“The success of this classic Italian dish lies in selecting the finest ingredients, keeping it simple, and having spot-on timing when it comes to technique.” - The Food Fox

After spending some time in Italy during August 2024, I've been avidly trying my hand at making the best classic spaghetti carbonara. In Italy, it has become quite a benchmark dish and every trattoria has one on their menu. 

This deceptively simple dish of pork, eggs and cheese is incredibly delicious and only takes a few minutes to put together. The success of it, however, lies in selecting the finest ingredients, keeping it simple, and having spot-on timing when it comes to technique.

Traditionally made with cubed guanciale – Italian cured pork cheek with a high fatty content – the fat is rendered in a pan and helps to thicken the sauce. Due to the lack of access to guanciale in South Africa, I’ve selected South African pancetta, already sliced into thin strips, chopped into smaller pieces. 

Because pancetta’s fat content is slightly less than guanciale, I’ve added a little butter to the olive oil while frying it. With regard to eggs, I always use free-range extra-large, and you’ll get varying degrees of yellow yolk colour, depending on what the hens have been grazing. 

When It Comes To Ingredients, Quality Is Everything

Some prefer a richer sauce by only using yolks, but I like using whole eggs. For the cheese, I brought back a 30-month matured Il Nero, an award winning cow’s milk hard cheese, similar to Parmigiano Reggiano, absolutely delicious. Some purists swear by pecorino cheese, but I prefer an aged parmigiano, or in this case, the Il Nero.

In terms of technique, the cured pork is fried in a pan until the fat renders, then the freshly cooked pasta is added to the pan off the heat (the pan should have cooled for a few minutes), reserving some of the pasta water. 

Toss the pasta in the fatty pork, then add ⅓ cup of pasta water along with 3 whisked eggs and some grated cheese, tossing for a few seconds until the pasta is just coated in a thin, silky layer of sauce. Dish up and serve at once, because freshly prepared carbonara waits for no one.

Classic Carbonara: Tips for A Perfect Result

To make the egg part easier, I whisk the eggs with the cheese, seasoning it well with salt & pepper, before stirring into the pasta. The residual heat of the freshly cooked pasta and pasta water will thicken and gently cook the eggs. If the pan is too hot, it will scramble. If the pan and pasta is cold, the sauce might be slippery. But if you get it right, it is simple perfection.

Here is my best spaghetti carbonara recipe, served with a glass of Alvi’s Drift’s finest, award-winning Reserve Chardonnay 2021 – a 100% barrel-fermented, elegantly balanced wine with a beautiful complexity, dense mouthfeel and refreshing acidity.

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

• Salted water for cooking
• 15 ml olive oil
• 100 g pancetta, chopped
• 15-30 ml butter
• 3 extra-large eggs (plus an extra yolk, if you prefer a richer result)
• 1 cup aged parmesan cheese, finely grated, plus extra for serving
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 400 g spaghetti

Method

1. Place the water in a large pot over high heat. While it is heating, prepare the pancetta. In a wide pan, heat the olive oil and fry the pancetta over medium heat for 2 minutes, then add the butter and continue to fry for another 2-3 minutes until it is crispy and the butter starts to turn a light golden brown.
2. Remove from heat (reserve a few fried pieces for topping). In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk the eggs, then add half the cheese. Season generously with salt and pepper, and whisk again. Set aside.
3. Once the pasta water starts boiling, add the spaghetti and cook for exactly 7 minutes in rapidly boiling water, stirring with tongs so it doesn’t stick together. Reserve half a cup of pasta water, then use tongs to transfer the spaghetti directly into the pancetta pan.
4. Toss spaghetti with the pancetta, then add ⅓ cup of pasta water, the prepared egg mixture, and toss together gently until the sauce just coats the pasta.
5. Plate immediately, top with more cheese and fried pancetta, and serve at once.

For more recipes by The Food Fox, visit her Instagram feed @the_foodfox

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