When you hear the word carbonara it just sounds so rich and creamy and maybe a little pretentious. Which is fitting for the dish, except the pretentious part. Like most popular dishes now it started as what poor people had sitting around in their pantries, but you don’t have to be in 1800’s Italy to be poor and have this stuff sitting around the house. It’s thought that Italians who couldn’t afford meat created carbonara; to add a protein they used eggs. Along with adding a protein the eggs worked to create a creamy sauce that checks all boxes for modern day comfort food. I mean, come on, sit down with a bowl of this in front of you and tell me you don’t want to crawl inside and take a nap.

Noodles

The first decision to make for this dish is what noodles to use. You will see anything from bucatini (hollow spaghetti) to rigatoni (short fat tubes) used and they’re all good. I just made fresh pasta and the cutter I used is closest to linguine so that’s what I’ll use, but you don’t have to make your own to make this delicious. In fact, fresh pasta can be a little fragile and this recipe has a lot of mixing, so that old box of spaghetti that you can’t remember when it’s from would be perfect. Remember to reserve about a cup of the water the pasta has been cooking in, that is the secret to a great sauce. The pasta water will thin the sauce but the starch from the flour will help it stick to the noodles.

Pig fat

Now one of my favorite topics ever, pork fat! Whether you want to go all-fancy and use guanciale (cured pork cheek) or slum it and use the ½ pack of bacon in the back of the fridge, as long as you’re using pork fat it’s all good. I’m using pancetta because I’m only going a little bougie today, and it’s what they had at the super market. But remember if you’re using bacon you’ll want to put a little bit of water to the pan when you add the bacon so it will take the smoked flavor away, you want the pork flavor, not the hickory, we’ll save that for the BBQ-ing.

Dat sauce

And now to make that wonderfully decadent sauce… 2 ingredients you’ll find in most fridges- eggs and cheese. I use a combo of eggs and yolks. The more yolks you use, the creamier your sauce will be. But make sure when you add the already beaten eggs to the pasta its away form any heat source and continually stir cause you don’t want scrambled egg pasta- that’s gross. And for the cheese, ether pecorino romano or parmesan will work great, but this is where good quality come into play. Since you’re not spending money on an expensive cut of meat, spend that money here. With the sauce having so few ingredients, you want to make sure the ones you are using are of high quality. I’m pretty much saying you want to avoid that green plastic tube of powder (you know what I’m talking about). However, a super fine powder is what you’re going for here, the smaller it is the better it melts and the smoother the sauce will be, you can use the side of a box grader or even throw the cheese in a food processor. But whatever combo of these “back of the fridge’ ingredients you’re using make sure you finish it off with a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, it will add just a bit brightness to such a velvety heavy dish.

 

Carbonara you could take a nap in

½ cup pancetta

2 cloves garlic

1 cup (good) parmesean finely graded

3 egg yolks +1 yolk

1 lb pasta

½ cup pasta water

1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

-Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta till al dente usually about 9 minutes depending on what pasta you use (only about 2 minuets if fresh pasta), reserve a cup of pasta water.

-Cook pancetta on medium high heat until crisp about 4 minuets, add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Meanwhile in a bowl beat eggs, yolks, and cheese.

-Drain cooked pasta and add to the pancetta pan, toss well to coat noodles, slowly add egg mixture while constantly mixing so eggs don’t congeal. Add the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce until desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste and finish with a hand full of parsley.