Posted on by

The Perfect Carbonara

Sometimes I feel like carbonara…

As the great grandchild of immigrants, I never felt entitled to Italian Citizenship, but it felt great to be welcomed by my ancestors’ country. We are all on this Earth together, so the more love the better and the more carbonara the better.

Recipe for 2 People

Ingredients:
180g Bucatini
20g Grana Padano (Sub: Parmesan)
40g Pecorino Romano
1g (8-12 Whole Peppercorns)
100g Guanciale
2 Yolks
1 Whole Egg

Steps:
For MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY for this dish, I’ve included some of the PREP steps that can be done during cooking. If it’s your first time making this dish or you like taking your time, you can do all of the steps labelled PREP before cooking.

Start heating a pot of lightly salted water. The sauce is already pretty salty.
PREP your guanciale by removing the outer layer and slicing into small 1cm blocks.
Fry the guanciale on LOW, allowing the fat to render and the fat to turn translucent.
Once there is a bit of grease in the pan, add your whole peppercorns and toast for 1 minute.
Remove the peppercorns and continue frying the guanciale until golden brown. Then remove from the heat and set aside.
By now, your pasta water has probably reached a boil, add your pasta and cook until 1 minute shy of al dente.
PREP your sauce in a large heatproof bowl by separating your egg yolks, grating your cheese, and grinding the pepper.
After the pasta has cooked for about 5 minutes, add a spoonful of the starchy pasta water to your sauce bowl. Make sure to stir while slowly adding the water OR use a serving dish to cool the pasta water before adding it.
OPTIONAL: Add some or all of the guanciale grease to your sauce bowl. I like adding it all, but I LOVE the taste of guanciale. It’s a strong flavor, so taste to make sure you like it first.
When the pasta is done, add it to your sauce bowl and mix everything vigorously over the steamy pasta pot. Continue mixing until the sauce thickens up, then add some pasta water to thin the sauce to your liking.

#carbonara #italianfood #pasta

14 Replies to “The Perfect Carbonara”

  1. What this video IS: A creative way for me to express the feeling of heartbreak I had when a country that I love changed their invitation to a rejection suddenly and without warning… and it's also a carbonara recipe.

    What this video is NOT: Ignoring or diminishing the struggles and heartbreak of anyone else in the world who struggles with citizenship, identity or acceptance. I am very lucky to have a place to call home, and though it hurts to put in years of time and thousands of dollars towards a "second home," There are people in this world who don't have anywhere they feel safe or welcome, and that is a pain that I could never put into a video like this. All I can share is my own story and my own feelings in hopes that it resonates with the stories and feelings of others.

    This video is also NOT a statement on what citizenship law should be or what anyone with immigrant ancestors is entitled to. Parents, grandparents, great grandparents. 2 years, 5 years, 10 years. Wherever you draw the line, people will feel excluded. And though exclusion is bad, I understand why governments need to draw a line. There is nuance to this topic that a 70 second video just can't dive into, and there are nuances to my family history that this video also leaves out.

    This is the START of a conversation, the beginning of my personal journey towards citizenship, and the initial expression of a unique personal feeling in my own unique personal way… and it's also a carbonara recipe.

    I hope you enjoyed it.

  3. I'm going through the same thing, more than 3 years gathering documents, spending a lot of money and now everything i did was for nothing.

  5. Brother. Let me tell you something. You belong here. This land is also yours. Share it well and make it the best land on the earth. There is a reason you are here. Respect brother. ❤❤❤

  6. Thank god. Europe doesn't need any more Americans. Stay over there with the orange dictator.

  7. Same thing happened to me and my family but we might have just made it as we summit final froms just before it changed 😅

  8. It doesn't help with the damage inflicted by two racist, intolerant governments playing with rights and documents of people, but you are aware that Italy is NOT a Lalaland where everything is picture perfect and happy, right? The type of life you described is NOT the average Italian life, outside of movies and stories.

  9. With all due respect the story is lovely however you are just an American unfortunately

  12. I hope by conveying to you that you've truly made a difference in our lives with your work, you'll have just one more reason to keep going at it with a head held high. P.S. I finally made carbonara after the last couple of videos. Almost nailed it first try and my family loved it. Couldn't have done it without ya.

  13. TL;DW Dude was trying to escape to the EU to get away from the ongoing hell of the USA. I guess you can’t do that anymore. That does suck.

Comments are closed.