Carbonarapasta, guanciale, and the egg
Spaghetti, guanciale fried to a crisp-edged gold, and an egg-and-pecorino crumble that folds into the pasta on the starchy water, off the heat — a sauce built in the last minute of the cook, not made in advance. The whole dish is the mantecatura, and the egg's window to a coat instead of a scramble is the move the whole page is about.
Technique notes
The guanciale is a frying job: a 2–3 cm strip, on a medium pan, until the fat comes off the pan and the meat holds a crisp-edged gold — the fat going in and the crisp staying out, the pan-heat at its low end, never on the high, because guanciale on the high end is guanciale at char before the fat has come off. The egg-and-pecorino crumble is a sauces-101 balance — the pecorino doing the salt and the depth, the pecorino doing the coat, the egg doing the binder that keeps the two of them on the pasta. And the whole dish is one move: the mantecatura, the starchy water, the egg, the heat, the pasta, at once in the pan, off the peak of the heat.
Equipment
- A pan with the guanciale's fat and the egg's window — no lid needed, the fat does the lid's part
- A small bowl, for the egg and the pecorino crumble
- A small jug, to hold the starchy water pulled from the pasta pot
Ingredients
- 350 g (7 oz, dried) spaghetti
- 120 g (4 oz) guanciale (or pancetta, for the home pan), in 2–3 cm strip
- 4 whole eggs (or 2 whole + 2 yolks, for the thicker coat)
- 80 g (⅓ cup, grated) pecorino romano, with a generous 40 g (2 tbsp) extra over the plate at the end
- 3 generous grinds of black pepper from a 30 mm mill, over the pasta at the end
Method
- Set the pan on the medium end, empty — the guanciale's fat is the oil, and the pan does not need one. Slide the strips into the pan in a single layer, and let them take the heat until the fat comes off the pan and the meat holds a crisp-edged gold — 4–6 min, the frying move on the guanciale — the pan-heat on the low end of the heat, not the high. A guanciale that goes to a crisp on one corner and stays soft on the other is a guanciale that has not done its part, and the crisp is the crisp the sauce is built on.
- Pull the pan off the heat, set the strips aside on a plate, and let the fat cool enough to touch. This is the frying move on its low end, and the fat in the pan is the fat the mantecatura is built on.
- Into the small bowl, beat the eggs with the pecorino and a few generous grinds of the pepper — 30 sec with a fork, just until the two are folded together, a few chunks left in rather than a flat ribbon. This is the salt-and-fat balance, and the egg's part in the mantecatura.
- Bring the spaghetti's pot of salted water to a rolling boil and add the pasta. With 1 min left on the package time, pull a small jug of the starchy water off the pot, and drop the pasta into the pan with the guanciale's fat, off the heat. This is the starchy water on the mantecatura page, and the pan is the 1 min the mantecatura does.
- Into the pasta, pour the egg-and-pecorino, stir quickly — 30–45 sec on the low end of the heat, the mantecatura doing the coat — until the coat is a sheet on the back of a spoon, the egg set to a coat and not to a scramble. Slipping the crisp guanciale back out of its plate and over the pasta, pull the pan off the heat, and the two of them are the plate, the coat and the crisp over the coil. A plate that reads as a scramble on one corner and a smooth coat on the other is a plate the mantecatura did too fast or too hot, and the coat is the coat on the back of a spoon, not on the plate.
Common failures
- A scramble on one corner of the plate. The heat was on the high end when the egg went in, and the egg set to a clump before it set to a coat. Pull the pan off the heat before the egg goes in, the mantecatura is off the peak of the heat, and the coat is the coat on the back of a spoon.
- A pool of fat under the pasta instead of a sauce around it. The guanciale was on the high end and went to a crisp before the fat came off, and the fat went in with the meat on the plate. The guanciale is the frying move on the low end, and the crisp is the crisp that stays on the plate.
- A dull coat that reads as "egg on a noodle." The pecorino's part in the salt-and-fat balance was under, or the starchy water was off the coat before the egg went in, and the mantecatura did the water's part but not the coat's. The pecorino does the coat and the salt, and the water from the pot is the thickening the coil of the pasta needs.
Variations & substitutions
- A cacio e pepe version, without the egg. Pull the egg out of the bowl, put the same pepper and the pecorino in its place, and let the starchy water and the pecorino do the mantecatura in the same pan — the salt-and-fat balance with a different binder, and the coat is the coat.
- A bacon version, for the home shop. Swap the guanciale for a 120 g of a thick cut, and strip the rind before the frying — the 2–3 cm strip still, the crisp before the fat comes off. A bacon that goes to a crisp before the fat comes off is a bacon that has not done its part, and the coat is the coat on the back of a spoon.
What to serve with it
A simple green with a thin oil, and the mantecatura page for the last 1 min of the dish. On the egg side of the egg-set axis, the tiramisu in the section is the custard move on a different plate, and the mushroom tagliatelle across the index is the mantecatura move on the other side of the coil.
More
Back to Italian · Techniques (frying, pan heat, sauces 101, mantecatura, custard)