon like pancetta
50g cheese Peccernio (hard sheep cheese)
Pasta water
Black pepper
Method
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water. It should have enough room to move around in the pan.
While the pasta is cooking, add egg yolks to a bowl. Whisk. Add pecorino cheese, or something similar to the mix.
Place a pan on high heat and fry the pancetta or fatty bacon. Turning to get brown and crispy. Once pasta is cooked aldente remove from the water and add to the pan with the meat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes so pasta absorbs the meat flavours. Add a large amount of black pepper.
Add two table spoons of pasta water to the carbonara sauce and whisk to make a creamy emulsion. Add more water if needed.
Add pasta and meat to the sauce, stir well, the heat of the pasta will cook the sauce. Place on a plate and grind on more black pepper.
Done.
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