Pasta alla Carbonara

The original Italian recipe of pasta alla carbonara is prepared with the guanciale (cured pork jowl), egg yolks (1 egg yolk for each diner), a whole egg, grated pecorino, preferably Roman PDO, salt and pepper.

The recipe calls for the use of guanciale and not bacon, which must be browned without adding other condiments such as oil or butter.

Avoid the egg being added to the pot until it is on the fire. If the temperature is above 75°C (167°F), in fact, it will be cooked very quickly, thickening and ruining the perfect carbonara.

Does real carbonara have cream?

The recipe does not include any ingredient as onion, garlic or cream.

Why this dish is called Carbonara?

Pasta alla carbonara is a typical recipe from Rome and the province.

Regarding the origin of this recipe, it is not clear where it may come from, also because there is no trace of this recipe in the old recipe books of Roman cuisine.

Pasta alla carbonara is mentioned for the first time after the liberation of Rome, in 1944, the American soldiers arrived in Italy, had tried to recreate a dish familiar to them using known ingredients like eggs, guanciale (similar to the bacon), and spaghetti.

Another thesis, instead, wants that the carbonara was invented by the charcoal burners, who in Roman dialect are called “carbonari”. They prepared it using ingredients that were easy to find and store.

The pasta shapes most used for carbonara pasta are penne and above all spaghetti that keeps cooking and mix well with the ingredients.