Is there anything more Italian, more delicious and yet, more divisive than carbonara? The famous Roman pasta dish is treated with such reverence by Italians that the slightest alteration to the recipe can cause international incidents and bring calls of heresy on whatever unfortunate cook indulged their misjudged creativity with it.
The origins of the dish are somewhat hazy. Some claim that the name ‘carbonara’ which means coal burner or someone who might have worked at a forge or furnace, points to it being invented as a hearty dish to feed the men who laboured in Rome’s kilns and coal pits outside the city. Others attribute the dish to US soldiers who, during World War II brought their rations of eggs and bacon to restaurants to augment the locals’ limited menus.
Wherever it came from, it is today a dish that is synonymous with Rome and epitomises the very best of Italian cuisine. It uses five ingredients – eggs, pasta, pepper, pecorino Romano and pigs’ cheeks (guanciale). However, it is in the ever so slight variations of these ingredients and the techniques employed in combining them that the fault lines appear. Every family will have their own way of doing carbonara, and every family will swear blind that theirs is the best.
As 6 April is Carbonara Day in Italy, we’ve put together a few of our own recipes and variations. You decide which is the real deal.
Traditional pasta carbonara recipe
This Tried & Tasted recipe for carbonara by Fine Dining Lovers is as close to a definitive way to do it as you’ll find. Using guanciale, egg yolks, pecorino Romano, salt and pepper, and served with spaghetti, it is easy to make and if you follow the method, you can’t go wrong.
How to make pasta carbonara like a Michelin-starred chef
Learn from the pros and watch these Michelin star chefs make carbonara. Here, lauded chefs Carlo Mirarchi and Heinz Beck give us a masterclass on how to prepare the dish. You can be sure that there will be some who disagree vehemently with their methods, however.
Foolproof spaghetti carbonara recipe
Italian chef Danilo Cortellini shows us how not to mess up a carbonara with his recipe as part of The Secrets of Italian Food series by Fine Dining Lovers. Follow the step-by-step guide for perfect results.
How to make vegetarian carbonara with three-Michelin-star chef Enrico Bartolini
Vegetarians can enjoy carbonara too with this riff on the recipe from three-Michelin-star chef Enrico Bartolini. This is a complicated recipe, but worth it so our plant-forward friends can enjoy the pleasures of this greatest of Italian dishes.
Where to eat carbonara in Rome: the 10 best restaurants
Of course, if you want to avoid the risk of offending someone with your carbonara, there is one surefire way to ensure that you get the genuine article, and that’s going to Rome and get a local to make it for you. Here are the best places to eat carbonara in Rome. Buon appetito!
Luciano Cucina Italiana
Courtesy Luciano Cucina Italiana
Known as the ‘Pavarotti of carbonara’, Luciano Monosilio also shares his first name with the famous tenor. His reputation has also reached overseas (he recently scored a consultancy in Cape Town), but his carbonara is one with its own reputation. It is he who, in Pipero’s time, ‘engineered’ the bain-marie technique to obtain the perfect consistency of the sauce. The guanciale is cut into thick cubes and made very crisp. And even if his Luciano restaurant today has a more gourmet identity than that of a trattoria, the carbonara is something you must taste if you go to Piazza del Pellegrino.
Pipero
Courtesy Pipero
And then there is Pipero, where it all began. Thanks to his natural talents as a communicator, it was the patron Alessandro Pipero who brought this dish beyond the trattoria, with the innovative idea of selling carbonara by weight. While Monosilio can claim the recipe, today in the kitchen entrusted to Ciro Scamardella, the carbonara di Pipero is not to be missed.
Baccano
Courtesy Baccano
If we can say there is a ‘Luciano Pavarotti’ of carbonara, then we can also identify a ‘Josè Carreras of carbonara’ in this Tunisian chef, Nabil Hadj Hassen. For years he has worked at Roscioli, where he has established himself as the king of this dish. For about a year he has been in situ at Baccano, where he has brought his international style of cooking, as well as his mastery in making traditional Roman dishes.
Salumeria Roscioli
Courtesy Salumeria Roscioli
At Roscioli, chef Nabil has left behind all the expertise needed to prepare one of the best carbonaras in the city. While the ‘Roscioli method’ has been taught in schools, the unique character of this shop is underlined by a counter of delicacies led by Riccardo Cecchetti, who selects the best products in terms of cheeses and cured meats. If you want to know which pecorino or guanciale is the best, you only have to ask. And for such a simple recipe, the best ingredients are the basis of a perfect dish.
Eggs Roma
Courtesy Eggs Roma
Keeping with the lyrical metaphor, we can say that the ‘Montserrat Caballé of carbonara’ is Barbara Agosti who has dedicated her restaurant to all things eggs (caviar included). Here you can even find a carbonara menu, where you can order the classics, even the 1954 version by La Cucina Italiana. In addition, there is the carbonara on the go, a kind of fried ice cream on a stick filled with carbonara, which the chef brought to Masterchef a few years ago.
Santo Palato
Courtesy Santo Palato
A good example of the modern trattoria, Santo Palato of course has a permanent carbonara on the menu. Sarah Cicolini’s is silky, creamy and abundant, with beautiful thick spaghetti as the base, and crispy strips of guanciale. It is one of the few permanent dishes of the restaurant, such as the boiled meatballs and the maritozzo. The changing specials can be found on the blackboard, dreamed up daily by the young chef.
Trecca Cucina di Mercato
Courtesy Trecca Cucina di Mercato
Still from the new wave of modern trattorias – of those with tattooed hosts – here is Trecca, which has happily brought traditional cuisine in a modern key to a dining desert like the San Paolo district. Suffice it to say that finding a table in the Trecastelli brothers’ restaurant is a challenge. To justify the success of this address, among other dishes, is the carbonara: a triumph of creaminess.
La Dispensa dei Mellini
Courtesy La Dispensa dei Mellini
A neighbourhood restaurant with a delightful young ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ chef. A look at the menu tells us that even though Susanna Sipione seems delicate, her cooking is anything but ethereal. Quinto quarto and Roman classics are ever-present, as well as a good number of creative dishes. Hers is a sumptuous carbonara, which really hits the spot, and makes the numerous aficionados and tourists passing through this small locale in the Prati district very happy indeed.
Hosteria Grappolo D’Oro
Courtesy Hosteria Grappolo D’Oro
This tavern in the centre of Rome is found amongst the hustle and bustle of tourism and is very popular with visitors to the city. For carbonara, it’s been a reliable restaurant for decades and has not surprisingly been mentioned by Michelin. The carbonara here is tasty, sinuous, based on spaghetti, and abundant in all the right ways.
Proloco Trastevere
Courtesy Proloco Trastevere
Born of Vincenzo Mancino‘s project, Dol (Of Lazio Origin), Proloco Trastevere best interprets tradition by putting only selected regional ingredients on the plate. Carbonara is no exception and takes advantage of Mancino’s great qualities as a selector, and the expert hand of his wife, Elisabetta Guaglianone, who leads the kitchen. In addition, it is in Trastevere, the right setting for a Roman dish ‘Dol’.
Source: FineDiningLovers
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