Pasta Carbonara

A simple Italian classic. Slightly adjusted, but not enough to annoy most Italians. All the proper recipes out there are almost identical, but this one makes the perfect sized portion for myself and my fiancée with the ingredients we normally have on hand.

You can use just Pecorino instead of a combination of Parmigiano and Pecorino but I think it tastes better if you mix them. Alternatively, if you can't find Pecorino, you can just use Parmigiano but it might be worth using less in that case (unless you use substitute it for a milder and less mature Grana Padano) as it's quite a strongly flavoured cheese.

Ingredients

• Salt
• 65-90g Cured Pork (Guanciale, Unsmoked Pancetta, or Bacon Lardons in that order of preference)
• 25g Pecorino
• 25g Parmigiano
• ~1g Black Pepper
• 2-3 eggs
• 180-220g Long Pasta (Spaghetti, Spaghettoni, or Bucatini)
• ~2tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation

1. Mise en Place

Fill a pot (appropriately sized for your pasta) with water (from a boiled kettle if you want things to go quicker) and bring it to a boil. Salt the water appropriately (this is not a pasta cooking tutorial).

Meanwhile dice the pork if needed. Finely grate the Pecorino and Parmigiano into a bowl together with bunch of ground pepper (this is a pepper heavy dish, so aim for around 1g but it really depends on how strong your pepper is).

To the bowl, add one or two whole eggs and the yolk from any remaining eggs (up to the maximum of 2 to 3). The more yolk and less white the thicker, yellower and creamier the end result will be so adjust to your preference. If it ends up too thick at the end, you can always add more pasta water.

Mix the bowl of grated cheese, eggs, and pepper until combined.

2. Cook

Once the pot of water is boiling add your pasta and stir (once to begin with, and occasionally thereafter) to avoid sticking.

Meanwhile, put the diced pork and the olive oil in a separate cold frying pan (sized to also fit the cooked pasta).

Cook the pork on a medium heat, stirring to ensure it browns evenly.

3. Add the Pasta

Once the pasta is al dente and the pork is golden brown (these should temporally coincide, but sometimes the pork can be ready a bit faster), turn off the heat on both pans.

Take a pair of tongs or some other pasta transfer implement and transfer the pasta, dripping with pasta water, straight to the hot frying pan. The water should sizzle and cool down the frying pan.

4. Add the Sauce

Once the frying pan has stopped sizzling, pour in the egg mixture while stirring. If you don't stir you might end up with scrambled egg (although this is mitigated by the copious presence of cheese and the starches in the pasta water).

Keep stirring to develop a good sauce. The sauce should transform from a bright orange speckled with bits of cheese to a paler more uniform colour. It should be smooth.

If the sauce is, at this point, too thick then consider adding some of that pasta water that you didn't yet throw down the sink to loosen it up.

5. Serve

Serve with the optional addition of more grated cheese. In Italy it is customary to cover the plate with enough cheese that you can no longer see the pasta underneath.