Tony Finch – blog

In recent weeks I have been obsessed with carbonara: I have probably been eating it far too frequently. Here’s my recipe. It works well for 1 - 3 people but gets unweildy at larger quantities.

ingredients

Rough quantities per person:

• 100g pasta

  Spaghetti is traditional but I’ll use any shape.

• 50g streaky bacon

  The traditional ingredient is guanciale; maybe I’ll try that one day for a special occasion. I use 4 rashers of the thin-sliced bacon that we get, which is 60g.

• one large egg

  Typically about 60g

• 40g grated parmesan

  Again, for a special occasion I might try the traditional pecorino romano. My rule of thumb is there should be as much cheese as half the weight of the egg, but I usually round it up so there’s 100g of mixture.

• lots and lots of ground black pepper

method

• Get the kettle on the boil and measure out the pasta.

• While waiting for the kettle, shred the bacon into a pan.

  I use kitchen scissors. (I ought to get our knives sharpened.)

  The pan needs to be big enough to stir everything together at the end.

• Get the pasta cooking in another pan.

  Don’t salt the water, there’s plenty in the bacon and cheese.

  Use relatively little water so that it becomes starchy while cooking. The pasta water will loosen and stabilize the sauce.

• Fry the bacon until it has taken on some nice colour.

  I bash it about with a wooden spoon to make sure the bits have separated. It will probably be done before the pasta, which is fine. Turn off the heat and let it rest.

• When the cooking is under control, break the egg(s) into a bowl, and grate the cheese into the eggs.

  I do this on top of the weighing scales.

• Grind lots of pepper onto the cheese and egg and mix them all together. It will make a thick sludge.

• When the pasta is done to your liking, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the pan with the bacon.

  I find a slotted spoon carries a nice quantity of water with the pasta. Many of the recipes I have seen say that the pasta should be slightly under-done at this point, because it will finish cooking in the sauce, but that doesn’t work for me.

• Mix the bacon and pasta and deglaze the pan.

  It should be cool enough after this point that the egg will not curdle immediately when you add it.

• Add the egg and cheese and mix over a gentle heat.

  As you stir, the cheese will melt and the sauce will become smooth and creamy. If it’s too thick, add a tablespoon of pasta water. If it’s too runny, boost the heat to help the egg thicken up.

• Dish up and serve.

  Best eaten immediately: it’s nicest hot but it cools relatively fast.