notbob > wrote:
>OTOH, I did see an intriguing variation on food tv that would favor
>milder pancetta over the more pronounced bacon. Some famous Italian
>restaurant showing their renown version of a classic carbonara. After
>frying the pancetta in olive oil, a little white wine was added and
>quickly reduced. This oil/meat/wine reduction was then added to the
>egg mixture and poured over the hot pasta. Add parmesan and pasta
>water as required. No butter or cream, thank you. Looks like it
>would add a subtle flavor dimension without truly corrupting the
>classic recipe. I'll try it next time.

The oil adds the fat that the cream would have added. Butter
might be another variation.

Looking on foodtv.com, there are some with oil, some
with cream, and then there's Mario Battali's, which uses
a quarter-cup of pasta water, which is so much that it
thins rather than thickens.

--Blair
"But we know about Mario and watery sauces."

zorro > wrote:
>with a whole lot of coarsely ground black pepper. And one of the tour
>guides explaining that the black pepper was the reason it was "CARBONara" -
>it looked like what the coal-miners dug up.
>
>Unless it's a dish the coal-miners ate.
>
>In that case, nevermind.

The etymology is buried in history (unless someone digs
up authoritative scholarship on it).

It could "look like" it has coal in it, it could refer to
pasta made in the style of the coal miner, or the charcoal
maker (who burns wood anaerobically (under the ground)
to make charcoal fuel, which burns aerobically at a higher
temperature than wood would), or one of their wives ("alla
Carbonara," a term similar to "a la muniere", French for
"in the manner of the miller's wife"). It may predate
World War 2, or it may have been invented and/or named
only during or after World War 2 (when necessity would
have mothered invention).

It may originally have contained olive oil, cream, butter,
or water; it may have been made with bacon, pancetta,
ham, or guanciale; and it may have been served with the
egg yolks mixed in the sauce or having been reserved to
be placed whole on top of the dish.

All I know for sure is, I nailed it today, and it was
great.

Here's the rundown:


PASTA CARBONARA (with thanks to Giada de Laurentiis)
(serves 4)

6 eggs
1/2 cup cream
4 oz finely grated hard cheese
16 oz dry pasta (penne or large noodles like
fettucine or full-sized spaghetti)
16 oz pancetta or thick bacon, chopped into chunks
4 tbs fresh italian parsley leaves, washed and chopped
salt
pepper

Fry meat in large pan to desired doneness. Season with
pepper.

Cook pasta.

Beat eggs and cream; mix in cheese and parsley; add
pepper.

Drain pasta but don't rinse (save a few tbs of the pasta
water). Put pasta in pan with meat and mix over low
heat to coat pasta with hot oil.

Add sauce. Mix constantly and allow heat to thicken
sauce. (A tablespoon or two of the pasta water may help
because of the starch in it).

Pour into serving bowl.

Garnish with parsley and parmesan.


Troubleshooting:

If the eggs scramble, the heat was too high.
If the dish is bitter, perhaps you used too much pepper or parsley.
If the sauce won't thicken, you used too much cream or pasta water
or the heat was too low.


Options:

1. Add a chopped onion to the meat after a couple of
minutes of frying. When the onion is translucent, add
1/4 cup white wine and reduce the wine by half.

2. Add mushrooms, or replace bacon with browned mushrooms
and oil (this would make it vegetarian, too).

3. If you make this for one person, you have to divide
everything by 4, so beat two eggs and then pour out 1/4
of that to leave 1.5 eggs before adding anything else.

4. Use other herbs and seasonings.

5. Use a few tbs of oil instead of cream; or use extra
bacon fat. (Instead of putting it in the sauce first,
fry the bacon in the oil and leave it in the pan). (N.B.
there's nothing in cream that isn't in cheese and pasta
water, so there's no reason to think cream doesn't belong.)

6. Use extra pasta water instead of oil or cream (a
quarter cup instead of a few tbs when adding the pasta
to the bacon; this is Mario Battali's version, so you
can expect it to come out watery).

7. Mixed cheeses (Parmesan and pecorino, for example).

8. Leave out the eggs, cream, and bacon, and add
butter (oh wait...that's Pasta Alfredo...)

--Blair
"Alfredo, adj. in the manner of the
brother who got whacked for going
against the family."

notbob wrote:
>
> I've made carbonara with average American bacon and with pricey
> imported pancetta. I prefer bacon, finding pancetta rather boring.
> It's all subjective, folks. Use what you like.

