How to Cook Spaghetti alla Carbonara

In Italy, spaghetti alla carbonara is considered one of the easiest, least expensive pasta dishes. A typical Italian kitchen has all of these ingredients on hand. In the States, you may have trouble finding the pancetta, but it's well worth the trouble.

Ingredients

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

High quality organic spaghetti, a pound for every three or four people
Organic, free-range chicken eggs, one per person
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Mediterranean sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Cubed pancetta

Spaghetti Carbonara

1/2 lb box Spaghetti
3-4 slices Bacon, chopped into 1/2" pieces (thick sliced bacon works best)
2 eggs - beaten
1/2-3/4 cup Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Black Pepper - course ground (at least a tablespoon or two)

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

1
Start a pot of boiling water and cook the pasta.
2
Combine the eggs, cheese, salt and pepper in a small bowl and beat with a fork. Add only enough cheese to make it somewhat thick. If it looks like cake batter, you have added too much cheese.

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3
Add some olive oil to a small saucepan and cook the pancetta thoroughly. Keep warm until pasta is done.
4
Add the pasta and pancetta to the bowl and begin stirring gently. The grease from the bacon and the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs enough to prevent disease.
5
Finished.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Spaghetti Carbonara

1
Slice bacon into 1/2" pieces and put in fry pan (don't turn on stove heat yet).
2
Bring water to boil in the heavy pot for the pasta.
3
Once the water is boiling, put the pasta in and set a timer for 10 minutes.
4
Turn on heat under the fry pan to medium-high to begin cooking the bacon.
5
Cook the bacon - adjusting the heat as necessary to render fat out of the bacon, but avoid cooking the bacon to the crispy stage - you really want it soft and just slightly browned.
6
Timing is critical - you should be able to have the bacon cooked in the 10 minutes it takes to cook the pasta - you may need to lower the heat to keep the bacon hot.
7
Quickly dump the pasta in the strainer and shake quickly to remove excess water - do not rinse - return to the hot pot you used to boil the pasta.
8
Pour the contents of the fry pan (bacon and fat) over the pasta in the pot and begin to stir - coating the pasta with the bacon fat.
9
Add the beaten eggs and continue to stir - the eggs will cook from the heat of the bacon fat and hot pasta (and still hot pot).
10
Add the grated Parmesan cheese and continue to stir - the cheese will melt from the heat of the bacon/pot.
11
Begin to sprinkle in the course ground pepper - stirring - until the pasta mixture is speckled with pepper - typically over a tablespoon of course ground pepper - more or less to taste.
12
Serve immediately - the combination of Parmesan cheese and pepper make this a wonderful dish - it can be served as a side or main dish (depending on serving size)

Warnings

This dish is quite heavy and filling.

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This dish does use raw eggs and can cause food poisoning if not prepared correctly.

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As with any dish that contains eggs - there is a risk of food poisoning if the eggs aren't completely cooked. If you have a heavy pot to boil the pasta, this shouldn't be a problem. Also, be sure the bacon is fully heated/cooked - but not crispy.

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