Comments on: Spaghetti malfunction

By: Boeciana

Boeciana — Mon, 23 May 2005 10:05:18 +0000

I’m not pretending it’s carbonara! But it is very nice.

By: sharon

sharon — Fri, 20 May 2005 22:09:05 +0000

Carbonara without eggs? I can make pasta with bacon in creamy sauce (actually creme fraiche usually rather than cream) and it’s great, but I’m not going to call it carbonara. The faffing with eggs is the point, for chrissakes.

By: Boeciana

Boeciana — Fri, 20 May 2005 10:56:52 +0000

Off the carbonara track, an Italian former house-mate of mine showed me a very easy and lovely recipe which doesn’t involve any faffing around with eggs.

Fry pancetta/bacon bits. Add single cream and peas. Put tagliatelle on to boil. Simmer cream, meat, peas for ten minutes while pasta boils, or longer if you think it needs it. Meanwhile season as wished (loads of black pepper, I think.) Drain pasta when done (obviously) and mix the whole lot together. Sounds dull but is actually fantastically nice. Apparently in Italy this is known as the three Ps, for Pancetta, Panna and, er, whatever the Italian for peas is. (You can use sour cream – it tastes nice – but it will curdle and look unappealing.)

Pax et bonum!

By: max

max — Thu, 19 May 2005 12:51:39 +0000

One theory widely accepted in Italy (where I come from) put the origin of the popularity of the spaghetti carbonara at the time of the Anglo-american occupation of Italy in 1944.
The very anglosaxon bacon and eggs, that the troups were fed, mixed with spaghetti and produced the dish.
So, it’s not unhortodox to use bacon instead of pancetta.

By: Ros

Ros — Thu, 19 May 2005 12:02:27 +0000

So, dinner at yours then….

By: max

max — Thu, 19 May 2005 11:55:46 +0000

Hi, I pride myself of being able to cook a perfect carbonara.
For years I had mixed cream and eggs, but that is not necessary.
That’s a thing to prevent the egg cooking too much.
But if you get the timing right you don’t need to add any cream and you’ll produce a much better carbonara.
So, here’s my recipy:
Put the spaghetti to cook in salted boiling water.
Mix one large egg per portion, salt, pepper and nutmeg and whip it thoroughly and have it near you when you drain the pasta.
Put some pancetta or bacon to fry in butter.
Drain the spaghetti when cooked.
Then, once drained count 5 very slowly and you pour it into the egg.
Add the bacon or pancetta on top and some greated parmisan.
Sprinkle with chopped flat parsley.
If the time you allowed the spaghetti to cool down is right, you’ll have the perfect carbonara, if you wait too long it’ll be too runny, if you don’t wait enough it’ll be dry.
It’s not easy, you might get it wrong few times before you get a dish that is just right.
This timing advise is valid for one serving.
If you are cooking for more people, you have to wait longer as more spaghetti take longer to cool down that bit.

By: Ros

Ros — Thu, 19 May 2005 11:05:31 +0000

Craving a carbonara – heading home to consult Nigella.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Thu, 19 May 2005 09:14:04 +0000

Agreed – well, fitter than Delia. Several people are, you’d be amazed.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 19 May 2005 08:21:59 +0000

Nigella’s also quite fit

By: sally

sally — Wed, 18 May 2005 20:35:06 +0000

Concur utterly with Adrian. Nigella’s your girl. Hers also has the calorifically serendipidous side effect of dispensing with the cream. Anyhow what’s the matter with raw egg? With what else might one garnish steak tartare or make a prairie oyster? Coward.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 18 May 2005 09:01:54 +0000

This may sound controversial, but I tend to use white sauce as a base for carbonara. That way you can get a reasonable gloopyness and add eggs, herbs and other good things accordingly. But that’s a bit of a cheat.

By: adrian

adrian — Wed, 18 May 2005 07:43:09 +0000

For me, the recipe that produces results closest to how I imagine Carbonara should taste is in Nigella Lawson’s “How to Eat” book. Lots of other good stuff in there, too.