Dishintermediatedraft

Spaghetti carbonara

Also searched as: carbonara

In short: Egg yolk, cheese and bacon fat are bound with pasta water into a creamy sauce without the egg turning into scrambled egg.

Picture it

Like walking a tightrope over a pan: warm enough to bind, cool enough that nothing curdles.

The decisive moments

1
Render guanciale or bacon slowly
The fat melts out and later becomes part of the sauce; the bacon turns crisp.
Rendering fat
2
Mix egg yolks with pecorino and plenty of pepper
The cheese disperses in the yolk and helps bind later.
Emulsion
3
Add the pasta with a little pasta water to the bacon and take the pan off the heat
Egg yolk sets from about 65–70 °C. Off the flame the sauce stays below that.
Proteins set (coagulation)
4
Stir in the egg mixture and toss hard until the sauce is glossy
Starch from the water binds fat, egg and cheese into an .
Binding pasta with pasta water

Sources · 1