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The First Carbonara Recipe Ever Written

Where is Carbonara REALLY from?

That’s a hard question to answer, because there are lots of stories about when and where carbonara began. BUT the first recipe for carbonara is a fact that hopefully we can all agree on.

Here is the actual recipe from chefs Armando Lorenzini and Pierre Lencioni as it first appeared in “Vittles and Vice” by Patricia Bronté in 1952.

Boil 1 ½ lbs of Tagliarini (thin wide noodles) according to the directions on the package.
Meanwhile, chop and fry ½ pound of Mezzina (Italian Bacon).
Drain the noodles and the bacon.
Take 4 eggs and ¼ pound of grated Parmesan Cheese and lightly whip together.
Mix everything together and toss over a flame.
Serves four

#carbonara #pasta #italianfood #cucinaitaliana #cooking

24 Replies to “The First Carbonara Recipe Ever Written”

  1. Where is Carbonara REALLY from?

    That's a hard question to answer, because there are lots of stories about when and where carbonara began. BUT the first recipe for carbonara is a fact that hopefully we can all agree on.

    Here is the actual recipe from chefs Armando Lorenzini and Pierre Lencioni as it first appeared in "Vittles and Vice" by Patricia Bronté in 1952.

    Boil 1 ½ lbs of Tagliarini (thin wide noodles) according to the directions on the package.
    Meanwhile, chop and fry ½ pound of Mezzina (Italian Bacon).
    Drain the noodles and the bacon.
    Take 4 eggs and ¼ pound of grated Parmesan Cheese and lightly whip together.
    Mix everything together and toss over a flame.
    Serves four

    #carbonara #pasta #italianfood #cucinaitaliana #cooking

  3. Are you french or something? You LOOK french, by the way it calls for guanccialle

  6. A recipe isn't born when someone writes it down. Italians have been eating carbonara (different versions of it) for way way longer than 1952

  8. Are you high mate?
    Appreciate you struggle to find valuable or meaningful books in US …. But just use internet and access history books or archive available in countries like…. Italy?

  9. For anyone, Barilla made a short movie about the history of carbonara, go look for it! Awesome video by the way! As a roman, it was so nice to hear all the little carbonara variations that all the different families witheld and to confront them! Before social network came with the invention of a "true" carbonara nobody would discuss the different recipes from different nonnis, they were just their own original version!

  12. Food writer Alan Davidson and food blogger and historian Luca Cesari have both stated that carbonara was born in Rome around 1944, just after the liberation of the city, probably because of the bacon that flowed in quantity with the U.S. Army. Cesari adds that the dish is mentioned in an Italian movie from 1951, while the first attested recipe is in an illustrated cookbook published in Chicago in 1952 by Patricia Bronté. According to Cesari, the recipe was probably brought to the United States by an American serviceman who had passed through Rome during the Italian campaign or by an Italian American who had met it in Rome; this makes carbonara a dish that closely links Italy and the United States, according to Cesari. The controversial Italian academic and professor Alberto Grandi also said that carbonara's first attested recipe is American, citing Cesari, a claim that has been criticized in Italy. According to Grandi, the dish was created by Americans living in Italy after World War II.

  13. I wonder how long a dish needs to be around to be called "traditional" for italians, aka an excuse to yell at people for.

  15. I am yet to try carbonara since it's impossible to find pork where I live. I've been thinking of substituting it with tuna but I feel tuna and eggs won't mix very well.

  16. Wait how old are you? You said the recipes from 1952 and the recipe is younger. Than you

  17. It was invented as a breakfast meal during the war. The British wanted bacon and eggs for breakfast and the Italians responded with this dish to be as close as possible.

  20. I heard a story that it started with American soldiers in Europe after WW2. They had bacon and egg rations so they created a pasta recipe with those ingredients

  21. The name carbonara, (relating to carbon / charcoal) comes from the fact that it's full of pepper making it look charcoaley, so I don't understand how it could not contain pepper.

  23. I live in Ireland, as an Italian I make my carbonara with pancetta and parmesan because they are way easier to find here, then good pecorino romano and guanciale. I did it so many times I do prefer the taste of mine to the original recipe 😂

  24. i got really worried when he pulled out the bacon but he didnt do anything wrong phew

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