Spaghetti Carbonara

Who would have thought that simplicity could be so complicated? Carbonara is an almost magically simple recipe, but the popularity of the dish coupled with the moderate difficulty of sourcing some of the ingredients has led to it being widely modified over the years. As such, you'll find a lot of variations, often with little information about how or why the original recipe (if there is such a thing) has been modified. You can jump right to cooking the recipe below if you're ready to cook, confident that the recipe I've provided is a simple and authentic one. But if you need or want to swap out ingredients, or you're wondering why certain ingredients are included or excluded, these notes should have you covered.

Cream, peas, onions, and garlic. Great ingredients. Wonderful in pasta. And completely absent from this recipe.

If you're already a die-hard fan of carbonara in its simplest form, feel free to skip ahead, but for those of you wondering why these ingredients are up for debate at all, let's take a look. First and foremost is cream. I'm not entirely sure how cream has found its way into so many versions of carbonara, but it is the one ingredient in this little list that is (to my mind anyway) completely unnecessary.  The silky creaminess of carbonara is its signature characteristic, but this is derived entirely from the use of eggs.  I have my suspicions that cream has made it in as a sort of fail-safe or shortcut, but all it does is sell the eggs short.  I mean, take a look at my photos - all that silky, smooth creaminess you see comes from eggs!  Let them do their magic on their own.

Next up: peas.  They're tasty, and fresh peas are good with lots of pastas, but I feel like they're included in carbonara to alleviate some sort of vegetable-guilt.  We feel like we're being healthier by putting something green in the mixture.  I suppose that's true in a way, but I personally think we're all better off embracing the Italian approach to pasta - i.e., eat a bit less of it, and serve other dishes.  Save those peas and serve them on their own.  Now if you really adore peas and you're just dying to put them into your carbonara, go nuts - but make sure you factor in how and when to add them.  Because of the time- and heat-sensitive way that carbonara is finished, you don't want frozen peas cooling things down for you.  I haven't tried this myself, but I think if you were to add peas to the pasta water for the last minute or two of cooking, you'd keep things tasty and easy to work with.  You don't want to over or undercook them, so take into account whether they're fresh or frozen.

Lastly, garlic and onion.  These two are a little more contentious, and you will encounter some Italian recipes that do insist on one, the other, or both.  They both build flavours very nicely, and their importance in Italian cooking is paramount, but I personally think that they distract from the simplicity of the guanciale and cheese flavours.  I absolutely adore garlic, and I don't hesitate to use a lot of it in most situations, but I feel like it's a distraction here.  Still, if you want to include either of them, it's not a big deal - finely dice them and saute them (gently - you don't want to burn them) along with the guanciale.  And speaking of guanciale...

First off, let's talk about what guanciale is.  Guanciale is a very simple cured pork product made from the cheek or jowl of a pig (the name actually comes from Italian guancia, meaning cheek).  It's generally rubbed with some simple spices before being air-cured.  It is not smoked.  There's very little meat in guanciale, and a lot of fat that renders readily during cooking.  That fat in particular is a key factor in the overall character of the meat.  It's got a distinctive and somewhat strong 'porky' flavour that tends to divide people a bit.  It's a bit tough to describe a distinctive flavour of course, but the fat in guanciale is much more distinctively pork-flavoured than, say, bacon fat.

Guanciale can be quite tricky to get a hold of, but it's becoming a little more readily available thanks to the rise of small-scale artisanal butchers and salumi makers. I live in the Vancouver, BC region and I was lucky enough to find whole guanciale cheeks for a wonderfully affordable price at Oyama Sausage Co.  If you're in my neck (or jowl) of the woods, I'd start there.  Wherever you live, try searching for local butchers and salumi makers.  Well-stocked Italian shops and markets are also a solid bet (and a good place to get the cheese and/or guanciale alternatives listed below).  If you definitely can't find guanciale, there are some great alternatives to investigate.  These aren't going to be a one-to-one substitute in terms of flavour, but they each bring their own merits to the recipe.

