Carbonara Sauce: my favorite. Here's another great recipe and some history

On my continuing quest to find the perfect carbonara recipe I found the following on line at
http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com. This one is sans the cream which is I believe an authentic recipe for this classic. Thanks to Amy for allowing me to post the recipe and quote the history of carbonara from her blog site.

I also liked the fact that Amy gave a bit of history of the origins of this dish:

"The alla carbonara in Spaghetti alla Carbonara means in the 'manner of coal miners'. There are more than a few stories as to why it is called carbonara, the three stories I've heard are because the freshly ground pepper topping the dish resembles flakes of coal, or because it was cooked on the streets of Rome over coal burning stoves or finally that the dish was popular among coal miners and so it was named after them. Spaghetti alla Carbonara is a great winter time dish. It's also one of those things you can whip up when you have almost nothing in the house. My favorite time to eat this is late at night for some reason. While I don't mind using bacon instead of guanciale or pancetta, I do draw the line at adding whipping cream. When made correctly this is a very creamy dish, and needs no cream."

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, smashed with the side of a knife
4 slices diced bacon
2 eggs
1/2 pound of spaghetti or bucatini or linguini
1/3 cup grated Pecorino or Parmigiano (or combination)
salt
fresh ground black pepper

Bring salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water to use in the sauce if needed to thin it out a bit.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon, and saute until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss a smashed clove of garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to flavor the oil, then remove it.

Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps, set aside. Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the skillet and toss to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, toss the spaghetti quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (that is why you do this off the heat) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. The sauce should be creamy, not "scrambled egg" crumbly if that makes sense. Season with lots of freshly ground black pepper, a sprinkle more of grated cheese and taste for salt. Serves 2 people.

I shall be making this fine recipe tonight. Anyone else going to try it?

Visit Amy's blog http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/2004/01/spaghetti-alla-carbonararecipe.html. The recipe and quote are copyright of Cooking With Amy and are reprinted here with permission. My thanks to Amy for the informatino and great recipe.

My ongoing Quest for the perfect Carbonara--THE PERFECT MEAL

Spaghetti alla Carbonara: How to make a real CARBONARA

As I mentioned in a previous blog (http://markgsmusings.blogspot.com/2009/06/carbonara-sauce-my-favorite-italian.html), I love Carbonara Sauce. I've spent years searching for the perfect recipe. My favorite carbonara meal was at a restaurant in Rome. The reason I loved it so much was because it was prepared the way I prefer--NO cream. It was just eggs, pancetta, cheese, pepper. I found this video of an Italian chef making "real" carbonara and I think this may be the recipe I've been seeking for years. REAL, perfect, carbonara. Unfortunately you can't embed the video but have I put a hyperlink so that you can visit youtube and watch:

Click here to visit youtube to watch the video

Here's the recipe from the video, but you should really watch the video to see his technique. Particularly the frequent use water to "amalgamate"

http://www.italianfoodnet.com - ITALIAN CARBONARA, the real one!!!

Ingredients for 4 persons
360 gr. (12.69 oz.) Spaghetti
60 gr. (2.11 oz.) Guanciale (Pork cheek) if you don't find it use bacon
80 gr. (2.82 oz.) Parmesan cheese
80 gr. (2.82 oz.) Pecorino cheese
4 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Buon Appetito!!

The recipe is from the youtube site

Carbonara Sauce--My favorite Italian food--another passion

I love food. I love to eat. I've always picked up strange fascinations with certain dishes. The two primary obsessions, for which I've spent years on a quest seeking the perfect recipe, are Carbonara Sauce and Jambalaya (my favorite food is Cajun food).

We'll stick with Carbonara Sauce for this post. There is nothing more perfect than the perfect Carbonara (and I am still searching). The best carbonara that I've ever had was at a restaurant in Rome.

Sometimes the best dishes are ones that are very simple and straightforward. Carbonara is a perfect example: eggs, cream, butter, parmesan cheese, a little onion, parsley and bacon (pancetta). This is one of the most sinfully delicious meals ever. And, such beauty in a dish, no?

For years, I have tasted this dish in restaurants and for years I've hunted for carbonara recipes in cookbooks (someday I'm going to publish a cookbook solely about carbonara). Most restaurants idea of carbonara differ quite a bit from my ideal.

There seems to be two types of carbonara recipes. The first is a cream-based sauce similar to alfredo. The second, and my personal preference, is egg-based. Then there are recipes that combine both which as long as it's light on the cream are okay alternatives in my book.

Sometimes you'll find restaurants or recipes that add either mushrooms or English peas in the carbonara. I tend to be a purist and prefer it without either.

The best recipes for carbonara, in my opinion, have little cream, and you literally pour the raw eggs and bacon mixture over pasta and toss. Perfection! Exquisite! And relatively inexpensive to make.

What I'd like to further explore is why there are two schools of thought about carbonara Sauce: cream-based versus egg-based. Is it a regional Italian preference? Where exactly did carbonara Sauce originate.

Oh, and my personal pasta preference with Carbonara is spaghetti, but I've had it with every type of pasta and it's always perfect.

I'd love to hear from others about your preferred Carbonara recipe. So here's a recent one that I tried and it was quel good (as Holly Gollightly referred to one of her suitors, "quel rat"):

Carbonara Sauce
15 oz/425 g spaghetti
freshly gated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
6 oz/175g pancetta (or other bacon)
1 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3 eggs beaten
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic and bacon and cook until the bacon is crisp. Transfer to a warm dish or bowl. When ready to prepare return the bacon mixture to the skillet.

*Combine the cream, eggs, and cheese in a large bowl and season to taste.

Working very quickly, tip the spaghetti into the bacon mixture and pour over the eggs. Add the chopped parsley. Toss the spaghetti quickly until the egg and cream mixture, using 2 forks, and serve immediately. Garnish with fresh sage twigs and parmesan cheese.

Cook's tip: the key to success with this recipe is not to overcook the egg. It is important to keep all the ingredients hot enough to just cook the egg and to work rapidly to avoid scrambling it.

(Optional: this recipe called for mushrooms. If you'd like to add mushrooms then here's the modified recipe: 3 cups sliced mushrooms, 2 tbsp butter. Keep the 2 tbsp of butter out of the initial step of heating the onion and garlic. After the onion and garlic prep, then melt the butter in the skillet. Add the mushrooms and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes, or until tender. Follow recipe from here*)

This recipe came from a book titled: Pasta Sauces: A classic collection of Italian-style recipes published by Parragon, 2004, page 24-25.