When I have a craving for pasta, there’s nothing our family likes more—absolutely nothing—than spaghetti carbonara. Winter, spring, summer, or fall, this dish is the ultimate in comfort food. The keys to a great spaghetti carbonara—like any culinary creation—are the quality of the ingredients, the temperature of the eggs, and your technique, particularly when it comes to crafting the sauce.
Our insider tip: remove your eggs from the fridge and let them get to room temperature as a first step. Cold eggs = lumpy and clumpy sauce, which no one wants. Room temperature eggs = smooth, lump-free sauce. And, to ensure your sauce is velvety, yummy and smooth, remember not to mix the sauce with the noodles on a flame-lit burner. Once you drain the noodles, you will notice that they still retain heat, which helps you achieve a smooth egg sauce and not scrambled eggs. There’s no need to mix up everything over heat on a stove, in fact, in a reverse Nike slogan, just don’t do it.
Try this quick and easy pasta dish with The Baconer’s Smoked Lardons instead of pancetta. These decadent little flavor bombs perfectly accent the bucatini coated in creamy egg and Parmigiano—Geez, I’m drooling just typing this up. Finish it off with plenty of black pepper and parsley and this one’s a keeper! Buon Appetito!
Try this quick and easy pasta dish with The Baconer’s Smoked Lardons
instead of pancetta. These decadent little flavor bombs perfectly
accent the bucatini coated in creamy egg and Parmigiano
Fill a large pot with cold water and plenty of salt and heat it up. At the same time, remove the eggs from the fridge and let them get to room temperature.
In the meantime
Cook the Smoked Lardons in a pan (large enough to fit the pasta later) until desired crispiness is achieved.
For cooking tips, we suggest placing a single layer of lardons in a cold skillet with just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.
Set heat to medium-high heat and completely cook off the water.
Lower to medium heat and brown the first side of the lardons.
Flip and fry the second side of lardons to desired crispiness.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the Smoked Lardons from the pan, and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain, saving the bacon fat for a later use.
In the same pan add olive oil, cooked lardons, garlic and red pepper flakes.
Cook on low heat until you can smell the garlic and everything is nicely incorporated.
While the bacon and friends are cooking:
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the grated Parmesan cheese and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
Returning to the pot of water:
Once it reaches a nice rolling boil, add pasta and cook just until halfway done...seriously! When you bite it should still have some white at the center. It will cook further after the next couple of steps.
Lift pasta out with tongs and move into the deep saucepan with the garlic, lardons and red pepper flakes. Add the butter and stir in to melt.
Transfer to a serving bowl (or keep it in the same one if you are serving directly) and quickly add the egg and cheese mixture.
Grind black pepper over the dish, toss very well and serve immediately.
