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How to cook carbonara pasta Video
Spaghetti carbonara (more precisely, “pasta a la carbonara”) is a classic dish of Italian cuisine, very satisfying and tasty. It is so popular that it is prepared far outside Italy.
The classic spaghetti carbonara recipe is spaghetti with thin fried bacon slices, topped with a hot sauce of grated cheese and egg yolks. However, some chefs add their own additions to the recipe. What are the secrets of this dish?
Where did the name of the dish come from?
Carbonaro means coal miner in Italian. From the name it is clear that this was the name of the people who made their living by producing charcoal. From early spring to late autumn they had to live in the mountains and forests, burning wood in special pits. There were no refrigerators then, so food was used that could be stored for a long time: jerky ham, hard cheese, eggs, pasta. This is how one day a recipe for a dish appeared, the name of which can be translated as “spaghetti for a coal miner”.
Recipe for carbonara pasta. How is it cooked in Italy?
The main rule for preparing this dish is that the spaghetti should be slightly undercooked. Or, as they say in Italy, to reach the state of “al dante”, that is, to be soft on the outside and a little harsh on the inside. Italians generally do not recognize overcooked spaghetti, considering such treatment of the product to be almost barbaric.
In Italian cooking, not only spaghetti is boiled in this way, but almost all types of pasta made from durum wheat (pasta)
The bacon slices are cut very thin so that they are completely fried and crispy. And the sauce, which consists of a mixture of whipped egg yolks and grated cheese, is not cooked at all over an open fire. They are poured with ready-made hot spaghetti and slices of fried bacon, mixed and left for 2-3 minutes. This is enough for the cheese to melt and the yolk to harden.
Most Italian cooks prefer to use a mixture of hard parmesan cheese and softer sheep’s pecorino romano cheese.
Carbonara recipe adapted to Russian conditions
For 4 eaters, you will need the following ingredients:
– about 250 grams of spaghetti; – 150-160 grams of lean bacon; – 6-8 egg yolks; – about 100 grams of hard cheese like Parmesan; – salt; – ground black pepper to taste; – some olive oil for frying.
Since it is not so easy to acquire pecorino sheep’s cheese in Russia, you can do without it.
Cut the bacon into small thin slices and sauté in olive oil. Boil water in a saucepan, lightly salt and toss in the spaghetti. While they’re cooking, start making the sauce.
In a deep bowl, beat the egg yolks with a fork or whisk, adding a little salt and ground pepper. Add finely grated Parmesan cheese and beat again until smooth.
When the spaghetti is almost done, put the sautéed bacon slices back on the fire. Discard the spaghetti in a colander, drain the water, and transfer to the skillet. Toss with bacon slices, reduce heat to low. After 2-3 minutes, pour in the cheese and egg sauce, stir well, cover and remove from heat. Leave it covered for another 3-4 minutes, then place on plates.
Spaghetti carbonara with cream
Italian chefs don’t make such a pasta with cream. However, some connoisseurs of this dish claim that it is with cream that it turns out to be especially tender and tasty. Therefore, be sure to try making spaghetti carbonara according to the recipe below.
You will need: – about 200 grams of spaghetti; – 130-150 grams of lean bacon; – 40-50 grams of hard cheese (parmesan or similar); – 2-3 medium onions; – 200 milliliters of heavy cream; – a small piece of butter; – some olive oil for frying; – salt; ground black pepper to taste.
Fry finely chopped onions in a mixture of butter and vegetable oil. In another skillet in the same mixture, fry the thinly sliced bacon slices. After browning, place them on a paper towel to remove excess grease.
Boil spaghetti in salted water until al dente. While they are boiling, grate the cheese on a fine grater, mix with cream. Put the fried bacon slices in a pan with onions, cover with the creamy cheese mixture, salt and pepper to taste, put on low heat. Throw the cooked spaghetti in a colander, then transfer to the pan with the sauce, stir, cover, remove from heat.
What other recipes for carbonara pasta are there?
Any culinary specialist can add something of his own to this dish. Some cooks add garlic to the sauce, grated with finely chopped spicy herbs (for example, basil). Someone adds a little finely ground walnuts or dry white wine to cheese and yolks. It depends solely on taste and desires.