"King of Carbonara" sauce: rich and indulgent

We saw this video of "The King of Carbonara" in Rome and new we had to try it: the technique of using the fat from the Guanciale and gently cooking the sauce in a bain-marie appealed to us.

We first had Bucatini alla Carbonara at A. V. Restaurante Italiano (RIP) in Washington DC years ago; it is one of our "go to" dishes at home when we want some easy comfort food. Irene and I have slightly different approaches: she adds the hot pasta to the sauce and relies on the retained heat to cook the sauce, while I find that a bit too raw and add a bit of heat when combining in a pan. Either way, it's fast and satisfying: you can prep the sauce in the time it takes the pasta to cook.

With another practice or two, I should be able to prep the sauce while the pasta cooks for chef Chef Monosilio's more careful technique. In the video, he cuts a large slab of Guanciale into cubes, fries them to render the fat and crisp the meat, and uses some of that fat in the sauce -- that's what hooked us. We can readily find 100 g packages of sliced Guanciale here in Barcelona: it's not cubed, but sliced like thick American bacon; it does have a good piggy funk to it. He uses a mix of Pecorino and Grana Padano because he said that folks now don't like the high salt level of Pecorino; the version of that cheese we get here isn't as dry and salty as what we found in the States, but we'll use his mix.  The proportions below are for two, and it's quite rich; here, I'm backing out the cheese a bit from my first attempt which was just too much.

133 g Long Pasta: Bucatini, Spaghetti, etc

100 g Guanciale, sliced 1-2 mm x 2 cm (or 1 cm cubes)

 25 g Grana Padano (a good aged Parmesan should work)

 25 g Pecorino Romana

  2   Egg Yolks

      Black Pepper

Get a pot of salted water boiling and find a pan that sits on top to create a bain-marie. 

Cook the pasta until its fully done (not al dente), probably 10-12 minutes.

While it's cooking, prepare the sauce.

Sauté the Guanciale with fairly high heat: you want to render fat and crisp the pork. When the meat's crispy and just browned, reserve it and let the fat cool down.

Finely grate the Cheeses and add most of it to the pan; reserve some for the garnish.

Separate the Eggs and add the Yolks to the pan (save the whites to make Chocolate Angel Food cake).

Add the Fat from the Guanciale; I used all of it (maybe 30 ml / 2 Tbs) but you might not be so gluttonous.

Add plenty of coarse freshly ground Black Pepper.

Whisk to combine, and add a little of the Pasta Water so it's a thick liquid rather than a paste.

When the Pasta is done, transfer it with tongs to the sauce pan; it's OK if some water clings to it. 

Put the Pan on the water Pot and stir the sauce over the gentle heat; after a while, it should start to thicken a bit.

Add the crispy Guanciale and stir some more; you probably will have to add some more of the Pasta Water to thin the sauce a little so it coats well. Continue stirring until the sauce is creamy and everything is well coated. (Take a look at the video to see the texture you're looking for.)

Plate the Pasta and garnish with the reserved grated Cheese and a healthy grind of Pepper.