The chef of the Italian embassy in Madrid, Giuseppe Ferarro, shares his tricks to make a perfect carbonara for four people
A whole mystery not without controversy between Italians and Americans looms permanently about the origin of carbonara sauce, a recipe that this April 6 celebrates its International Day, to praise one of the most applauded dishes of Italian cuisine: spaghetti carbonara.
The most narrative version of the birth of this food is associated with the coal shop, an Italian revolutionary secret society founded in Naples in the early 19th century and promoting patriotic and liberal ideals. Its members, the carbonari, They met in the mountains and used to prepare dishes with the easiest ingredients to get: eggs, sheep cheese and pasta. The carbonara could be like this an evolution of the old recipe cacho e ovo (cheese and egg), that the carbonarios prepared in their clandestine meetings.
This romantic and heroic story has inspired the latest campaign that garofalo pasta, one of the most select firms in Italy in the production of artisanal pasta, where they only use products from the town of Gragnano —at the bottom of the Bay of Naples— with the best durum and porous Italian wheat that allows to capture the sauces.
Within the framework of this campaign, the firm has created, a kit for those who want to prepare a genuine carbonara. Includes for 35 euros all the necessary ingredients: spaghetti —made with durum wheat semolina pasta and rough to the touch thanks to bronze drawing; 240 grams of guanciale Negrini —cured pork skin, which gives an extraordinary flavor to the sauce—, 200 grams of Roman pecorino—strong, intense and aromatic sheep cheese— and freshly ground black pepper It comes in a ecru cloth bag that winks at the clandestine meetings of La Carbonería in the mountains.
The chef of the Italian embassy in Madrid, Giuseppe Ferroshares his tricks for making the ultimate carbonara for four people:
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280 grams of spaghetti
180 grams of guanciale (that kind of jowl or Italian bacon)
5 yolks egg
120 grams of pecorino cheese Roman
3 grams of mixed pepper (red, white, green and black) freshly ground.
First, cut the guanciale into thin strips and then in small pieces in the shape of a rhombus.
Place the already cut guanciale in a frying pan, put it to fry over low heat until crisp.
Remove excess fat from the pan and conserving it, it will serve to give the carbonara aroma almost at the end.
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water With salt.
While the pasta is cooking grate the pecorino, separate the yolks from the whites and place them in a container (the egg whites are kept for another preparation).
Beat the yolks with the pecorino cheese and half the ground pepper.
Drain the pasta “al dente”.
Next, in a stainless steel bowl off the heat, amalgamate the paste well with the egg mixture, cheese and pepper and at the end add a little of the guanciale fat that had been previously removed from the pan and add the crispy guanciale.
Serve the pasta on the plates and finish by sprinkling a little pecorino cheese, guanciale and a little freshly ground pepper.