Linguine Carbonara

Seemingly simple Linguine Carbonara can be an exceptional challenge for home cooks. However, those willing to take a risk will achieve creamy, dreamy rewards. Our Linguine Carbonara recipe will give you the key to unlock this classic Roman pasta dish.

The History of Carbonara

Some people believe that the dish’s name derives from the black, coal-like flecks of pepper that appear in the sauce. Other origin stories include a restaurant in Rome by that name, a name for charcoal workers who ate the eggy pasta and a secret society in the early 20th century. Like we said, it’s a mystery.

We liken the dish to French Hollandaise sauce. But pork fat replaces butter in Carbonara while the goal remains to heat, emulsify and thicken the egg yolk pork fat mixture without the egg proteins snapping. Nobody wants the silky sauce to turn into a scrambled mess.

How To Make Linguine Carbonara

Celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay betray the dish’s Roman roots by using Parmigiano-Reggiano instead Pecorino Romano. (Ramsay even uses mushrooms. Oh Dio Mio!!) Interestingly, the chefs at the famous Roman restaurant Roscioli use a combination of Pecorino and Parmigiano.

Making Pasta Carbonara at Home

On our last carbonara go around, we lost attention for just a moment and, sure enough, the yolks began to scramble. This could happen on your carbonara journey too. It’s important to understand your heat source whether it’s gas, electric HOB, induction or even a campfire. If you feel your pan is getting too hot, don’t be afraid to move it off the heat.

Pro Tip
Don’t toss out the Carbonara if it curdles a bit. Nobody will notice if you scrape off the curdles and the dish will still taste divine.

It also helps to mix and slightly temper your mixture over a little heat. We like to whip our mixture in a porcelain bowl over the boiling steam of the pasta water. Some cooks use a double boiler. The best method is up to you and your kitchen situation.

Linguine Carbonara Ingredients

We like to use guanciale because, here in Lisbon, we’re able to get the good stuff. While guanciale is ideal for pure pork flavor, you can still use pancetta if you’re looking for flavor without smokiness. If you love the smokey flavor of bacon, you can use that too. As we always say: Your Kitchen, Your Rules.

Pro Tip
Cut slices from a large block if you opt to use bacon instead of guanciale.

We’re lucky to live in a country that sells eggs at room temperature. While it’s not absolutely necessary, you can warm your eggs by leaving them, whole and uncracked, in room temperature water for about an hour.

We like A LOT of black pepper in our Carbonara. Black pepper and egg? It just works. We add the pepper at the end since ground black pepper is most aromatic when it’s fresh.

Carbonara Pasta Options

Linguine Carbonara Instructions – Step by Step

Begin by freezing the guanciale (or pancetta or bacon) for about 30-45 minutes. This step prevents the fat from melting in your hands and enables you to slice the meat thinly and evenly.

Cut the rind off the guanciale. (Do the same if there’s a hard rind on the pancetta.) We like to slice our guanciale about a 1/4″ thick.

Lay the guanciale flat in a cool 12″ frying pan. Turn the heat to medium high. Cook the guanciale until it just browns on the edges and the fat begins to render. Turn the heat to the lowest setting.

Keep an eye on the pan and remove the pan from the heat if you feel that the meat is close to burning.

Break two eggs, separate the yolks and place the two yolks in a separate bowl with one whole egg.

Add the Pecorino Romano cheese to the bowl with the eggs and whisk until combined.

To begin the pasta, boil about 5 cups of water in a saucepan large enough to fit the pasta.

Important Note
While many recipes call for boiling the pasta in a large amount of water, we use less water for two reasons. First, a smaller amount of water takes less time to recover to a full boil once the pasta is added. Second, the density of starch is greater with less water, which creates a sort of loose slurry that thickens the sauce.

When using a long strand pasta like linguine or spaghetti, it may be easiest to use a 12″ sauté pan to boil the pasta. If, like us, you use a large sauce pan, you’ll still need to bend the long stranded pasta to submerge it all in a small diameter pan in a small amount of boiling water.

While the pasta is cooking, position the bowl with the egg and cheese mixture over the boiling water and whisk with a fork, letting the steam from the pot gently heat and emulsify the egg/pecorino mixture. This positioning will help the cheese and egg mixture combine and thicken, preparing the sauce for its final step.

Once the linguine is cooked to just al dente (you can taste to check), use tongs to transfer the pasta to the pan for finishing.

If you choose to use a colander instead, you can move about 2 cups of the cooked pasta water to a heatproof measuring cup before draining your pasta. Though you may not need the water, it’s good to have some in reserve in case the sauce gets too thick.

Once the guanciale and pasta water are thoroughly mixed with the pasta, immediately take the pan off the heat and slowly add the egg yolk cheese mixture to the pan. Mix the pasta and egg mixture until the sauce emulsifies through the pasta.

You should see the bottom of the pan when you drag a wooden spoon across it. If you find that the sauce is a little thin, you can drag the pan on and off the heat. However, be careful not to leave the sauce over the heat too long. If you do that, the egg yolks will begin to curdle and scramble.

Add pepper to taste. We recommend adding at least a teaspoon or more so that the black specks are prominent throughout the pasta. This is not a recipe where ‘less is more’.

Serve Linguine Carbonara in individual pasta bowls. You can grate additional Pecorino-Romana on top of the pasta if desired.

Carbonara Pasta Wine Pairing

We originally expected Silene’s Damiano Ciolli to be a white wine since that seemed like the most straightforward match to our pasta. Imagine our surprise when a light magenta liquid came flowing from the bottle. We even refrigerated the wine. Oops! But it was still wonderful chilled.

But, once we tasted this light bodied red, we were treated to a wonderful, food-friendly wine. Its earthy pinot noir-like flavors of mushroom meld with fruity flavors of cherry and raspberry in every sip.

Linguine Carbonara Recipe

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Original Publication Date: February 16, 2021