1. Pancetta is an Italian cured, generally unsmoked meat made from pork belly.  This is probably the best bet, in that it's easier to find, appropriately fatty, and not smoked.  It's flavour is less distinctly 'porky', which means it definitely tastes different from guanciale (which is a selling point for those who find guanciale too strong tasting).  If you have the option, buy a thicker piece of it instead of thinly cut slices.  This will give you the option of cutting it into small cubes for cooking/rendering.  Note that smoked pancetta (pancetta affumicata) has a distinctive flavour somewhat closer to bacon.
2. Capocollo (aka Coppa) is a heavily marbled cured pork product made from muscles found around a pig's neck.  It's usually a bit more expensive but it makes an acceptable alternative here, especially if you like somewhat leaner meat.  As with pancetta, you want to see if you can get a thicker cut piece that you can dice into pieces, as the default is for this product to be cut quite thin.
3. American-style side bacon (aka streaky bacon) made from pork belly is VERY different from the other cured pork products I've listed above, as it is smoked.  It's certainly delicious with cheese and pasta, so you can use it in this recipe, but don't expect it to taste like a traditional carbonara.  It does, however, have the advantage of being quite easy to find, and suitably fatty.  If you do go with bacon, try to choose something that's been air-cured, thicker cut, and kept simple (i.e. no bourbon, maple, or other flavourings added).  Avoid using back bacon (incidentally called Canadian bacon by Americans, but not by Canadians), as it's much meatier and lacks the necessary fat.  If you can find jowl bacon, I think you could probably try using it here - though once again, expect a difference in flavour thanks to the smoked aspect.

Both pancetta and capocollo are generally available at well-stocked grocery stores in North America, but you might have to look at an Italian specialty store depending on where you live.

The most traditional/classical cheese to use for carbonara is Pecorino Romano - a hard, salty, sheep's milk cheese.  Sheep's milk cheeses in general often have a distinctive and unique flavour profile that distinguishes them from cow's milk cheeses, and the Italian pecorino cheeses are no exception.  The older the cheese, the sharper this flavour becomes.  As with guanciale, this unique flavour profile is part of what makes 'true' carbonara so distinctive and unique.  That being said (and once again, as with guanciale), the strength of this flavour can be a bit divisive, causing some to prefer carbonara made with a blend of cheeses, or other cheeses entirely.

Good Pecorino Romano cheese can be somewhat tricky to find in some markets, but it should still be easier than finding guanciale for most people.  If you need to substitute, or you're looking to experiment with a flavour combination that you particularly like, there are a few good options out there:

1. 1. Other pecorino cheeses - Any of the pecorino varieties can be used here fairly interchangeably, with two major caveats.  First, and as you'd expect, the different varieties have different flavours- similar, mind you, but different.  Second, and most importantly, you can only use the hard, aged pecorino cheeses (generally aged 12 months or more).  Many pecorinos are popular as table cheeses when younger and softer, but those don't work well for grating in a dish like this.  These younger softer cheeses are not exported in significant quantities, but you might encounter them if you're shopping at specialty Italian stores or cheese shops.  The odds are good that if you're going to find any kind of true Italian pecorino cheese in a market outside of Italy, it will be Romano.  Nonetheless, you could certainly experiment with the other aged pecorino cheeses.  Pecorino Toscano (from Tuscany) and Sardo (from Sardinia) are both popular and will substitute well for Romano if well-aged.  Pecorino Siciliano is not often found outside of Italy, and only sometimes aged enough to work in a recipe like this.  A note on origins - despite the name 'Romano' (i.e. from Rome), most Pecorino Romano is actually made in Sardinia today.
   2. Parmigiano-Reggiano - the classic Italian hard cheese, this one is a popular alternative (in whole and in part) and generally easy to find.  Some find the distinctive sheep's milk flavour of pecorino a bit strong on its own, and so choose to blend it with this mellower (yet still sharp and salty) cow's milk cheese.  I personally like a 60/40 or 50/50 blend Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano.  You can also completely omit the pecorino entirely in favour of Parmigiano, though you'll obviously lose the distinctive flavour profile of the former.
   3. Parmesan-style hard cheeses - Cheeses made in the style of Parmigiano-Reggiano are popular with many cheesemakers outside of Parma, Italy, but they cannot legally be referred to by the same name.  There are plenty of options to explore, including (but not limited to) Czech Gran Moravia, Argentine Reggianito, Grana Padano (see below), and some North American-made varieties.  Do be careful with the latter though - there are some great, well-aged hard cheeses coming out of Canada and the USA, but many so-called parmesan-style cheeses are considerably softer and aged for a shorter period of time.  The better quality ones aren't likely to cost much less than true Italian cheese either.  Do take note that the parmesan-style alternatives I'm talking about are hard cheeses made in the style of Parmigiano-Reggiano and sold whole, and NOT pre-ground/powdery cheese that comes in a shaker.  Shaker 'parmesan' (which can't even legally be referred to by that name in the EU any more) is a vastly inferior product, with added cellulose to keep it from clumping.  Don't use it here.
   4. Grana Padano - another great Italian hard cheese, though it often languishes a bit in the shadow of its made-in-Parma cousin.  Grana Padano is similar in may respects to parmigiano, with a nutty, sharp, salty profile.  This cheese is a bit milder and less distinctive that Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a little less rich.  It's also fairly easy to find and (generally) a little cheaper than Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino cheeses.  If you want to blend something with pecorino, but don't want to overpower the distinctive flavour of that cheese, Grana Padano is a good option.  I would go for a 50/50 blend if you're going that route, but you can play around and see what you like.
   5. "Romano" Cheese (American-style) - This (generally) American-made cow's milk cheese is meant to replicate Pecorino Romano somewhat in terms of use, but it's rather different in many respects.  It's got some of the sharp, aggressive flavour of Pecorino Romano, but is much milder in general.  It can also be softer in texture, and is often aged for a shorter period of time.  American Romano cheeses are considered a plainer and less aggressive alternative to their Italian inspirations, ostensibly to better suit the American palate.  I don't personally have any experience working with this cheese, but I wanted to mention it in particular because of the overlapping name and potential for confusion.  If you're familiar with these cheeses, you could certainly give them a try, either alone or in combination with other cheeses.

