🛒 Ingredients
- 200g spaghetti or rigatoni
- 150g guanciale (or cured pancetta)
- 2 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
- 60g grated Pecorino Romano
- 60g grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- Generous amount of black pepper
- Salt for pasta water
👨🍳 Step-by-step instructions
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Cook the pasta in heavily salted water until al dente (reserve 200ml of the cooking water).
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Fry the guanciale in its own fat until crispy. Remove from heat.
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Whisk together egg yolks, whole egg, grated cheeses, and generous black pepper. The mixture should be thick.
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Add the cooked pasta to the guanciale off the heat. Gradually incorporate the egg mixture with some of the reserved pasta water, stirring continuously.
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The creaminess comes from residual heat and the starch in the cooking water. Never reheat directly, or the eggs will scramble.
💡 Chef's tip
Remove the pasta from the heat before adding the egg and cheese mixture. Use the starchy cooking water to bind the sauce without scrambling it.
📝 Our take
Roman carbonara uses guanciale (not bacon, not cream, not garlic) and the egg sets with the residual heat of the just-drained pasta. Get it wrong and you have scrambled eggs. Get it right and it is a liquid silk that coats every spiral of rigatoni. The margin for error is small but the result is worth the attempt.
🍷 Wine & food pairing
A Frascati secco or white Castelli Romani from Lazio. In Rome they drink Castelli wine: no red with carbonara.
Suggested wine: Frascati secco o Castelli Romani blanco
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