25 February 2008
Carbonara
There’s something immensely pleasing about getting the hang of a new dish. I can’t quite say I’ve mastered it, but I’m getting there: carbonara. There are hundreds of variants, but the basic idea is that you have pasta, to which is added some pancetta and some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. And while this lot is still hot from cooking, you add some raw eggs with salt and pepper, and you stir it all in so that the heat of the pasta turns the egg into a creamy sauce. It is heretical, I understand, to actually add cream.
This is harder than it sounds! The very first time I did it, I’m sure what happened, but the result just wasn’t appetising. I was working from a recipe, I think, without really understanding the principles, and as with risotto, that just won’t work. The second time, I had the pan still on the heat when I added the eggs, and so ended up with tiny pieces of omelette. I also suspect that I wasn’t doing myself any favours by trying to do it with penne pasta, rather than spaghetti or linguine. It wasn’t bad - indeed, it was rather good - it just wasn’t carbonara.
But the third time, which was yesterday, I made proper carbonara. I had a haul of goods from Aldi, one of the two chains of bargain-price markets that have spread across Ireland in the last three years, which included fresh linguine, new eggs, the requisite Parmigiano-Reggiano and some cured bacon. Cured bacon isn’t pancetta, but it’s close enough to work with, and everything else was good to go. With the above, some black pepper, and some fresh, chopped parsley, I had an actual working carbonara.
Now, it’s a matter of repeating the success, and then trying small variations to see what works. Is the penne actually not going to work? I think penne might cool too quickly, having effectively got a lot of vents, whereas the spaghetti sits more densely in the pot, and maybe even traps some heat pockets. Varying the amount of cheese going in will be something to try as well, and then there’s the question of what herbs can be used. Parsley is a good solid option, but how about basil? Rosemary should go well with the bacon - but how about different kinds of bacon, a maple or hickory cure? And I should try it with pancetta. And does the freshness of the eggs make a difference?
So many questions, from just one simple dish!