Spaghettii Carbonara

honeymonster

I'm learning how to cook some decent meals and I pulled a receipe off the bbc web site for Spaghettii Carbonara. I think it has 3 different ones but the one I chose said for the sauce to mix cream with two eggs but every time i lob it in the pan it turns to scrambled eggs. Any ideas?

Thanks so much in advance

Stephen

Blub2k4

honeymonster wrote:

I'm learning how to cook some decent meals and I pulled a receipe off the bbc web site for Spaghettii Carbonara. I think it has 3 different ones but the one I chose said for the sauce to mix cream with two eggs but every time i lob it in the pan it turns to scrambled eggs. Any ideas?

Thanks so much in advance

Stephen

A proper carbonara doesn't even have the cream normally.

In any case the scrambled egg effect is usual, what you know as carbonara with smooth sauce is not correct, the original is as you describe, and really nice it is too.
Just make sure when you put it into the pot with the pasta that you keep stirring it so that you coat everything and dont just end up with a lump of scrambled egg in the bottom.

Mr. Presentable

Turn down the heat. You are cooking it a little too fast/well. A nice touch in carbonara is some finely chopped smoked streaky bacon Tossed in the pan before the pasta goes in. Yummy.

newbie2

Add the cream to the eggs along with some black pepper and parmasan cheese, whisk these allup together and when the spagetti is cooked, drain the water and leave for approximatly a minute and a half. (this lets it cool slightly). Add the eggs and cream mix and the bacon and mushrooms and slowly fold it into the spagetti. The idea is to cook the egg mix slightly. If you want a more creamy sauce add more cream to the egg mix. Which recipe are you using from the bbc site?

dudara

Don't put the eggs onto the heat. The heat from the pasta will be sufficient to cook the egg/parmesan mixture.

If this is a little too dry for your taste, keep back some of the water the pasta was cooked in and add it, little by little until you've got the sauce thickness you desire.

vibe666

you're only supposed to use egg yolks, not whole eggs.

with a good carbonara, as with most things (except money) less is more.

here's the proper way to do it.

1lb of spaghetti
1/2lb of pancetta
5 egg yolks
a big handful of (freshly) grated parmesan (Reggiano) cheese
a bit of olive oil, a pinch of salt and a good bit of pepper.

put the spaghetti on to boil with a pinch of salt and little olive oil.

cook off the pancetta over a low heat, until it's cooked through (when the fat has all started to go translucent) but before it goes too brown.

when these are just about ready, take about 100-150ml of the pasta water and the egg yolks, parmesan and pepper and mix thogoughly with a fork.

drain the pasta (keeping some of the water just in case the mix is too dry) and toss in a little more olive oil and mix everything together in a bowl.

serve and top with more parmesan, pepper and a little parsley if to taste if desired.

that's it. nothing more or less than that. anything different is just a creamy/cheesy pasta dish, not an authentic pasta alla carbonara.

Gordon

I prefer Carbonara with the cream but due to family cholesterol levels I use yoghurt instead. Oh and I much prefer Rigatoni or Conchiglie for the creamier version. Carbonara is deffo my favourite pasta dish.

vibe666

try the recipe above, no cream in it at all.

DamoKen

I use Pecorino cheese myself instead of Parmesan for a more authentic taste imho. You can pick it up in Superquinns at the cheese counter, haven't see it in any of the other major supermarkets but having said that since I found Superquinn stocked it a few years back I haven't looked anywhere else

vibe666

cool, I've not got a superquinn's near me so haven't really looked for pecorina, I'd just about given up finding any here, although I've been told they're good for cheese in general. my g/f picked up some monterey jack in superquinn on a shopping trip a while back, which was a nice surprise, so they're not at all bad.

bonkey

vibe666 wrote:

nothing more or less than that. anything different is just a creamy/cheesy pasta dish, not an authentic pasta alla carbonara.

