Carbonara à la Luciano

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 280 g Spaghetti Quadrato or Spaghettoni
• 4 egg yolks or half whole eggs
• 200 g guanciale, alternatively pancetta
• 15 g Pecorino
• 35g Grana Padano or Parmiggiano
• Salt and pepper, freshly ground black

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 20 minutes

Grate the cheese and set aside. Trim the skin and pepper layer of the gunaciale (air-dried, unsmoked peppered bacon from the pork cheek – alternatively, pancetta, which is the same as pork belly) and cut into 1-1.5 cm cubes. Briefly fry over medium-high heat without any additional oil or fat, then reduce to low heat so the cubes are crispy on the outside but moist on the inside. For the pasta, use a pot that will fit completely when lying down. Use only enough water to cover the pasta by 1 cm and add only a minimal amount of salt. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions (minus the specified cooking time). Bring a second pot of water to the boil and place a bowl on top. Adjust the heat and “ventilate” the bowl on top of the pot to bring the temperature to approximately 75°C and maintain it at this temperature. Whisk in the eggs and gradually add the grated cheese, then season generously with pepper. Caution: If the heat is too high, the eggs will curdle, and you’ll end up with scrambled eggs instead of carbonara. Then, using a whisk, gradually whisk in about half of the fat from the pan with the guanciale (like you would for a hollandaise sauce). The pasta should now be done (cooking time minus 3 minutes). Don’t throw away the pasta water! Add the pasta straight from the pot to the bowl on top, along with about 1/3 cup of pasta water for each serving. The starch dissolved from the pasta will thicken the sauce as you continue stirring. Once the sauce has that wonderful creamy consistency, serve the pasta with the sauce, add the fried guanciale cubes, and sprinkle with fresh pepper and cheese.