The "King of Carbonara" shares his pasta recipe
April 25, 2024 8:17 PM Subscribe
drooooooollllllllllllll
can you imagine having that restaurant in your neighbourhood.
relatedly - a nice video about guanciale
posted by awfurby at 11:00 PM on April 25
can you imagine having that restaurant in your neighbourhood.
relatedly - a nice video about guanciale
posted by awfurby at 11:00 PM on April 25
Great video. Because I am cheap/poor, I just use plain jane bacon and Kraft parmesan, but someday would like to splurge on the real deal.
Best part: "So we will put in very little salt," as he is adding in three fistfuls of salt.
posted by zardoz at 12:37 AM on April 26 [7 favorites]
Best part: "So we will put in very little salt," as he is adding in three fistfuls of salt.
posted by zardoz at 12:37 AM on April 26 [7 favorites]
Here's a playlist for his appearances on the Italia Squisita channel (It's in Italian, but there are subs).
posted by juv3nal at 12:41 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
posted by juv3nal at 12:41 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
Apart from the "obtain guanciale" this looks... very easy?
That "stir the pasta into the sauce in a bain-marie" step is totally new to me but definitely seems like really good idea.
posted by mhoye at 4:57 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
That "stir the pasta into the sauce in a bain-marie" step is totally new to me but definitely seems like really good idea.
posted by mhoye at 4:57 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
Apart from the "obtain guanciale" this looks... very easy?
Yep! Carbonara is one of my go-to comfort-food options, and is one of the reasons I make certain that there is always bacon in my house. I also opt for bacon instead of guanciale because of price, but I usually opt for "thick-cut" bacon because most of the time I'm using it for this or for French lardons and that's easier to fake it with the thick-cut bacon.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:35 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
Yep! Carbonara is one of my go-to comfort-food options, and is one of the reasons I make certain that there is always bacon in my house. I also opt for bacon instead of guanciale because of price, but I usually opt for "thick-cut" bacon because most of the time I'm using it for this or for French lardons and that's easier to fake it with the thick-cut bacon.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:35 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
Remember: there is Italian restaurant cooking, and Italian home cooking. The Italia Squisita channel offers several videos illustrating this for classic roman pasta dishes. Spaghetti aglio e olio. Carbonara: original vs. gourmet. Pasta all'arrabbiata. Potato Gnocci.
posted by zaelic at 5:40 AM on April 26 [4 favorites]
posted by zaelic at 5:40 AM on April 26 [4 favorites]
"So we will put in very little salt," as he is adding in three fistfuls of salt.
There's a lot of water in there, though. If you're not salting your pasta water at least that much you may as well not bother.
And man, carbonara is one of my favorite things and now I want to make it. Although I'll probably skip the grana and use pure pecorino because that's how I roll.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:09 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
There's a lot of water in there, though. If you're not salting your pasta water at least that much you may as well not bother.
And man, carbonara is one of my favorite things and now I want to make it. Although I'll probably skip the grana and use pure pecorino because that's how I roll.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:09 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
I would eat that. Oh yes I would.
Went to some place in Rome about 8 years ago, famous for its carbonara. Wasn't this place. Where we went, the atmosphere wasn't great, but the food was outstanding. I'd say it looked very similar to this, minus the fancy plate.
Great video. I love cooking videos where it's the chef doing their thing, simple production, showing the actual preparation. I loved that he was about to plate the pasta, then had a second thought, and brought it back to the boiling water to add just a tiny bit more and let it cook another 20 seconds. This guy is no Food Channel type.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:39 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
Went to some place in Rome about 8 years ago, famous for its carbonara. Wasn't this place. Where we went, the atmosphere wasn't great, but the food was outstanding. I'd say it looked very similar to this, minus the fancy plate.