Lastly, I'll make a note for the vegetarians out there - if you're hoping to adapt this to a fully vegetarian dish, you'll need to omit the meat AND factor in the fact that most of these cheeses use calf rennet during their production.  See the Vegetarian Option notes below for more.

Alright, at least this section isn't too contentious (I hope... I guess we'll see if the comment section bears that out).  Spaghetti is probably the most popular pasta to use for carbonara, but you could go with any number of alternatives.  In general, long pastas (fettuccine, linguine, bucatini, etc.) are the way to go because of the way they hold the sauce, but some people like to use penne, maccheroni, or other shorter pasta varieties too.  In my opinion, bucatini in particular makes a great alternative, as the long tubes hold the creamy sauce really well.  Plus it's fun to say bucatini carbonara.

If you're gluten-free, feel free to substitute a good quality alternative pasta, but I would urge you to use something you're familiar with.  Ideally, any gluten-free alternative should be as close to the flavour of a standard wheat pasta as possible.  You don't want to distract from the classic carbonara sauce with something strongly flavoured.  I've read good things about Barilla's gluten-free spaghetti, but I haven't tried it yet myself.  If you've tried it, I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

No matter what you end up choosing, make sure you salt your pasta water liberally (it should be briny tasting).  This is one of those things that I really like to emphasize, because it makes a big difference.

One could argue that leaving the meat out of this makes it an entirely different recipe (and one might also argue that the recipe in question would be the aforementioned pasta cacio e uova) but let's not get bogged down in specifics.  If you want to make a vegetarian carbonara, you've got two important obstacles to consider.

First, and most obviously, the guanciale.  You can simply omit the meat of course.  The end result will differ a great deal from standard carbonara given the impact that the guanciale has on the final flavour, but it'll still taste great.  In theory (caveat: I haven't tried this) you could use a vegetarian bacon substitute.  However, there are two big problems with this: one, these products vary enormously in terms of quality, and two, they're designed to approximate smoky cooked bacon, not unsmoked pork products like guanciale or pancetta.  If you have a go-to bacon substitute that you love, you can totally try it out here - but I'd be tempted to try the simpler meat-less version first.  With or without a meat substitute, you might want to add just a bit of olive oil to account for the fact that you won't have any of the rendered pork fat in the final dish.

