Pasta alla Carbonara

Sticky version: less wine.  Spaghettini; thin-cut bacon.

I'm kind of addicted to making pasta alla carbonara.  It's possibly the sexiest dish I can make right now.  While I'm not entirely certain why this dish is named for coalminers, I do have a romanticised, homely image of a coal-covered miner sitting down to dish of creamy white sauce on pasta, and flecks of coal falling into the dish--simulated by freshly ground black pepper.

The sauce is impossibly creamy--and contains absolutely NO CREAM WHATSOEVER.  It is thick and luscious and sticks to your teeth and lips--well, that's how I like to make it anyway.

It's such a simple recipe and technique to memorise and master.  I measure very little now that I've made it umpteen times in the past two months, but I've been meaning to write down a pseudo recipe for a while now.

The only thing that I wish I could measure is spaghetti.  I'll probably get a length of string with knots to indicate the circumference of a handful of spaghetti enough for one, two and four diners.

There are a few important points to make about ingredients for this dish.

Eggs.  Without cream or milk, where does the sauce get its creamy consistency?  Eggs!  The sauce is something like an extremely loose custard, or better yet, the way the runny yolks in sunny side up eggs spread all over your toast.

I've made this dish with crappy several-week-old eggs; I've made them with supermarket-fresh eggs (not really "fresh", I know).  I've made them once with Omega-3 eggs*.  There was a discernible difference.  The expensive Omega-3 eggs tasted the "eggiest", but the "fresh" eggs tasted...."clean".  I'm not sure how to describe it without using the word "fresh"--because I know they're not really "fresh" and to say they taste as if they were implies I know how "fresh eggs" taste.  Their taste makes me think of freshness.  It tasted more "clean", as if there were fewer non-egg flavours in the eggs, or those flavours were "brighter".

I really don't know how to better describe it.  The take-home point is: you can make this dish with crappy eggs and it will still be great.  But if you're making this to impress someone (even yourself), you should get fresher eggs--because fresher eggs will take it from great to AWESOME.

* I had a nutritionist friend who told me how Omega-3 eggs are made: the chickens are fed flaxseed.  From what I've seen, Omega-3 eggs cost about three times as much as the economy-priced eggs.  They taste pretty great, and if you like deep yellow yolks for your pan-fried eggs, then go nuts.  But for most other applications, I honestly think Omega-3 eggs are a waste of money.  If you want Omega-3 in your diet, eat some flax seed, or better yet, buy a bottle of flax oil and add that to your foods!  My brother likes it in smoothies for a more luxurious mouthfeel.



Black pepper.  Just grind it fresh.  Pre-ground pepper can't compete with freshly ground.  Even dollar stores sell plastic pepper grinders now, and even that is better than pre-ground.




White wine.  I suppose this is replaceable by, say, chicken stock, in a pinch.  I've made this dish using a (cheap) dry and citrusy white wine (leftovers from another dish), and I've made it using VSOP cognac.  Both turned out not very good, and I couldn't figure out why.  The dish came out with this unforgiving bitterness--which is tolerable, but even I found it unpalatable, and I like bitter coffee, bitter chocolate and the bitterness of some vegetables!

I asked an employee at the liquor commission for the least bitter white wine they had, and was directed to an unoaked Chardonnay (Banrock unwooded Chardonnay for about $15 or less).  It goes wonderfully in this dish.  So that is my non-expert opinion on which wine you should use.  If I were to guess, I'd say that the bitterness comes from the wood--so avoid oaked wine.

The wine is hypothetically optional.  If you want a sticky, tacky sauce, omit or decrease the wine (or chicken broth, or any other liquids).  You'll get a dish that's like pasta tossed in runny egg yolks--still sexy, but in a sticky and messy way.  You also won't have to cook the sauce at all: the residual heat from the pasta will set it fine.  If you do use liquids, you'll have to cook the sauce a bit for it to set--unless you really, really, really like raw eggs.  In the photo above, I only used a splash of cognac.  In the photo below, I used a shotglass of Banrock unwooded chard.


Bacon.  This dish isn't all about the bacon, but it certainly plays an important part!  Get a bacon that's strongly flavoured (smokey) but not necessarily salty.  Thick cut bacon isn't necessarily better--actually thin bacon crisps up better.  It depends on the texture you want.  I like my thick cut bacon bits to be crispy or crunchy, and not at all chewy.  If you like chewy, then don't cook it as long.

I like to make 4-5 rashers of bacon at a time, because it takes so long.

