Spaghetti Carbonara

This is the real deal. And it was my last fresh cooked meal for the next couple of days. I am having a carpal tunnel operation on my left hand. 

This dish has no cream or panchetta in it. A mixture of Pecorino romano and Parmesan and lots of black pepper went in with the eggs. I bought a chunk of Guanciale. That is the cured and peppery cheek from a pig.

I wanted to prepare it in the Roman way. It took some checking of different cooking videos. 

Spaghettinos with a rougher surface area are better to combine with the sauce. But they have a longer cooking time then regular spaghetti. The cooking water needs a lot of salt. 

1-10-100  = one litre water, 10 g salt, 100 g pasta.

I cooked the spaghetti and cut the Guanciale in 2 cm cubes. The cubes went in a cold pan and went up to high heat. The grease that comes out is poured in a small bowl. 1 tsp of it goes in the egg/cheese mix.

The 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk get mixed in with the 2 cheeses. The grease makes it even richer. Ground a good amount of  black pepper in the mix.

To loosen it a bit, I kept the bowl over the boiling pasta water and stirred it constantly. Do not cook the eggs. That makes it easier to emulsify the sauce later.

Take your tongs and get the al dente spaghettino in the pan with the guanciale. Stir well. Take the pan off the heat an stir in the egg/cheese/pepper mix. Add more cooking water to the pan as you stir.

Take a soup ladle and turn some pasta with tongs in it and set it on a warmed  serving plate, place sauce and guanciale on top. Finish with a bit more Pecorino romano.