Carbonara: experimenting without guanciale

I had a craving for carbonara, but I'm currently in Bangkok. I know you can get guanciale here, but it's not common, and I'm a bit far from the more cosmopolitan center where I could probably find it. I checked online for anyone that would deliver and I couldn't find any available immediately. I decided to experiment with what I could find within walking distance.

I picked up some:

• Pancetta
  This universally seems to be the most recommended alternative.
• Jamón Serrano
  I purposely picked out the fattiest slice I could find (see pictures of the reverse side).
• Smoked bacon
  I'm not sure if this is imported or local pork, but the fatty profile looked excellent.
• Local "pork fat with skin"

I decided I'd combine it all into my makeshift carbonara.

It came out excellent if I do say so myself. I more or less followed Luciano Monosillio's recipe. The sauce was perfectly creamy with just the right saltiness and the barest hint of porky smokiness. Munching through the pork was an adventure for the tongue with each piece having a different texture and/or taste.

• I boiled and crisped up the local pork fat and skin into basically little crunchy pieces of chicharon. Just pure, crispy fat.
• The pancetta was closest to guanciale, with a nice crispness outside, and a soft fattiness, aged flavor, and a bit of meat inside.
• The smoked bacon was very similar in texture to the pancetta, but with less saltiness. It would make a very good third choice.
• The jamón serrano was also salty like the pancetta, but much more meaty, and the most flavorful. I was able to give it a light crispiness but it maintained a much more solid and dry texture inside, similar to a tender beef jerky.

Of course none of these had exactly the same flavor profile and texture as guanciale, but they were all delicious, and having each bit of pork provide its own unique contribution to the dish was much more interesting and fun.

Other notes as you go through the pictures:

• It was also my first time using bucatini for carbonara and it was fantastic. The texture is so much more entertaining. I didn't use the whole package – only about 350g.
• The Parmigiano-Reggiano is the real thing. I had already used a bit and the label was gone.
• There is a mature cheddar in the picture that I had on hand, just in case I didn't have enough of the real cheeses. In the end I did add a bit to the sauce for fun but the proportions were roughly 60g Parmagiano, 40g Pecorino, 10g cheddar, so it wasn't really relevant. Sue me.
• I ended up using five egg yolks instead of the four eggs pictured.

I do miss guanciale, but I think if I was going to make carbonara again I might mix the guanciale with some of these other cuts of pork just for the variety.