Miso Carbonara | Marion's Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick about carbonara sauce? ›

Whisk Like You Mean It

You're using more egg yolks than whites here, which is what makes carbonara so rich and luxurious. But there's still two eggs-worth of whites in there. Whisking your eggs so that the whites are completely incorporated into the yolks will give your sauce a more uniform texture.

The only ingredients that will make your carbonara creamy are eggs. Rule number 2: do not turn on the stove while mixing the pasta with the eggs. If you do, the eggs will cook and your dish will turn into a kind of pasta with omelette. Also, after mixing, immediately serve your carbonara.

Egg yolks and whole eggs – The egg combined with the guanciale fat is what makes the stunning creamy carbonara sauce that the world is obsessed with. There's no need for cream for a creamy sauce! See section above for why. We use a combination of whole eggs, plus egg yolks for richness.

Also, to avoid a clumpy sauce, we recommend that you don't mix the yolks and parmesan together, before adding to the pasta, as the mixture will seize.

The golden rule to silky carbonara is to whisk your egg whites so that they're completely incorporated with the egg yolks. This will create a smooth, velvety sauce. As like any pasta dish, including carbonara, cook the pasta perfectly al dente so that it's soft but still firm, with some bite.

What not to put in Spaghetti Carbonara? Don't put garlic, cream, milk or butter. It is not needed. It is fine if you want to make a dish with those ingredients, but if you want to learn how to make this dish correctly, use only pecorino, eggs/egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale, and pasta water.

Should carbonara have cream? Typically carbonara sauce is only made of eggs, bacon, parmesan, olive oil, seasoning, and sometimes, vegetables. As for cream, Italians will tell you that is a big no no.

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

Must-have ingredients

that there are only five ingredients: pasta, pork cheek, eggs, cheese and pepper. That's it. A real carbonara does not contain onion, garlic, or cream.

What is the best meat for carbonara? ›

Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale, or cured pork jowl, though pancetta is often substituted, and both are fatty, salty and deeply savoury.

Traditional carbonara sauce is made with whole eggs, not just the yolks. However, some recipes do call for just yolks. In the traditional recipe, the eggs are beaten together with grated Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, and sometimes a bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

All the cooking of the eggs should be done in the residual heat from the pasta. Geek alert: Yolks will thicken at 65C and will start to scramble at about 70C, so the heat from the just-boiled water will be more than enough to thicken the yolks into a sauce that's velvety and clings to the pasta.

You want enough eggs for optimal sauce richness and creaminess, but too many makes the dish taste like a pasta custard; the eggs mute the flavor of the pork and cheese. Beyond taste, the eggs play a major role in the formation of the silky sauce.

Spice It Up. Adding fresh herbs to your canned pasta sauce makes it taste like it came straight from the garden. While the pre-made sauce may already include some herbs, adding your own will help enhance those flavors. Tossing in strips of basil, a sprig of thyme or some oregano can take your sauce to the next level.

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

In general, in Italy we have a bad opinion of cream. We prefer to use other ingredients, we consider the cream a "corrector" of culinary errors. If a restaurant puts cream in risotto or pasta, we Italians think it's a bad restaurant. However, there are dishes that contain cream and people who use it more than others.