you inspired me to make carbonara from scratch for the first time!! it turned out pretty ok, but i’d love to hear some expert tips n tricks so i can improve for next time!!!
(i know my plating needs work don’t worry about it)
YUM. Hard to tell from a photo but it looks like your eggs might have scrambled just a little? If so, happens to the best of us. Still tastes good but the texture isn’t quite as silky. Could be also that the sauce is a little thin and that will be addressed in the following tips too.
Not sure what method you used: there’s the double boiler one (putting a bowl over a pot of steaming water) and that’s often recommended online for a safer way of doing it but that has not been my experience!!! The only times I’ve scrambled my eggs is when I’ve done it this way.
I learned how to finish it in a pan because there’s no time for fucking around when some server stacked the tickets. Allegedly, this is the hardest way but I don’t think so. We would take our pan of sizzling guanciale off the heat, toss in the pasta, toss in a ladle of pasta water, then slowly drizzle the mixture in while tossing the pasta in the pan. I’m describing this mostly so we can all think about how cool I looked, but it worked great.
The safest way imo is as follows: whisk your eggs and pecorino (personally I think a mix of pecorino and parmigiano is tastiest but use whatever hard Italian cheese you fuckin want) and pepper together in a bowl that is big enough for all your pasta too. Cook your pasta in as little water as possible (this gives you the starchiest pasta water which makes any sauce thicker and silkier) and when your pasta is a few minutes away from being al dente, use a glass measuring cup with with a spout to scoop out some of that salty, starchy water. Drizzle it slowly into your egg and cheese mixture while whisking vigorously. This will temper your eggs. You can then toss in the guanciale or pancetta or regular American bacon because Italians aren’t the boss of you and any oil in the pan you cooked it in, then drain and add your pasta immediately and toss thoroughly. Alternatively you can transfer your pasta to the pan with the meat and oil, give that a quick mix, and then toss all of that together into your egg mixture. The pasta has to be pretty hot still when it goes in to finish the sauce.
If you want a contingency plan just in case your sauce is too thin at this stage, you can have a pot of water ready to go for the double boiler method, just be careful. Mix it over the pot for a few seconds at a time and remove and check the consistency. But I really don’t find myself with a thin sauce using this method.
Finally! Judging by the colour I think you used whole eggs, which is just not as good as using mostly yolks. Some recipes will tell you yolks only but I honestly find that too rich. If I’m making a pound of pasta I will use two whole and 5-6 yolks (depending on it I have extra large or large eggs).
Hope that helps!! 🧑🍳
