This simple and now well-known pasta dish has a bit of interesting history. Carbonara can be made with any long pasta but spaghetti is probably the most familiar to us. It takes few ingredients, cooks quickly, and is hearty and filling. So let’s take a look at some of the history and some of the controversy as well!
Carbonara (Italian: [karboˈnaːra]) is an Italian pasta dish from Rome[1][2] based on eggs, cheese (Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano),[1] bacon (guanciale or pancetta), and black pepper. Spaghetti is usually used as the pasta; however, fettuccine, rigatoni, linguine or bucatini can also be used. The dish was created in the middle of the 20th century.[3]
Ok, so that’s pretty straightforward from the opening paragraph on Wikipedia.
Reading further though here are some tasty bits:
Since the name is derived from carbonaro (the Italian word for charcoal burner), some believe the dish was first made as a hearty meal for Italian charcoal workers.[1] In parts of the United States the etymology gave rise to the term "coal miner's spaghetti". It has even been suggested that it was created as a tribute to the Carbonari ("charcoalmen"), a secret society prominent in the early, repressed stages of Italian unification.[13]
(snip)
Pasta alla Carbonara was included in Elizabeth David's Italian Food, an English-language cookbook published in Great Britain in 1954.[16] However, the dish is not present in Ada Boni's 1930 classic La Cucina Romana and is unrecorded before the Second World War. In 1950 it was described in the Italian newspaper "La Stampa" as a dish sought by the American officers after the allied liberation of Rome in 1944.[17] It was first described after the war as a Roman dish, when many Italians were eating eggs and bacon supplied by troops from the United States.[18]
Ok, so let’s take a look at some other discussions of the origin:
From Serious Eats
Although carbonara's main ingredients are similar to those of gricia and amatriciana, the dish is widely considered a mid-20th-century Roman invention, with no connection to Amatrice. Its far-fetched origin myths are well known. One often-repeated legend is that Roman cooks made it with American soldiers' K-rations of bacon and eggs. In The Oxford Companion to Italian Food, Gillian Riley rebuffs the notion, saying, "The absurdity of this at a time of hardship and intolerable shortages calls for no comment." Another legend states it was a favorite dish of carbonari (charcoal burners), which has a coincidental linguistic similarity, but which Riley likewise dismisses: "It is equally strange that the wild and lawless carbonari...might have invented this dish." Despite lacking a shred of evidence to support them, Romans widely repeat both myths. More plausibly, carbonara is a rich and decadent dish of Roman origin that emerged from the postwar years and reflected the growing wealth of the Italian capital and increased access to formerly cost-prohibitive ingredients. In any case, one thing's for sure: Its popularity in Rome is undeniable, and rivaled only by cacio e pepe.
Now there are a few variations that get mentioned in the Wiki article. Adding garlic is one, as is adding chopped parsley to the finished dish. Seems these may be more American in origin. Having seen a recipe that included both, and having them both on hand I decided to try it. I’ve never really attempted to make Carbonara because I always worried I’d just end up with scrambled eggs instead of the nice creamy sauce but this recipe made it seem easy enough.
Spaghetti Carbonara from Damned Delicious
Ingredients
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; reserve 1/2 cup water and drain well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and Parmesan; set aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes; reserve excess fat.
- Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low.
- Working quickly, stir in pasta and egg mixture, and gently toss to combine; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add reserved pasta water, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
I will note that I did not drain the pasta, instead I just used tongs to remove it from the big pasta pot and add to the skillet. Because there was water clinging to the linguine I ended up not needing to add any further pasta water. The tongs were also very useful for tossing it as I poured the egg and cheese mixture into the pasta. Chopsticks are also very useful for tossing long pastas! One thing I noted about this recipe is she says to reserve the excess bacon fat but then never tells you what to do with it. Perhaps she meant to indicate it should be drained off instead so that the final dish is not too greasy? In any case I would definitely recommend this as a quick and easy dish.
Garnished with fresh chopped parsley and extra grated parmesan!
So, fellow WFD’ers, what’s for dinner at your table tonight? I know it’s a holiday weekend and I suspect there’s going to be lots of grilling happening! I got a nice package of pork loin chops and a big package of portobello mushroom caps so I know I will be firing up my Weber!
date |
# |
diarist |
Our Upcoming WFD Schedule
7/09: |
v10.51 |
esquimaux |
7/16: |
v10.52 |
TX Scotia |
7/23: |
v11.01 |
open |
7/30: |
v11.02 |
open |
8/06: |
v11.03 |
open |
8/13: |
v11.04 |
open |
Please let me know if you would like to contribute! Hard to believe we are about to embark on our 11th year! Thank you all so much for your continued support!