A few people here have said they do not like pancetta (or find it boring)
and I am wondering if you are all using the cooking pancetta we use here in
Italy or the rolled one that is used for sandwiches? The rolled one is
wonderful raw but cooked it looses its wonderful flavor (IMO) but the one
that looks like a slab of bacon covered in black pepper is out of this world
cooked and what should be used for carbonara, amatriciana, etc. If you can
find the good stuff, please try it.

Oh and your recipe was good notbob although I toss the pasta with the cooked
pancetta and stir over low heat for a minute and then I add the pasta to a
bowl that contains the egg and parmigiana beaten together. After adding the
pasta you have to really mix it well (do this as fast as you can). Add a
little of the pasta water, mix again and serve!

Gnam gnam
Cristina

Blair P. Houghton wrote:
>
> PASTA CARBONARA (with thanks to Giada de Laurentiis)
> (serves 4)
>
Honestly, I have never seen it made with cream here in Italy unless it was
by someone who doesn't trust their cooking. Another thing is you never want
to add the eggs to the pan and cook it. The eggs will cook by being tossed
with the hot pasta and pancetta. Adding the pasta water also does not make
it watery either. This dish is all timining.

Cut pancetta into thin strips and fry in a few tbsp. of olive oil until
browned. In a large bowl, Beat together 1 egg yolk per person plus one
whole egg and a small handful of parmigiano per person. Cook the pasta.
When the pasta is done strain it (do not throw away the water) and add it
(still a little wet) to the pan with the pancetta. Toss until well coated
and the excess water has been absorbed. Now, moving quickly, add the pasta
to the bowl with the egg/cheese mixture and toss quickly to coat evently and
cook the eggs. Add a bit of the pasta cooking water (for 2 people figure
about 1/8 to 1/4 cup) and toss some more. Serve with fresh cracked pepper.

Cristina

"cristina" <siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE > wrote in message >...
> Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> >
> > PASTA CARBONARA (with thanks to Giada de Laurentiis)
> > (serves 4)
> >
> Honestly, I have never seen it made with cream here in Italy unless it was
> by someone who doesn't trust their cooking.

I've come to appreciate that, "I've never seen it done here," is
nowhere near the same as, "It isn't done here." Especially with
Itallian cooking in America.
Something that may have been an arcane or outmoded local variant in
Italy becomes cannonized and nationalized here.

Also, whether or not it's authentic has no bearing on that it's yummy.

> Another thing is you never want
> to add the eggs to the pan and cook it.

You probably don't have the salmonella risks/fears with your eggs that
we do. Blair and I have both managed to add the eggs to the pan
without scrambling. As you say, it's all in the timing. Of course,
you can turn the heat off before adding the eggs. This helps.

Greg Zywicki

Greg Zywicki > wrote:
>"cristina" <siena_us(REMOVE BEFORE > wrote in message
>...
>> Blair P. Houghton wrote:
>> >
>> > PASTA CARBONARA (with thanks to Giada de Laurentiis)
>> > (serves 4)
>> >
>> Honestly, I have never seen it made with cream here in Italy unless it was
>> by someone who doesn't trust their cooking.
>
>I've come to appreciate that, "I've never seen it done here," is
>nowhere near the same as, "It isn't done here." Especially with
>Itallian cooking in America.

We've had plenty of threads revealing that it's no more
true for Italian cooking in Italy, where apparently
simple cuisines vary from house to house. Which is
understandable. Didn't everyone's best friend's mom make
something radically different how their own mom made it,
and vice versa? (And didn't your best friend think each
was the other way around?)

>Something that may have been an arcane or outmoded local variant in
>Italy becomes cannonized and nationalized here.
>
>Also, whether or not it's authentic has no bearing on that it's yummy.

Trust me, the carbonara I made was the latter, diggety.

>> Another thing is you never want
>> to add the eggs to the pan and cook it.
>
>You probably don't have the salmonella risks/fears with your eggs that
>we do. Blair and I have both managed to add the eggs to the pan
>without scrambling. As you say, it's all in the timing. Of course,
>you can turn the heat off before adding the eggs. This helps.

I tried it twice without heating, and it failed to
coagulate at all. The bacon and pasta didn't retain
enough heat.

BTW, I should add to my variants the one cristina posted, where
you use 1 whole egg per prep plus one yolk per serving; Mario
Battali's simply put the whites in the sauce and garnished
with the whole yolks (requires very fresh eggs as the yolk
membrane gets thinner with age).

--Blair
"Caveat in-sink-erator."