Main · Rome, Italy
Spaghetti carbonara
Roman pasta in a silky sauce of egg, cheese and crisp pork.
About the dish
Carbonara is a Roman pasta dish that appears in print only after the Second World War. Stories about its name, from charcoal makers to soldiers’ rations, are popular but unproven.
The Roman version uses guanciale, cured pork cheek, cut into strips and cooked until its fat renders and the edges crisp. Eggs or yolks are beaten with grated Pecorino Romano, often with some Parmigiano, and plenty of black pepper. The hot pasta is tossed with the pork and its fat, then taken off the heat before the egg mixture goes in with a splash of starchy pasta water. Tossed quickly, the eggs thicken into a glossy sauce; on a hot burner they scramble. There is no cream in the Roman dish.
The flavor is rich from the yolks and pork fat, salty from the cured meat and cheese, deeply savory from the aged Pecorino, with black pepper for bite. Pancetta or bacon are common stand-ins outside Italy; bacon brings a smoky note the original does not have.
Written from general cooking knowledge, as background on a dish from the game’s recipe book. It is not a tested recipe.
The flavors it leans on
Spaghetti carbonara in Night Kitchen
In the game, Spaghetti carbonara is a main in the recipe book. A plate is named Spaghetti carbonara when it holds these cards and is cooked with exactly this technique, with at most one extra ingredient.
Ingredients
- Noodles
- Eggs
- Bacon
- Parmesan
Technique
- Sear
How those cards taste
Cooked from just these cards for an average ticket, before tonight’s mood and quirks, it would please Gus (2 stars) most.
“Egg, cheese, cured pork and pasta. No cream. If I see cream I will write about the cream.”
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