This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What makes or breaks carbonara is that the egg mixture never goes over the flame: it thickens into a sauce using only the heat of freshly cooked pasta. This is a basic recipe for two servings made with bacon and grated cheese, along with tips for keeping the eggs from setting too much.
Ingredients (2 servings)
- Spaghetti: 160 g
- Slab bacon: 60 g
- Eggs: 2
- Egg yolks: 2
- Parmesan cheese, finely grated: 40 g
- Olive oil: 1 tbsp
- Coarsely ground black pepper: to taste
- Pasta cooking water: 1–2 tbsp
- Water for cooking the pasta: 2 L
- Salt for the cooking water: about 30 g (just under 2 tbsp)
Ready-grated Parmesan from a shaker works in place of freshly grated cheese. If you can’t find slab bacon, sliced bacon is fine. The leftover egg whites keep for about a month in the freezer.
Instructions
1. Mix the egg mixture
In a mixing bowl large enough to hold all the pasta, combine the eggs, egg yolks, Parmesan and a little black pepper, and beat well.
2. Cut the bacon
Cut the bacon into sticks about 1 cm thick.
3. Cook the pasta
Bring 2 L of water to a boil, add the salt, and cook the spaghetti for 1 minute less than the time on the package.
4. Fry the bacon
While the pasta cooks, put the olive oil and bacon in a frying pan over medium heat and fry until crisp all over. Add 1–2 tbsp of the pasta cooking water and turn off the heat.
5. Toss in the bowl
Drain the spaghetti and, while it is still hot, add it to the bowl of egg mixture from step 1. Add the bacon from step 4 along with the fat in the pan, and toss everything quickly. Once the heat of the pasta has thickened the egg mixture into a creamy sauce, transfer it to plates.
6. Finish
Sprinkle black pepper over the plated pasta.
Tips for getting it right
Mix the egg in a bowl and keep it off the heat
Egg that meets strong direct heat sets almost at once and turns grainy. With the egg mixture waiting in a bowl, the hot pasta alone cooks the egg, and the sauce stays smooth.
Cook the pasta 1 minute less than the package says
The pasta keeps cooking while you toss it with the egg mixture. Taking it out a minute early leaves it at the right texture by the time you eat.
Use the bacon fat in the sauce
The fat that renders out as the bacon crisps carries its flavor. Loosen it with a little pasta water and scrape it all into the bowl, and the sauce comes together better.
Plate it quickly once tossed
The egg keeps setting from the residual heat after it meets the pasta. Moving it to plates as soon as it turns creamy keeps the sauce smooth.
Troubleshooting
The egg set into something like scrambled eggs. The egg mixture got too much heat. Don’t cook it in the frying pan; toss it with the pasta in a bowl and let the heat of the pasta do the work. It keeps setting after tossing, so plate it as soon as it turns creamy.
The sauce is watery and won’t thicken. The egg didn’t get enough heat. Toss the pasta with the egg mixture right after draining, while it is hot. If it is still loose, move it to the frying pan over very low heat and stir, watching closely, and take it off the heat as soon as it thickens.
It tastes flat. Without enough salt in the cooking water, the pasta itself has no seasoning. Use about 30 g of salt for 2 L of water.
Related products
You can find books and products related to this article on Amazon.
If you buy through the links above, this blog may earn a commission.
About the images
The images in this article are illustrations created with AI (ChatGPT), and you are welcome to use them. If you do, we would appreciate a link back to this article as the source.
Sources
- Orange Page, “Basic carbonara” by Naoko Makino (in Japanese)
- NHK Minna no Kyou no Ryouri, “Carbonara” by Tsutomu Ochiai (in Japanese)
- NHK Minna no Kyou no Ryouri, “Carbonara” by Yoshimi Hidaka (in Japanese)
- Orange Page, “Authentic carbonara” by Yoshimi Hidaka (in Japanese)
- Meiji, “Carbonara” (in Japanese)
コメント