Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Mighty_Quinn

I'll throw this out there since there are some food lovers that hang around the board, but I put in the OT section because none of it was done on the egg, alhough I suppose it could be...Followed traditional recipe except I substituted my home cured pancetta for the guanciale. Ingredients 8 ounces guanciale, diced 1 pound spaghetti 2 large eggs 1 cup Pecorino Romano, freshly grated Directions: In a large pan, fry the guanciale over medium-high heat until rendered and crisp, about 10 minutes. Beat eggs and pecorino together in a small bowl with a fork and set aside. Cook the spaghetti to al dente, then drain, return to pot, toss with guanciale and rendered fat over low heat and immediately transfer to shallow bowls. Pour egg/cheese mixture over each of the four bowls, add black pepper to taste and quickly mix with a fork to slightly cook the eggs with the hot pasta. The result should be creamy, not dry. Serve immediately.

nolaegghead

Hell yeah!  That's doing it right.  Looks great Quinn, and that pancetta looks like it came out great.  Mine looks like a science experiment from the biology department.

NecessaryIndulg

This is one of the only pasta dishes I'll eat.  Looks & sounds fantastic! =P~

Mighty_Quinn

Thanks Nola and Kristi. It's a favorite pasta in our house too...really, its the only way I can get my wife to eat eggs that aren't cooked to death...now, where is that weight loss thread??

Village Idiot

Kristi (Necessary Indulgences) put me on to this prior to my Italy trip last September.  I ate it in Sorrento whilst gazing at Mt. Vesuvius and loved it.  I will be eternally grateful to Kristi for this !!!!!!   ^:)^

Botch

I've mixed the whole dish with the eggs in the main pot, haven't tried mixing in the serving bowls, will try that, thanks!  

(and now I'm hungry again...)

Mighty_Quinn

less of a chance of cooking the eggs too much doing it in serving bowls...

IrishDevl

This shouldn't be off topic. Well done. Big fan of this, have to make pancetta. What is the difference?

Little Steven

MQ,

Looks awesome! You have to cure some pig face and try it. stike brought some to our last fishing trip and zippy made the pasta with it. Man it was good!

Mighty_Quinn

IrishDevl said:

This shouldn't be off topic. Well done. Big fan of this, have to make pancetta. What is the difference?

pancetta is rolled(typically, but can be dried flat) and tied up and hung to dry for a few weeks. never sees any smoke like bacon...strong flavors like juniper berries are commonly used in the cure.

Little Steven said:

MQ,

Looks awesome! You have to cure some pig face and try it. stike brought some to our last fishing trip and zippy made the pasta with it. Man it was good!

sounds really good...I'm going looking for the jowls tomorrow...might have to order if too hard to find.

IrishDevl

So what is guanciale? I do know pancetta

Little Steven

They taste like bacon butter.

Mighty_Quinn

Basically the same thing, but its cured pig cheeks/jowls instead of belly

NecessaryIndulg

It's from the pig's cheek -- it's amazing.

IrishDevl

I have to try and get that. Will check with my butcher.

nolaegghead

They sell big ol' bags of pig cheeks at our Sam's Club - shouldn't be too hard to find.

Mighty_Quinn

That's good to know...I'm a member at Restaurant Depot and Costco...not Sam's, but I will be tomorrow if need be. I'm already going to RD for bellies, salmon, and duck breast...hopefully I can find the cheeks there so it's a one stop shopping trip. Ready to cold smoke with the small/large/dryer vent hose method.

nolaegghead

Cool, cheeks sound a little nasty to me, but that's just in my head.  I'd try them. 

I just spent and hour and half slicing and packaging up 12 pounds of bacon.  This stuff is a lot of work, need to do large quantities to make it a sustainable part of home cooking.  But man, that bacon is unbelievable!  Cold then hot smoked the bacon with apple and cherry.  Great smokey taste.

Little Steven

Man they look a little wierd but a taste will get ya over it

nolaegghead

Here's tonight's bacon operation.  Sorry to hijack. 

Mighty_Quinn

Dayum dude!! That looks great.

nolaegghead

Thanks Quinn - it's Duroc - kind of fatty but the taste is insanely good.  Friend who works at Restaurant August got it for me - it's what they use.  I did half of it savory, half a brown sugar/ground pecan.  Got almost 9 pounds after starting with 12 and cutting off the skin, moisture loss during cure.  My first bacon batch and it exceeded expectations.

SmokinDAWG82

Mighty_Quinn said:

Dayum dude!! That looks great.

+1 awesome!

Village Idiot

This is the carbonara I had at a restaurant in Sorrento, Italy

This is what was left.

IrishDevl

I guess you weren't hungry. THere is 1/8 noodle left.

IrishDevl

nolaegghead said:

Here's tonight's bacon operation.  Sorry to hijack. 

Very nice. Do you have a slicer? Looks perfectly cut. Duroc pork is one of my faves.

nolaegghead

Yep, have a meat slicer.  Sucks to clean, but makes short work of jobs like this.

Botch

What slicer do you have, Nola?  I bought a cheepie on Black Friday and returned it, but the idea of having a slicer is planted now... 

nolaegghead

Botch said:

What slicer do you have, Nola?  I bought a cheepie on Black Friday and returned it, but the idea of having a slicer is planted now... 

I bought a

Chef's Choice 615 Premium Electric Food Slicer