Hey folks,
About a year ago,
a group of real-deal Italian chefs
savagely critiqued some of the biggest
Carbonara videos on the Internet.
And as you may remember,
my entry was not very well received.
Since then I've dreamt of
nothing but Redemption.
So today we're gonna take a crack at
two different versions of Carbonara,
a real-deal old-school Italian version,
and a more modern less traditional
version that's sure to piss em' off!
Let's get down to basics.
[Intro Music]
All right. So before we can make Carbonara, we've got to make "Carbonara"
which by definition, is made with
"Guanciale", a type of cured pork jowl.
It is very delicious but a little hard to find.
So if you can't find it, you can sub
with Pancetta if you're in a pinch.
I've got maybe a half-pound here that
I'm gonna cut into relatively sizable chunks
and then set aside to make one of the essential
elements of any Carbonara dish: The Egg Slurry.
Into a medium bowl or measuring cup goes 3 large eggs,
and 1 egg yolk for a little added richness.
And then it's time to finely grate and
measure out 4 ounces of cheese.
Truly traditional "Carbonara" uses
100% Pecorino Romano Cheese,
but is commonly balanced out
with Parmigiano-Reggiano.
If you want it a little less sharp and
a little more nutty, I'm going for a 50/50 ratio.
Into which I'm going to dump our beaten eggs.
We're then going to beat this whole affair
together with a fork until homogenous.
The only other thing you're gonna want to add is
a whole lot of freshly ground black pepper.
We're not adding any salt yet
because "Guanciale" can vary in saltiness,
and we don't want to oversalt our dish.
Beat that together until well incorporated and
then it's time to head over to the Stovetop,
where we are introducing the "Guanciale" to a cold pan.
We're then gonna turn the heat to medium.
This is gonna cook the "Guanciale" more slowly
and allow more of its fat to render out
which in traditional "Carbonara" is a good thing.
Once it is fully cooked but not too crispy,
we're gonna kill the heat
and put our pasta in the hot tub.
The water is "Salato come il mare",
or as salty as the sea.
And we gotta keep it moving to
prevent it from sticking together.
And then a cool trick to determine pasta's doneness
is to take out a strand and eat it to see if it's done.
Don't throw it against the wall, you friggin' weirdo.
As you can see, our pork jowl has
almost entirely stopped bubbling.
That's exactly where we want it to be.
And as soon as the pasta is done,
we're dumping it directly into
the saute pan with the "Guanciale".
Once all the pasta is being added
we're gonna toss it around in the pan,
ensuring that it is evenly
covered in all that "Guanciale" fat.
And you wanna work quickly here.
Because the only thing that's going to
cook our egg slurry and make it smooth and creamy
is the residual heat from the Pasta.
So waste no time getting the egg and cheese
mixture in there and then agitate rigorously!
This is going to help emulsify the sauce
and keep it creamy and prevent it from curdling.
If you find that it's not as smooth as you'd like,
you can add a little bit of pasta water, like a 1/4 cup.
But ideally, it should look just like this.
Now we're gonna taste for seasoning,
(Mine needs a little bit of salt).
Then you can optionally toss the pasta.
This is gonna help aerate it a little bit,
get that sauce super creamy!
And then, finally it's time to plate up!!
I like to use a carving fork to twirl the
pasta into a giant cylinder like this one
for presentation on a long narrow plate.
We are then of course going to
want to top this Hedonistic Helix
with the remaining "Guanciale"
from the bottom of the pan
along with any remnants of that creamy sauce!
And there you have it folks!
I'm going to say it one last time:
"Carbonara",
in its purest most authentic and traditional form.
Unless of course I got something
wrong, in which case I'm in trouble.
But at this point I'm gonna ask all Italians to leave
the room, because it's time to make carbonara.
This starts very much the same way
with Parmesan and Romano cheese
grated into a bowl along with
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk,
beaten together with a few healthy
twists of freshly ground black pepper.
Now when most Americans make
Carbonara, they reach for the bacon.
If you can't find "Guanciale" or "Pancetta"
and you got to use bacon,
just go for the thick-cut stuff.
And likewise we're gonna slice about
1/2 a pound of it into big ol' chunks.
Then likewise, we're gonna start
these guys off in a cold pan,
because we want to render out as much fat
as possible, but not for the same reason.
You'll also notice that I'm using a nonstick pan.
And that's because in the stainless, bacon can leave
a lot of fond on the bottom of the pot.
Which for once we don't want, as it might
make our final pasta look kind of dirty.
Once the bacon is fully cooked and the fat
rendered out, we are going to strain it.
Because this version of Carbonara
is going to have a much lighter sauce.
We're just going to strain off all but
about 2 tbsp worth of bacon fat,
which we're gonna leave in the pan.
And then we're gonna return it over medium-low heat to
add the most egregious ingredient of all: garlic.
This is considered sacrilege
in the world of "Carbonara",
but I think it tastes really
really good, and so will you.
We're just sautéing for 1 minute
until fragrant before killing the heat.
Next up, I see far too many people just
dump pasta out of the box in the water
which inevitably leads to disaster.
Give this a shot, where you dump
the pasta into the palm of your hand
and then pull it out using
your hand, like a real gentleman.
And as you can see, this time
I'm going with Bucatini.
Next up, just like last time we're adding
the pasta directly to the pan,
but this time we're gonna add about
1/3 of a cup of starchy pasta water
which is gonna help make a cohesive sauce.
Then we are adding the egg
and cheese mixture to the party.
And if you find yourself in a pickle like this where
your pan is too small to toss the pasta, no biggie!
Just dump it back into the emptied pasta pot.
Just make sure that you keep it moving
because there's a lot of residual heat in here
and we don't want to end up with
pasta and scrambled eggs.
So just wildly agitate that around
and then it's time to taste for seasoning!
Add salt and pepper as necessary
and assess your sauce's thickness.
If it's not quite thick enough, you can rescue it
with a little bit of finely-grated Parmesan.
Just add maybe another 1/4 oz
or so and mix rigorously.
And now it's time to plate up!!
And one thing you'll notice about this Carbonara
is that the sauce is much lighter
because it has a lot less fat.
It also stays creamier longer and
won't congeal as quickly as "Carbonara".
And the Bucatini, while a little bit difficult to
get on one's fork, is dense and chewy and lovely.
Whichever version of Carbonara
you decide to make for yourself,
I hope this has shown you how easy it can be,
so long as you follow a few simple tricks!
Now go out there, get some pasta,
and start rolling your R's.
