Carbonara Toast Recipe & Video - Seonkyoung Longest (2024)

FAQs

What is the golden rule of cooking a carbonara? ›

The golden rule to silky carbonara is to whisk your egg whites so that they're completely incorporated with the egg yolks. This will create a smooth, velvety sauce. As like any pasta dish, including carbonara, cook the pasta perfectly al dente so that it's soft but still firm, with some bite.

Don't put garlic, cream, milk or butter. It is not needed. It is fine if you want to make a dish with those ingredients, but if you want to learn how to make this dish correctly, use only pecorino, eggs/egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale, and pasta water.

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale, or cured pork jowl, though pancetta is often substituted, and both are fatty, salty and deeply savoury.

I like to use a ratio of 1 whole egg to 3 egg yolks because it balances the richness. If you are looking to avoid using raw eggs, I would recommend making my Cacio e Pepe recipe – this is another one of the four classic Roman pastas but requires only three ingredients (cheese, pepper, and pasta).

Must-have ingredients

that there are only five ingredients: pasta, pork cheek, eggs, cheese and pepper. That's it. A real carbonara does not contain onion, garlic, or cream.

Add broccolini2 bunches broccolini, trimmed, cut into 4cm and asparagus1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, halved. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until starting to soften. Add sweet potato noodles250g packet fresh sweet potato noodles, zucchini noodles250g packet zucchini noodles and peas1 cup frozen baby peas.

Should carbonara have cream? Typically carbonara sauce is only made of eggs, bacon, parmesan, olive oil, seasoning, and sometimes, vegetables. As for cream, Italians will tell you that is a big no no.

What distinguishes carbonara from other pasta dishes is its technique of combining eggs, hard cheese, cured pork, and black pepper into a rich, silky sauce. This recipe calls for raw eggs that are gently cooked by the hot sauce. If you prefer, you can use pasteurized eggs instead.

Pecorino Romano: This aged sheep's cheese is always traditionally used in the Roman pastas, and its salty, grassy, earthy flavor is absolutely delicious in carbonara. That said, if Pecorino is unavailable at your local grocery store, you can use Parmesan as a non-traditional substitute.

Why does my carbonara taste sour? ›

Signs that carbonara sauce has gone bad include a sour or unpleasant odor, visible mold, a significant color change, separation or curdling, an unusual texture, and an off taste. If you notice any of these signs, it's best to discard the sauce to avoid the risk of consuming spoiled food.

Eggs is eggs

Whole eggs work well, but I'm going to add just the one extra yolk, just because this really isn't a dish you'd eat every day, and it does add a glorious eggy richness to it.

Equally important is that the fat that melts out of the guanciale is required to thicken the carbonara sauce to make it creamy. Basically, what happens is that when the fat from the guanciale and in the egg yolks is mixed with starchy pasta cooking water, it thickens.

Once you have crisped up the pancetta remove from the heat and allow the pan to cool. When you add the spaghetti return the pan to the heat util it starts to sizzle, at this point add your egg and parmesan mixture and continually stir.

The use of thermal processing is the most effective method for Salmonella inactivation in preparations containing eggs. Consequently, according to regulatory agencies, it is generally mandatory that these preparations must be completely cooked to a temperature of at least 70 °C.

Should carbonara have cream? Typically carbonara sauce is only made of eggs, bacon, parmesan, olive oil, seasoning, and sometimes, vegetables. As for cream, Italians will tell you that is a big no no.