"Michel Boucher" > wrote in message
...
> Ok, I cooked the noodles, fried the pancetta, then drained the noodles
> and quickly mixed the pancetta in, then added the egg/cheese (peccorino
> romano) to the noodles, but it did not take. It remained somewhat
> liquid. I have made carbonara before and successfully, but it was only
> in single portions for myself. This time I was trying to make enough
> for three.
>
> I am thinking a number of things might be wrong he
>
> 1. Not enough cheese (but putting more just makes the dish saltier)
>
> 2. The noodles were cooler than they should be
>
> 3. Making more than one portion at a time is not a good idea
>

You need two things to make this work. First, the pasta has to come
straight from the boiling water. Second, it must contain a little of the
starchy water as well so you do not want to over-drain. The eggs should be
room temperature when you add them to the hot pasta. This way the pasta
will just cook the eggs and the starch will help bind everything a bit and
make a smoother dish. Toss well to keep the sauce from turning into
scrambled eggs.

Now here is something to remember. In classic Italian cooking, pasta is
made fresh. It is rolled out with a fair amount of flour and then dried for
a half hour or so. This means you get a lot of flour into the boiling
water. When I make pasta the boiling water is quite opaque. You get none
of that with dried pasta. The starch I have found is a key ingredient here.
I've tried tossing a few pinches of flour into the pasta water and it does
seem to make a difference when I make an Alfredo for example.

Worth a shot.

Paul