– Spaghetti/Spaghettoni 85g – Egg 1 – Pecorino Romano 15g – Guanciale 30g – Black pepper – (Salt)
## Steps
1. Start by boiling your water. Lightly salt your water (few pinches of salt for a medium sized pot). Do NOT make it super salty. 2. Cut the “skin” off the guanciale, and cut into 1cm cubes (around 8~12 total) 3. Preheat your pan on medium heat and your guanciale cubes. You want a crisp outside while a juicy inside. Do NOT make it super crispy. Take out the guancilae chunks when it becomes golden-brown on all sides. Make sure to leave the rendered fat in the pan. This fat is super important to make your carbonara shiny and creamy. 4. Add your pasta in to your boiling water. 5. Crack the egg and add only the yolk inside a bowl (leave a tiny bit of whites too), as well as the cheese. Grate a lot of black peppers as well. 6. Add 3 teaspoon of pasta water and guanciale fat to the bowl. Mix it rigorously with a whisk until homogeneous. 7. Preheat your plate in a microwave (600W, 2 min) 8. Your pasta should be al-dente. Around 1~2 min before the instruction on the package should be a rough indication. Though, your mouth is going to be the best indicator. 9. Place your bowl over the pasta pot (simmering), and add the pasta to the sauce. Mix it with a tong or chopstick. This is the hardest part of the process. You want to cook the egg just enough so you get the right consistency. The sauce will be too loose if you don’t heat it enough, but will be like mayo if you heat it too much. Taking the bowl of the pot and flipping the bowl is an effective way to mix as well. 10. Add your guanciale cubes, mix lightly, and serve. Sprinkle in some cheese and black peppers.
## Notes
– Get good pasta. De Cecco 1.9mm is (in my opinon) the bare minimum, both in quality and in thickness. Fuck Barilla. Spaghettoni is a thicker pasta (around 2.1mm) and goes well with Carbonara. Rummo is a good option, as well as my favourite, Felicetti Monograno. – I’d argue Guanciale is essential in a good Carbonara. Pancetta is good too, though it’s a bit leaner. I used to make Carbonara using a (somewhat) cheap Pancetta and the difference in taste is astonishing. – If you’re using pancetta, I found that there’s quite a bit of range in how fatty it can be. The cheap one I was using was fattier than bacon I usually find in the supermarket but it still looked like bacon. You want like 80% fat. If you’re using a something without a lot of fat, add some olive oil to the pan. – Parmigiano Romano and Grana Padano can also be used as well. Just make sure to adjust the salt. – Getting the saltiness right is super hard, and essential in a good carbonara (and in any food in general). You have salty meat, cheese, and pasta water. I found guanciale and especially pecorino to be salty enough. If you’re using a less saltier cheese, add a bit more salt into your pasta water. – For the “technique,” here’s a video on how chef Luciano makes his: https://youtu.be/nYLoCwAR4pY
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# Recipe
Makes 1, 20 minutes
## Ingredients
– Spaghetti/Spaghettoni 85g
– Egg 1
– Pecorino Romano 15g
– Guanciale 30g
– Black pepper
– (Salt)
## Steps
1. Start by boiling your water. Lightly salt your water (few pinches of salt for a medium sized pot). Do NOT make it super salty.
2. Cut the “skin” off the guanciale, and cut into 1cm cubes (around 8~12 total)
3. Preheat your pan on medium heat and your guanciale cubes. You want a crisp outside while a juicy inside. Do NOT make it super crispy. Take out the guancilae chunks when it becomes golden-brown on all sides. Make sure to leave the rendered fat in the pan. This fat is super important to make your carbonara shiny and creamy.
4. Add your pasta in to your boiling water.
5. Crack the egg and add only the yolk inside a bowl (leave a tiny bit of whites too), as well as the cheese. Grate a lot of black peppers as well.
6. Add 3 teaspoon of pasta water and guanciale fat to the bowl. Mix it rigorously with a whisk until homogeneous.
7. Preheat your plate in a microwave (600W, 2 min)
8. Your pasta should be al-dente. Around 1~2 min before the instruction on the package should be a rough indication. Though, your mouth is going to be the best indicator.
9. Place your bowl over the pasta pot (simmering), and add the pasta to the sauce. Mix it with a tong or chopstick. This is the hardest part of the process. You want to cook the egg just enough so you get the right consistency. The sauce will be too loose if you don’t heat it enough, but will be like mayo if you heat it too much. Taking the bowl of the pot and flipping the bowl is an effective way to mix as well.
10. Add your guanciale cubes, mix lightly, and serve. Sprinkle in some cheese and black peppers.
## Notes
– Get good pasta. De Cecco 1.9mm is (in my opinon) the bare minimum, both in quality and in thickness. Fuck Barilla. Spaghettoni is a thicker pasta (around 2.1mm) and goes well with Carbonara. Rummo is a good option, as well as my favourite, Felicetti Monograno.
– I’d argue Guanciale is essential in a good Carbonara. Pancetta is good too, though it’s a bit leaner. I used to make Carbonara using a (somewhat) cheap Pancetta and the difference in taste is astonishing.
– If you’re using pancetta, I found that there’s quite a bit of range in how fatty it can be. The cheap one I was using was fattier than bacon I usually find in the supermarket but it still looked like bacon. You want like 80% fat. If you’re using a something without a lot of fat, add some olive oil to the pan.
– Parmigiano Romano and Grana Padano can also be used as well. Just make sure to adjust the salt.
– Getting the saltiness right is super hard, and essential in a good carbonara (and in any food in general). You have salty meat, cheese, and pasta water. I found guanciale and especially pecorino to be salty enough. If you’re using a less saltier cheese, add a bit more salt into your pasta water.
– For the “technique,” here’s a video on how chef Luciano makes his: https://youtu.be/nYLoCwAR4pY