Great video. I love cooking videos where it's the chef doing their thing, simple production, showing the actual preparation. I loved that he was about to plate the pasta, then had a second thought, and brought it back to the boiling water to add just a tiny bit more and let it cook another 20 seconds. This guy is no Food Channel type.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:39 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
I met a friend at a place he'd borrowed in Trieste a couple of years ago which turned out to be far from any services, and it was getting late. But I pulled a wedge of pecorino out that I'd bought outside of Florence, and he pulled out some guanciale and eggs, and some dry pasta was found in the back of a cupboard and guess what I whipped up for dinner? That was literally about all we had at our disposal, but it was I think the only time I've ever made this dish fully with the proscribed ingredients instead of substitutes.
posted by St. Oops at 8:27 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
posted by St. Oops at 8:27 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
Did he cook the pasta in old pasta water? Or just put hot, non-starchy water in the sauce?
posted by Happy Monkey at 8:37 AM on April 26
posted by Happy Monkey at 8:37 AM on April 26
Did he cook the pasta in old pasta water? Or just put hot, non-starchy water in the sauce?
As I understand it, that big vat of water goes all day while many servings of pasta are cooked in it, getting starchier and starchier as the day goes on. So unless this was shot early in the day before service started, it was probably already starchy.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:03 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
As I understand it, that big vat of water goes all day while many servings of pasta are cooked in it, getting starchier and starchier as the day goes on. So unless this was shot early in the day before service started, it was probably already starchy.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:03 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]
Obligatory Calvin Trillin reference(ungated NYT). If you have not read Calvin Trillin, he is a delightful writer on a number of subjects, with his food writing the best known. In 1981, he suggested in The New Yorker that Americans gather around the Thanksgiving table for an unlikely substitute: pasta carbonara. He imagined that it was served at the first Thanksgiving, confounding both the Indians and the Pilgrims, who declared it “heretically tasty” and “the work of the devil.”
I have used pancetta, which is fairly available, and it's tasty, if unorthodox.
posted by theora55 at 10:16 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
I have used pancetta, which is fairly available, and it's tasty, if unorthodox.
posted by theora55 at 10:16 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
I am very passionate about this dish. I would say pancetta is preferable to reg bacon, until you are ready for the guanciale splurge (very worth it!) mmmm Italy.
posted by supermedusa at 10:58 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 10:58 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
I have used pancetta, which is fairly available, and it's tasty, if unorthodox.
I think of pancetta as the most typical cured-pork-product for a carbonara. Bacon is an OK fallback but not as good, and guanciale is honestly pretty hard to get if you don't have an upscale grocery with a good selection of cured meats. Pancetta is really what I think of as the happy medium for an everyday* carbonara; bacon is what I use if I really want carbonara but am out of pancetta, and guanciale is only really a special-occasion thing.
* Not literally everyday, but probably more because it would kill me than because I would get sick of it.
posted by jackbishop at 11:37 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
I think of pancetta as the most typical cured-pork-product for a carbonara. Bacon is an OK fallback but not as good, and guanciale is honestly pretty hard to get if you don't have an upscale grocery with a good selection of cured meats. Pancetta is really what I think of as the happy medium for an everyday* carbonara; bacon is what I use if I really want carbonara but am out of pancetta, and guanciale is only really a special-occasion thing.
* Not literally everyday, but probably more because it would kill me than because I would get sick of it.
posted by jackbishop at 11:37 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]
Carbonara-ed udon noodles can add a bit of variety. Add in tobicco and ikura instead of guanciale/ bacon.
posted by porpoise at 1:12 PM on April 26
posted by porpoise at 1:12 PM on April 26
I just had to drop my kid off at a birthday party which just happened to be next door to an Italian market, so I picked up a nice hunk of guanciale. It’s Italian kismet!
posted by uncleozzy at 3:08 PM on April 26 [1 favorite]
posted by uncleozzy at 3:08 PM on April 26 [1 favorite]
I make Pasta Alla Gricia which is a bit simpler but no less delicious.
posted by pmaxwell at 6:28 AM on April 28 [1 favorite]
posted by pmaxwell at 6:28 AM on April 28 [1 favorite]
I made the carbonara tonight folks. It was fantastic.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:32 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]
posted by uncleozzy at 5:32 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]
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