Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Recently a friend of my wife asked about spaghetti alla Carbonara.  Her husband who had been in the Military, stationed in Italy, began to eat this dish there and became a fan.  Well what can you do about it?  La Carbonara is one of the great culinary inventions.  The roots of this dish are many but one makes sense.  Many claim, and I have no reason to doubt them, that the name Carbonara comes from the obvious name "Coal Woman".  Carbone is Coal.  The ending -ara in carbon-ara denotes a trade but in the feminine.  If it were a male it would be aro or "Carbon-aro".  Anyway a Coal Woman, a woman who would trade in coal, would often times be seen picking coal where it had been dropped by the transport vehicle (a cart or a Train).  The fact was that a woman, who dealt in this trade, was poor...and probably a widow.  The ingredients denote poverty.  Eggs were the sign of the poor. Always readily available, nutritious and cheap to get.  If you owned a chicken they were “free”.  Whatever the real story is the Carbonara it is a great dish.  Simple, delicious, easy to make and inexpensive.  It is the tetrapharmacon of cuisine.

The Talismano’s recipe is the traditional one.  Today in Italy some do add cream.  It does add a bit of moisture and the egg does not clump up as much.  Some instead use a little pasta water instead.  Both options are good, for American tastes.  For some reason we seem to have been brought up with the idea that pasta must be buried in a sauce.  I will place it in the “optional” category.

Please read all before cooking.  You need to plan ahead.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

For 6 People

600g of Spaghetti (1.6 lbs of spaghetti or one bag and a quarter)

3 Eggs

200g of Pancetta (1/2 pound) (Salt pork)

30g of Butter (1.5 oz)

30g of Olive Oil (1.5 oz) (Always Extra Virgin)

50g Half cup of ground Parmigiano (1.8 oz) (Ada Boni’s Talismano permits Pecorino, I do not)

(Optional 1) ¼ cup of heavy cream

(Optional 2) ¼ cup of Pasta Water

Salt

Black Pepper

Beat and mix in a bowl the eggs, add the Parmigiano (Parmesan), and a teaspoon of Black Pepper. Here you may use option (1) one and add a little cream.  Option (2) two the pasta water would not be appropriate at all.  It would destroy your recipe.

Cut the pancetta in tiny squares less than a ¼ inch in size.  Please very tiny.  Do not omit the fat.

Fry them in the olive oil and butter at low heat.  Once nicely browned allow to cool.  Here is where I diverge from the Talismano.  Boni tells you to add the Pancetta to the eggs and Parmesan…I do not.  You will add them directly to the pasta.  Cook the pasta in well-salted water.  Once cooked remove the pasta from the water (option 2 [adding the pasta water] may be used here, but not if you have used option 1 already), add the pancetta with all the oil and then immediately add the egg/parmigiano/pepper mix also.  Remember to do this immediately.  The hot pasta has to cook the eggs.  Mix everything together slowly but well using a couple of forks.  Serve immediately.

Buona Sera