Italy attracts tourists from all over the world for its history, its culture, its art and also for its Mediterranean cuisine. The Mediterranean diet, in fact, in 2010 was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible heritage of humanity. One of the main characteristics of Italian cuisine is its simplicity, another is the profound variety and diversity encountered when moving from north to south, from region to region, from province to province.
Traditional recipes over the centuries have been handed down from generation to generation within families and enhanced and elaborated by great chefs in restaurants. One of the best known products of Italian cuisine, beyond the good Neapolitan pizza, is undoubtedly the pasta which can be fresh, dry and stuffed, enhanced by a vast variety of toppings. Among these occupies an important place pasta carbonara.
The origins of carbonara pasta
There are several theories on the birth of Carbonara pasta but, today, the most accredited seems to be the one told by Renato Gualandi, a chef of Bolognese origins who, in 1944, was commissioned to prepare a lunch in Riccione for the British and American armies. Having bacon, cream, cheese and egg yolk powder at his disposal, he mixed these ingredients and used them to season the pasta, adding black pepper lastly. He did not know then that he had created a world famous dish.
A version of the story also linked to the American army is the one that tells how a group of American soldiers, passing through Abruzzo and Ciociaria where they recovered smoked bacon and bacon with a taste similar to bacon, found themselves in a restaurant in via della Scrofa in Rome. Here the skill of a Roman cook combined these ingredients with powdered milk to create a sauce for spaghetti.
Other hypotheses on the Apennine and Neapolitan ones are
The first would like that pasta alla carbonara was born as an evolution of the “cacio e ova” dish (Lazio and Abruzzo) that the charcoal burners prepared to face the long hours of work necessary for the production of charcoal. The second hypothesis refers instead to the 1837 Ippolito Cavalcanti treatise "Theoretical practical cuisine" within which you can find various recipes that involve the use of eggs, cheese and pepper even if in ways that do not really have to do with the recipe of carbonara pasta, such as pasta in broth (egg used as a thickener), pasta balls or timbales of pasta.
Another treatise from 1881, “The Prince of Chefs”, by Francesco Palma proposes macaroni with cheese, eggs and lard. There are many versions of the history of the origin of Carbonara and one cannot possibly have absolute certainty about which is the true one. What is certain is that, however it was born, today it is a typical dish of Roman cuisine.
Cookbooks
Going back to the recipe books we want to remember how the bacon used to season pasta appears in 1949 in the work "The little talisman of happiness" by Ada Boni where there is the recipe for the preparation of spaghetti with bacon which, however, does not provide for its use. of eggs. The first recipe for pasta alla carbonara seems to be the one that appeared in a guide to restaurants on the North Side of Chicago by Patricia Brontè, where, reviewing the Armando's restaurant, the author proposes a precise recipe. In Italy, the first recipe was published by the magazine “la Cucina Italiana” in 1954 where it is offered with eggs, bacon, gruyere and garlic. Even if the presence of gruyere and garlic today makes us turn up our noses, we consider that in those years it was an evolving recipe. On an Italian cookbook it appears in 55 when Felix Dessì proposes a version with eggs, pepper, bacon and parmesan or pecorino. The pillow will begin to use in the 60s. Until the eighties, cream will also be present in numerous recipes, including the one proposed by the chef Gualtiero Marchesi. Over the years the recipe evolves into the one we know today which involves the use exclusively of eggs, bacon and pecorino.
How do you prepare pasta alla carbonara?
Despite being a dish that lends itself to many reinterpretations, here we propose the recipe that today we recognize as traditional. Let's start with pillow pork (preferably from Amatrice) which must be sliced fairly thin and then cut into strips, we use 100 gr. for four servings. Using a non-stick pan, without oil or butter, and starting "cold" so as not to burn it, brown the bacon by melting the fat making it crisp.
In a bowl we put 6 egg yolks and 50 gr. of pecorino romano (aged at least 12 months) grated and, with a hand whisk, mix everything. In many recipes pepper is also added to this mixture, I prefer to put it at the end so as not to brown the egg yolk.
Meanwhile, let's cook the spaghetti (or another type of pasta like rigatoni) in plenty of salted water (I recommend not adding too much salt because the bacon will give enough flavor to the dish). Once al dente, drain them, taking care to keep a little cooking water, and pour them into the pan together with the bacon. We jump briefly to flavor and remove the pan from the heat. At this point, add the egg and cheese mixture and the black pepper and mix everything by adding a little cooking water to make the sauce more fluid. We serve immediately. To decorate the dish we prepared a pecorino wafer and added a sprinkling of pecorino.
Enjoy your meal….
