Carbonara

Ingredients

• 400 g rigatoni or spaghetti
• 200 g guanciale, cut into thick batons
• For the sauce
• 4 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 whole egg, at room temperature
• 80 g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
• 2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground

Method

1. 1
   Place the guanciale batons in a cold, dry frying pan and set over a medium-low flame. Render slowly, turning occasionally, until the fat is fully translucent and the edges of the meat have crisped. Remove from the heat. Spoon a small amount of the rendered fat into the egg mixture before it is needed. The guanciale should be crisp at the edges and yielding within — not uniformly hard.
2. 2
   In a bowl, beat the four yolks and the whole egg together with the finely grated Pecorino Romano and the coarsely ground black pepper until the mixture is uniform and smooth. Stir in the spoonful of reserved guanciale fat. The mixture should be thick but fluid — it should fall from the whisk in a slow, cohesive ribbon.
3. 3
   Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the pasta to a point noticeably short of done — very al dente — as it will continue cooking in the pan. Reserve at least 250 ml of the pasta cooking water before draining. The pasta should resist cleanly at the centre when pressed between the teeth.
4. 4
   Transfer the drained pasta directly into the guanciale pan. Toss over a medium flame for one minute, allowing the pasta to absorb residual fat and pick up colour from the guanciale. Remove the pan entirely from the heat.
5. 5
   This is where the dish lives or dies. With the pan off the heat, pour the egg-and-cheese mixture over the pasta. Toss vigorously and continuously, adding the reserved starchy pasta water in small increments — a splash at a time — to encourage emulsification. The residual heat of the pasta and pan must be sufficient to cook the egg into a creamy, custard-like coating that envelops every tube or strand. If the sauce tightens, add another splash of pasta water and continue tossing. If the pan is too hot, the eggs will scramble; if too cool, the sauce will not bind. The finished sauce should be glossy, fluid enough to move when the pan is tilted, and coat the back of a spoon without breaking.
6. 6
   Serve immediately, directly into warmed bowls, with an additional grating of Pecorino Romano and a further turn of black pepper over each portion. The carbonara continues to set as it cools — delay at this stage is irreversible.