Here's how I make bacon bits:  Start your bacon in a cold pan on medium-low heat.  I like to cut the rashers in half so they fit in the pan better.  Your first objective is to melt away a lot of that bacon fat.  Once the fatty areas start "popping" (they make a pop sound, then turn an opaque off-white), you can increase the heat to medium and fry until lightly browned.  Be sure to move the pieces around so that pieces in the centre don't finish cooking before pieces at the edges.  Flip once and continue until that side is lightly browned.  Remove bacon slices.  Cut into 1cm pieces, and return to frying pan.  Fry until crispy.  Then remove bacon bits, and reserve bacon fat for other uses.

I like to pour slightly cooled bacon fat into an ice cube tray for freezing.  When frozen, I remove the blocks to a zip-top freezer bag so I have about 1-2 Tbsp portions of bacon fat for use at any time!


Pasta.  Spaghetti is the standard.  But I think spaghettini, which is thinner than spaghetti, is better suited for such a thick, heavy sauce.  In the picture below, I used spaghetti, and it looks kind of clumsy to me.  In the photo above, I used spaghettini.

This dish is best made with pasta that is just past al dente, but not floppy (Alton Brown calls it "done").  If you're making sticky pasta, boil your pasta to this level.  Otherwise, cook it to al dente or even a little less, because you'll be cooking the sauce, with the pasta in it.


Parmesan.  Just DO NOT use the powdery stuff.  It doesn't taste like parmesan, and it doesn't melt properly.  I've been known to buy pre-shredded (or pre-shaved) parmesan for convenience.  It costs only slightly more than the powder, and it's extremely convenient!


Tips for making this on the fly:

• Freeze portions of minced garlic in an ice cube tray
• Make a batch of bacon bits and keep them in the fridge
• Keep shredded or shaved parmesan in the fridge
• Use a 1.5 oz shotglass to measure the white wine
• If your shotglass has a 1oz line, you can use it to measure the parmesan (or just eyeball 1oz)

Creamy version: using 1.5oz wine.  Spaghetti; thick-cut bacon.

Spaghettini Alla Carbonara

Makes 1 Charlie-sized serving, which makes a hefty lunch or moderate dinner
Time:  I can make this in about 15 minutes using the tips above


Software:

• enough spaghettini for one person
• you can use a different pasta such as spaghetti, but I prefer spaghettini
• water and a pinch of salt for boiling the pasta

• approx 1 Tbsp cooked bacon, crumbled
• approx 1 tsp bacon fat, for frying
• 2-4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• approx 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
• 2 eggs 
• approx 2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese 
• 1.5 oz (shotglass) unwooded Chardonnay white wine
• if you want sticky pasta, omit or reduce the white wine
• freshly ground black pepper, medium grind (I use about 10 turns of my pepper mill)
• 1 tsp dried parsley (I just take a fat pinch from the jar)

Hardware:

• pot or saucepan for making pasta
• colander or strainer for pasta
• large saucepan for frying bacon and tossing sauce with pasta
• spatula
• chopsticks, or other implement for stirring spaghetti with a heavy sauce
• small bowl
• whisk or fork

Cook the pasta until a little stiffer than al dente.  If you're making sticky pasta, cook until done, this will be the final texture of the pasta.  Strain and set aside.

Melt bacon fat (or butter or other cooking fat) in large saucepan.  Add minced garlic and a small pinch of salt.  Fry until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, beat eggs with half the wine (if using); and all the cheese, black pepper, parsley and salt.

When garlic is done, remove pot from heat and deglaze with the remaining white wine.  Scrape the bottom of the pan using the spatula.  Then add the strained pasta and toss until coated and the liquid is mostly used up.

For sticky:  Add the egg mixture, turn off heat, and mix with chopsticks to coat.  Otherwise:

Turn up heat to medium or medium-high and add the egg mixture, stirring with chopsticks.  Stir constantly!!  I like using chopsticks because I can move the pasta around in different ways, not just push it in a circle.  The sauce is done whenever you think it's done.  It will of course get thicker the longer you cook it--but be careful!  If you don't stir it enough, or you cook it on too high of heat, you will get nasty chunks of scrambled eggs!  (This usually takes me 5-8 minutes on medium heat.)

Taste and adjust seasoning.  I find I usually need a little more salt.

Just before serving, mix in the bacon bits.  Or if they're still hot, you can just sprinkle them on top.

Serve immediately!

You may want to have a crisp and refreshing drink to wash this down.  I actually like a half-glass of apple juice, it acts like a palate-cleanser

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