The second factor related to making a truly vegetarian substitute is the cheese.  Traditional Italian hard cheeses like pecorino, parmesan, and grana padano are all made with calf rennet - an enzymatic cocktail produced in the stomachs of calves (and other ruminant animals).  Because this type of rennet is an animal product, it means that these cheeses (and many others) are not technically vegetarian.  If you yourself are vegetarian(ish), you'll have to decide whether or not this factors into your cooking.  If you're cooking for a vegetarian, ask them where they land on the issue.  If you do need to keep the dish truly vegetarian, there are some options, but they're a bit tricky.  There is a type of rennet made from vegetables, or produced by special bacteria, but no traditional D.O.P. Italian hard cheeses use these.  That being said, some of the North American-made parmesan-style cheeses do, and the packaging on these will generally make a note about being vegetarian-friendly.  In Canada and the USA you can find pre-shredded parmesan and romano-style cheeses that are made with non-animal enzymes, but I haven't seen any whole (i.e. unshredded) products in Canada (I've read that Trader Joe's sells a whole, vegetarian parmesan-style cheese, but I haven't tried it and can't really comment on it any further).  I personally don't like pre-shredded cheese, but if that's the only option you have it's better than nothing.  Note that these cheeses are generally milder tasting overall than their Italian counterparts.

The very first time I made carbonara I was floored.  You expect the cheese to play a specific role (and it does), but little can prepare you for the fact that simply tossing hot pasta with whisked eggs will give you a smooth, decadent, creamy sauce.  Carbonara does something with eggs that we otherwise tend to see more with desserts like curd, custard, and sabayon.  The sauce is cooked by the pasta itself, kept in motion constantly, resulting in an emulsified, just-cooked egg mixture. The proteins in the eggs are denatured by the moderate heat of the pasta, and the constant movement keeps them from coagulating.  Instead of bits of cooked egg, we get a phenomenal, crowd-pleasing, creamy-without-cream sauce.  Magic, I tell ya.

My recipe uses one whole eggs and two egg yolks (large eggs in all cases).  I've tried a few different iterations and this is the balance that I like best.  The egg yolks make a richer, more decadent sauce, while the added whole egg thins the sauce out and adds a bit of body without becoming too loose or gooey.

For consistency's sake, try to use large eggs.  If you have medium or extra-large eggs, I would just bump the quantities of the other ingredients down or up a little bit, rather than trying to calculate specific substitution ratios.

In the section above on eggs I mention just how the eggs are turned into this wonderful, creamy/cheesy sauce.  In order to achieve this, you want to make sure that you're properly prepared, and that you factor in the serving sizes.

You want to make sure that you read through the recipe carefully, ensuring that you're ready to proceed with each step in a timely fashion.  The hot, just-cooked pasta has to go right into the waiting egg mixture, where it's then tossed and stirred until the sauce is cooked and creamy.  If you drain your pasta ahead of time it'll be too cool and too dry (you want some of that salty/starchy pasta water in the mix).  If you leave the cooked pasta in the water too long, it'll become soggy and overcooked.  A pair of kitchen tongs are almost a must-have for this recipe, as they let you easily hold, toss, and stir the long pasta through the sauce.  If you don't have tongs, you might actually be better off using a pasta like penne, as you'll be able to stir (rather than toss) it through the sauce more easily.

I will note that my technique differs from many recipes, which call for adding the egg mixture to the hot guanciale/pasta.  I personally find that you have more control over the cooking process and a lower risk of curdling the eggs if you use tongs to transfer the pasta/guanciale into the whisked eggs and cheese mixture itself.  This does require a bit more wrist strength and dexterity to toss and move the pasta, but I think it works fantastically well.  If you struggle with the technique you can stir the eggs into the hot pasta/guanciale instead - just make sure you work slowly and stir very vigorously.

Do pay attention the serving sizes before you jump in.  It's tricky to double this recipe, as you end up with a lot of heavy pasta that's tricky to toss evenly with the sauce.  It's also harder to distribute the heat from the pasta evenly through the sauce, making it tougher to properly cook the eggs.  If you're cooking for a larger group, I would personally recommend making two batches rather than trying to make a single extra-large batch.  One advantage of the technique I use is that you can cook a double-batch of pasta and meat together, then simply do the egg/cheese mixing step twice.  Halving the recipe is a little easier, but you'll need to take two things into account.  First, it's tricky to halve one egg; one whole medium egg and one medium yolk make a good substitute.  Second, the smaller batch of sauce will cook a bit faster, and is more prone to scrambling if you don't toss fast enough.  That being said, if you keep the pasta moving quickly you should be fine.