From the Kitchen : Authentic Pasta alla Carbonara

OK, I have to admit I was a bit out my element when dealing with this. Especially, when I do not cook a lot of Italian myself. I can make some basic sauces and pasta dishes, but this one takes the cake.

But after several trial and errors, and also a near escape from food poisoning, I present to you an authentic carbonara recipe that you can impress your Italian friends if you have any.


Pasta alla Carbonara:

Sauce:
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
50 gm Parmesan-Reggiano
lots of panchetta
lots of black pepper

Pasta of your choice. (I used spirals)

Steps:

The beginning of all things

1. Boil your pasta first. Seriously do this first because you would need to use the pasta water as an ingredient in your sauce. Plus it saves time. This is not a "pro tip", but an essential step.

Simple, but substantial. 

2. Prepare your egg sauce by combining all sauce components and place them on a bain-marie (aka heated bath). While the heat is starting to seep into your bowl of the bain-marie, whisk vigorously as the egg and cheese mixture starts to combine. The indirect heat will cook the eggs without curdling it.

So fast that my camera cannot catch it. 

3. Mid way through whisking, add in a ladle of hot pasta water. You must be very quick here as the heat from the water will cook the eggs and may lead to lumps of scrambled egg. You know it becomes well incorporated when the sauce has a velvety thick consistency. Once that is done, remove it from the heat.

There she goes!

4. Fry your panchetta using a separate pan on medium heat. Fry your pasta with the panchetta once the fat slowly renders out. Add in your eggy and cheesy combo into the pan and mix well. Again, do this fast to prevent scrambling of the eggs. Once everything is incorporated, add in a final dash of parmesan cheese before serving.

What a stunner!

Pro-tips:

• For some people, it may come as a shocker in using hot pasta water for carbonara. However, this is a technique to not only add volume, but also to cook the eggs more thoroughly without curdling them up. A past attempt without the hot water almost sent me to the doctor. Trust me on this one. 
• If you want to go the extra mile for authenticity, you can replace half of the parmesan with pecorino. But it is very hard to find. And if you really want to go all Roman, then replace the panchetta with guanciale. 
• Normal streaky bacon is a good substitute if you cannot find panchetta or guanciale, and much cheaper too. But you will not get the authentic experience. 

As you can see, this recipe is relatively basic, but it is not easy. Speed and technique is key. But once you get this down, you will never look at a jar of cheese sauce the same way again.