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Most underrated Roman pasta: Amatriciana
In Italian Recipes

Most underrated Roman pasta: Amatriciana

Everyone glazes carbonara, but no one talks about a machraana, even though it’s just as good and like way easier to make. All you have to do is start like you’re making carbonara and cut up some guanchal. I’m doing it thick, but you can do it as thin or thick as you’d like. Then you’re going to fry the guanchal on a fairly low heat and render out as much of the fat as you can because the fat flavors the sauce. And now you’re going to remove the crispy guanchal so you can pour in some tomato puree and then reduce it, which is way easier than emulsifying egg yolks for a carbonara since most people just end up making scrambled eggs. Then you’re just going to throw some slightly undercooked pasta into the sauce and finish cooking it with a little bit of pasta water. And then you’re going to turn off the heat just like a carbonara. So you can emulsify the tomatoes with a cup or so of pecarino Romano, which is a sheep’s milks cheese that’s saltier than parmesan. And it’s actually the backbone of all four Roman pastas. And I know everyone that tries this is going to nail it because this is actually my first time making it myself. So let’s see if it’s worth cooking. This is way easier to cook than carbonar and it’s just as delicious. It’s worth cooking.

23 Comments

  1. @MrVisualHigh

    I’m sorry, but cooking a carbonara without scrambling the eggs is NOT difficult, I don’t understand why people keep acting like it is.

  2. @landerbennewith6169

    How does anyone scramble eggs in a carbonara? Fry off your lardons, add your cooked pasta. Completely remove from the heat, add a table spoon of pasta water to lock the temperatue of the pan below 100oC, then add the eggs and cheese mix and stir and toss for like 5 seconds and serve.

  6. @zay-404

    btw Carbonara is super easy you just need to think of it as a 4 step recipe :
    1- boil salted water , boil pasta
    2-while the pasta is boiling , in a pan fry your choosen meat (guanciale or pancetta) , once it's done kill the heat and add a little bit of pasta water just to stop from burning
    3- while both the pasta and meat are cooking , in a bowl prepare the yolks adding pecorino or parmesan , and pepper (if u want you can rost the pepper prior to this) just before straining the pasta, add some pasta water to the bowl (like 2-3 tablespoons) and mix it
    4- add the now cooked pasta to the pan with the meat with a little more of pasta water , at this point you want high heat , stir the pasta a bit , once the water you put in is absorbed back dump the pasta inside the bowl with the eggs , at this point you dont want anymore heat, the pasta heat will finish to "cook" the eggs , stir until smooth and serve , add more cheese or black pepper in the end to your liking
    i find the ideal quantity is for each 120 gr of pasta use 2 yolks , if u have to make a lot and want to save some money on the eggs you can use 2 yolks and 1 whole eggs for 240 gr of pasta , be awaye tho the consistency and taste change a bit , still good tho so if you want to make it for the family and contain a bit costs or dont have many eggs laying around this is better than just using fewer yolks

  12. @Raymoosh

    Italian people who make the fact that they are Italian their whole personality are so insufferable

  16. @MirceaBalea

    And you wonder why the rest of the world thinks Americans are stupid, uneducated or illiterate. If you want to do a recipe from another country, at least learn how to pronounce the name of it and the ingredients.