Carbonara (Italy)

Preparation

1. 1

   Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it generously (it should taste like seawater), then drop in the pasta and cook it al dente per the pack instructions.

2. 2

   Meanwhile, cut the bacon (traditionally guanciale or pancetta, but smoked bacon works well too) and dry-fry it in a large pan for 5 minutes, until nicely crisp. Keep the rendered fat, it flavours the sauce.

3. 3

   In a bowl, whisk the whole eggs with the grated parmesan and a generous amount of pepper. This mixture will become the sauce off the heat: that's the secret to a proper carbonara, with no cream involved.

4. 4

   Turn off the heat under the bacon pan before the next step: this matters, if the pan is too hot the eggs will cook too fast and turn into scrambled eggs.

5. 5

   Drain the pasta, keeping a ladle of cooking water, tip it into the warm pan with the bacon, then add the egg-parmesan mixture, stirring briskly and adding a little cooking water: the pasta's residual heat is enough to gently cook the eggs and build a creamy sauce.

6. 6

   Add a touch more cooking water if the sauce looks too thick, and serve right away on warm plates: carbonara doesn't wait, it sets as it cools.