Dish · italian
Carbonara
Spaghetti coated in egg yolk, pecorino, and rendered guanciale fat, no cream. The yolks thicken off the heat into a glossy sauce, the guanciale stays crisp and salty, and coarse black pepper cuts through the richness.
Where it comes from
The dish appears in Roman kitchens only after 1944, when American rations brought powdered eggs and bacon into a city that already had plenty of eggs and cured pork. One theory ties the name to charcoal workers, the carbonari; neither claim is confirmed, and the dish has no earlier written record.
What cooks argue about
Cooks argue over whether the egg mixture goes in off the heat, risking a sauce that never sets, or over very low heat, risking scrambled curds. Guanciale versus pancetta is a separate, ongoing fight.
Nobody has published a carbonara recipe yet. The page stays out of search until one exists, which is the rule for every thin page here.