Spaghetti Carbonara

Method

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1. Bring 4 litres of water to the boil and salt it — less heavily than usual, since Pecorino and guanciale both bring plenty of salt.

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2. Put the guanciale in a cold, wide pan and set it over medium-low heat. Rendering slowly from cold gives you crisp cubes and a pool of clear fat instead of scorched edges. This takes 8 to 10 minutes.

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3. Toast the cracked pepper in a dry corner of the pan for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Remove the pan from the heat.

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4. Whisk the yolks, whole egg and Pecorino in a bowl until it forms a thick, sandy paste with no lumps.

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5. Cook the spaghetti until 1 minute short of al dente, then reserve 300 ml of the cloudy cooking water.

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6. Temper the egg mixture by whisking in 60 ml of the hot pasta water in a thin stream — this warms the eggs gently so they will not seize later.

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7. Drop the drained spaghetti into the pan of guanciale and fat, off the heat, and toss vigorously for 30 seconds to coat every strand.

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8. Pour in the egg mixture and toss continuously, adding splashes of pasta water until the sauce turns glossy and clings. If the pan has cooled too much, return it to the lowest heat for no more than 20 seconds at a time.

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9. Serve at once in warmed bowls with more Pecorino and a heavy crack of pepper.

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Chef’s Tips

• If your sauce does scramble, tip everything into a blender with 50 ml of pasta water and blitz — it rescues about eight times out of ten.
• Pancetta is an acceptable substitute; smoked bacon is not, as the smoke bulldozes the Pecorino.
• Warm your serving bowls. Cold ceramic drops the sauce temperature fast enough to make it grainy.

Pairing Suggestions

• A crisp Frascati or Verdicchio mirrors the Roman tradition
• Serve with nothing but bread — carbonara wants no competition
• Follow with sliced oranges in olive oil and sea salt

Storage & Reheating

Carbonara is a strictly à la minute dish and does not keep well; the emulsion breaks and the eggs firm up on chilling. If you must, refrigerate for 1 day and reheat in a pan over very low heat with a splash of water, tossing constantly.

Common questions

Nutritional Highlights

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list. Treat these as an estimate — brands and cuts vary.