I dunno about the no-cream insistence, nor about the only-egg-yolk bit.

Like all Italian dishes, you'll find almost as many "authentic" versions as you will Italians cooking the dish. The Italian recipes (i.e. from Italians) I've learned all use cream and whole eggs.

Whatever floats yer boat, personally, but the trick is the removal from heat before the egg goes in.

vibe666

*cough* wiki *cough*.

granted, it wouldn't get you through your exams, but it's good enough for me.

bonkey

Fair 'nuff.

None of the Italians I know date back to the origins of the dish, so who am I to argue.

You'll forgive me if I don't quite have the strength of character to tell them that what they're cooking isn't the real version I hope???

jc

vibe666

pansy!

MrJones

have i missed something -when do you cook the eggs,pepper,parmesan mix?
after you mix everything together or before??

vibe666 wrote:

you're only supposed to use egg yolks, not whole eggs.

with a good carbonara, as with most things (except money) less is more.

here's the proper way to do it.



that's it. nothing more or less than that. anything different is just a creamy/cheesy pasta dish, not an authentic pasta alla carbonara.

DamoKen

MrJones wrote:

have i missed something -when do you cook the eggs,pepper,parmesan mix?
after you mix everything together or before??

you cook the pasta on it's own and mix the the other ingredients together in a seperate bowl. when the pasta is cooked and drained you fold the egg, parmensan/pecorino mix into the warm spagetti. The heat of the still warm pasta will cook this. Then you serve

MrJones

cool thanks. any tips on how to separate the yolk from the rest of the egg? obviously i can just do it using a spoon...but if there's a btr way let me know

Alun

MrJones wrote:

cool thanks. any tips on how to separate the yolk from the rest of the egg? obviously i can just do it using a spoon...but if there's a btr way let me know

Just use both halves of the eggshell, kind of see-sawing the yolk between the two halves. Alternatively if you're like my wife, who seems incapable of cracking an egg in half without totally smashing the shell to smithereens, you can buy yolk separators.

DamoKen

as Alun said, it's quite easy, or at least I thought it was

MrJones

ya ill try that. no i am able to crack an egg without making total mess.
you do know that pecorino cheese is made from sheep's milk. i way prefer the parmesan regiano!

Alun wrote:

Just use both halves of the eggshell, kind of see-sawing the yolk between the two halves. Alternatively if you're like my wife, who seems incapable of cracking an egg in half without totally smashing the shell to smithereens, you can buy yolk separators.

DamoKen

MrJones wrote:

you do know that pecorino cheese is made from sheep's milk. i way prefer the parmesan regiano!

all comes down to what you prefer, I go for the Pecorino as I find it gives a much more distinctive flavour, also reminds me of time spent in Rome & Milan, ah happy days!

BuffyBot

For easy egg seperation: Crack the egg on a saucer, put and egg cup over the yolk and then tip to drain the white away (into a bowl, etc).

MrJones

pecorino is definitely an acquired taste. as for the parmiagiano, it's just class.

DamoKen wrote:

all comes down to what you prefer, I go for the Pecorino as I find it gives a much more distinctive flavour, also reminds me of time spent in Rome & Milan, ah happy days!

hillynicky

hi guys! those are great! thanks for the recipes!

scotusone

ive never met an italian that used cream in carbonara.

pecorino is a nice touch for extra pungency , i use half and half grana ( also in pesto )

remember that lots of fresh ground black pepper are used as ingredient mote than seasoning in the pan where you have fried the pancetta ( sweet not smoked) tho if you can find guanchiale ( pig cheek) that is fabulous.

i would use one hole egg for one or two people and lengthen with yolks for more people.


the eggs and grated cheese are creamed together in a large bowl into which the pasta ( not too dry ) is placed and and dressed . the heat of the pasta cooks the eggs.

then add the contents of the frying pan and dress again.

or add the the egg dressed pasta to the pan which is removed from the heat .

then eat from the pan to save on washing up