Carbonara is an iconic first course of Roman cuisine made with a quick, creamy and tasty sauce of egg yolks, guanciale bacon and Roman pecorino cheese.
Of rather uncertain origins, it seems that carbonara was first made in 1944, during the Second World War, in a trattoria in Vicolo della Scrofa in Rome. American soldiers, before entering the Lazio capital, passed through Abruzzo and Ciociaria, where they found smoked guanciale and pancetta, which tasted similar to bacon, a cured meat traditionally used for the classic American savoury breakfast. From these ingredients, combined with the flair of a Roman cook, came the first recipe for spaghetti alla carbonara, made with eggs, lard and cheese, to which powdered milk was also added to make the sauce creamier. A carbonara without pepper, therefore, an ingredient that was probably too expensive for the time.
Price:
From 8 to 12 € per person (minimum order box x2)
Contents of the box
- spaghetti
- guanciale (kind of bacon)
- egg yolks
- pecorino romano cheese
- pepper
(all products in the pack are ready to be cooked according to instructions)
Preparation:
Beat the yolks of the eggs in a bowl with a fork and add the pecorino cheese and pepper, continuing to beat until thickened.
Brown the guanciale in a non-stick frying pan. When golden brown and crispy, scoop out the sausage with a slotted spoon and pat dry with a sheet of paper towel.
Add a couple of tablespoons of the fat released from the cooking bacon to the egg yolk cream and mix with a spoon.
Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water for 13 minutes, then drain and set aside the cooking water.
Pour the spaghetti, boiled “al dente” into the same pan and sauté briefly over the heat with a ladleful of the cooking water; then turn off the heat, add the egg yolk + pecorino cream and the crispy guanciale, and stir carefully: if necessary, at this stage, you can add a little cooking water from the pasta.