Bucatini Carbonnara

Bucatini Carbonara.

Ingredients

Bucatini 1 pounds

4 egg yolk

parmesan or pecorino

bacon or guanciale or pancetta

1 slab of bacon per guest.

1/4 pound for 4 guests if you use guanciale

The top foto is guanciale Bucatini

the second is what it looks like.

Now bacon is what you know.

Pancetta is the Italian version of bacon

Guanciale is made from the pigs cheeks and jowl and is more pronounced in the taste, less fat but more meaty and delicate.

It is also salted already, so be light on the salt you add.

It also lasts forever as it is cured, so I keep it as an Emergency dish.

If I have nothing to eat, I make myself Bucatini Carbonara.

I always have eggs, I always have a pasta box around and the meat lasts a long time.

I live in the Italian neighborhood in San Francisco and I couldn't 

find guanciale as our local butcher is not very authentic. I suggest you head over to the ferry building and get it there or order it online. It is cured, so it will last you a long time and will travel very well.

Cooking

Throw the bucatini in the water.

They take 10 minutes or so.

In a plate, mix 4 egg yolk, in general it is an egg for guest.

I get rid of the white as it will coagulate quickly and you won't have

a sauce but instead you will have baked egg pasta. 

{which is also nice}

Mix and add some pepper. 

Leave it.

Take the bacon and chop it to small nice pieces.

The guanciale is a lump of meat so cut it to 1/2 cm size thickness and then cut it lengthwise and crosswise to have small pieces or I've also done 1/4 inch by 1 inch.

Render it in a little olive oil or if you use the bacon it should have a lot of fat so no need for more oil as the pasta is cooking.

Heat should be medium, you want the fat to bleed out

and you don't want them TOO crisp.

Change the heat based on the bacon/guanciale so it is rendered perfectly and matches when the bucatini is ready.

It takes 12 minutes for my stove, so I usually put the meat after 4 minutes.

Ok.

Keep 1 cup of pasta water.

Drain the bucatini.

throw them on the frying pan that has the bacon and mix 

for a few seconds so the bacon fat coats the bucatini.

Remove from heat.

If you need to release the pieces of bacon from the frying pan toss some pasta water on them and mix.

When you are done you will have a pasta that is coated with bacon fat and maybe a little liquid from the pasta water.

Let it rest for 30 seconds and count.

Then throw the eggs on it and mix immediately.

Since the pasta has cooled a little and there is no heat

the eggs WON"T cook.

This is the key,

The goal here is to create a sauce with the eggs but NOT

an omelette if the eggs coagulated too much, then you need less heat next time.

That is it, throw some cheese on it and some pepper and you are all set.

By the way, because you are eating semi raw egg, I recommend you get a happy chicken egg, one that was pasture raised and free range.

You will be able to tell the difference.