Spaghetti carbonara is like a Spanish omelet: everyone loves it, but no one agrees on how to prepare it. Of course, we all swear that our family recipe is the real deal, but if a Roman saw us serving a plate of spaghetti on this side of the Mediterranean, they'd be shocked (and possibly shocked).
Therefore, our goal is to find the perfect balance between authenticity and deliciousness, evaluating different recipes from the most austere to the most indulgent. We tested the recipes of four distinguished chefs, from the most traditional to the most innovative, including Antonio Carluccio, Jamie Oliver, Angela Nilsen, and Karlos Arguiñano (which you can find below). Our final carbonara pasta recipe respects the traditional process, altering only the quantities of cheese and pancetta to achieve a more intense flavor while maintaining a light and creamy texture.
Index
- 1 Necessary ingredients
- 2 How to prepare spaghetti carbonara
- 3 Video Recipes for Spaghetti Carbonara
- 4 Ingredients
- 5 Instructions
Necessary ingredients
How to prepare spaghetti carbonara
Spaghetti Carbonara Video Recipe
Below we show you how to prepare spaghetti carbonara following the recipe step by step.
Starting with the authentic
We took the original recipe from Antonio Carluccio himself—the godfather of modern Italian cuisine. Carluccio establishes that the standard ingredients for carbonara are: spaghetti, olive oil, pancetta, Parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper.
It certainly seems like a pretty complete recipe, if it weren't for the fact that, according to the established proportions, one serving of this dish contains literally 12g of pancetta, equivalent to 6 measly dice. To top it all off, the recommended amount of cheese is so minimal that a forkful of pasta without meat barely tastes like anything.
However, thanks to the presence of the egg and the reduced amount of added ingredients, this recipe offers the perfect texture.
In search of the lost flavor
Hoping to get a little more flavor, we tried the recipe from Jamie Oliver, an influential English chef known for his blend of Italian and Asian cuisine. Jamie stays fairly faithful to the original recipe, adding garlic to flavor the oil and using only the yolk instead of the whole egg.
However, Jamie seems to share our opinion regarding Carluccio's proportions, and like a true Englishman, he multiplies the amount of bacon by 12. To no one's surprise, the result tastes more like steak than anything else. And not only that, using only egg yolk, the pasta quickly forms an impossible-to-comb paste.
How much cheese is too much cheese?
In an attempt to find a balance between these two recipes, we turned to the one Angela Nilsen submitted to the BBC. This recipe keeps the garlic, replaces the olive oil with butter, and introduces a second cheese, Pecorino Romano.
The proportions themselves are quite balanced, but it's lacking a bit of everything and tastes more like nothing. The use of both types of cheese isn't obvious, but the hint of garlic makes a pleasant appearance in the form of a reminiscent flavor on the palate.
The ultimate outrage
We didn't want to jump to conclusions without testing the most widespread vilification of carbonara pasta in our country: cream.
For this purpose, who else but Karlos Arguiñano could be the recipe's creator? Hoping to reminisce about the saturating experience of a children's menu at a beach restaurant, Arguiñano's recipe pleasantly surprised us. It's definitely heavier and less orthodox than any of the previous ones, but truth be told, it has a good balance of flavors and a remarkable texture. However, in the interest of reconciling ourselves with the Italians who may be reading these lines, we've decided to steer clear of cream for this recipe.
If you want to try Karlos Arguiñano's recipe too, here it is:
- 200 g of spaghetti
- 4 thick slices of bacon (100 g)
- 2 eggs
- 6 tablespoons of cream
- 2 large tablespoons of Parmesan cheese (30 g)
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- salt and pepper
Our final carbonara pasta recipe respects the traditional process, altering only the amounts of cheese and pancetta to achieve a more intense flavor while maintaining a light and creamy texture. This makes it a perfect recipe for the whole family: children, adults, and hungry teenagers in the midst of growing. The best news of all? Despite being loaded with cheese, it's lactose-free because it disappears during the long curing process of the Parmesan cheese. We recommend serving this pasta with a salad or a light appetizer as an appetizer, as it's a very hearty dish.
Servings 2
- Amount per serving
- % Daily Value *
- Trans Fats -13.7 g
- Fiber 0.1 g1 %
- Sugars 0.3 g
*Percent daily values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
