Carbonara Day: the most loved formats, the tastes of Italians, the chef’s variants and three top recipes

In Milan for the presentation of the IX edition of Carbonara Day returning on April 6th There are all the great “master” of the most loved pasta ever by Barbara Agosti (Eggs) a Sarah Cicolini (Santopalato) a Luciano Monosilio (Luciano Italian cuisine). For her, the bacon and eggall bother, because we all love it, we do it following it The traditional Roman recipeor inventing because the cuisine is always, also and fortunately, inspiration and improvisation.

Carbonara: how much we love it (and why)

Second The investigation of the pastai of Italian Union Food and Astraricerche for Carbonara Day More than 1 Italian out of 2 (55.3%) prepares it several times a month and more than 1 in 5 (21.5%) does it once a month. Only 4.3% say they never prepare it at home. It is a transversal love, We love it because it is greedybut also because it is a tradition of tradition representative of our culture, because it puts joy and is a dish with balanced flavors. And it is also fast to prepare. The fundamental ingredient? Is the Guanciale, considered essential for over 6 out of 10 Italians (61.1%) and must be crunchy (43.8%) or at least slightly crunchy (45.3%).

Carbonara: how we love it (even with ravioli)

First thing to know: the choice of format for Italians is a serious choice. Nobody takes the first pack of pasta that is subjected, but carefully evaluates which it combines better at the moment and with the sauce. It is 93.4 % in fact that he confirms how the format is important for the success of the dish. But what is the right format to eat carbonara? Long pasta wins on short pasta 6 to 4. In fact, 6 out of 10 Italians (57.9%) are preferring long formats, against 36.8% who prefers short pasta. It is not surprising, therefore, that the more voted format For this dish they are the spaghetti (chosen by 59.9% of Italians), followed by rigatoni (chosen from 24.6%) and by half sleeves (19.5%). The most surprising thing? The Italians between 18 and 29 years of age to enjoy carbonara, choose ravioli!

Carbonara: the version of the experts

From Eggs Of Barbara Agostiin its restaurants in Rome and Milan, the carbonara is even there In 8 versions, the classic one of coursebut also that «Fire red» with nduja and stracciatellabut there is also the “carboca » with the goose egg. The “54”, with Tonnarelli, Gruviera and Bacon, is one of the favorite in the North, the most unusual without a doubt the “Purple” with duck breast and duck egg. Then there is the version of Sarah Cicolini Of Palatewhich also uses egg whites not to make the dish too heavy. Luciano Monosiliovery famous in the world for his carbonara (“The Orientals are crazy about it, especially the Japanese” he tells me) he does it with the spaghetto cooked in a bain -marie in a sauce at the UOV, to ensure that the pasta is completely covered. An intuition that goes hand in hand with the crunchy bacon to add only at the end.

The version of the three “Carbonara Master”

There are those who put the whole eggs and who only the yolks. Those who use steel boules, some plastic and some glass. However, there is one thing that the carbonber of Barbara Agosti (Eggs), Sarah Cicolini (Santopalato), Luciano Monosilio (Luciano Italian cuisine): They are among the most appreciated in the capital and beyond. Here, then, their three recipes:

Ingredients for 4 people: 400g of half sleeves of bronze -dried durum wheat semolina, 200g of cheek, 280g of Pecorino Romano DOP, 4 egg egg yolks, 2 egg egg whites, black pepper to taste

Procedure: Boil the water, without salt it. Cut the pillow into cubes, in harmonic proportions. When the water boils, pour the half sleeves. In a metal bastard, add the yolks, the egg white, the pecorino and the pepper to form a “salty eggnog”. Work the mixture with a whisk and let it rest. In a pan, cook the bacon until it becomes crunchy. When the pasta is almost al dente, pour the cheek with its cooking oil into the bowl and mix vigorously with the salty erassor to form a thick mixture. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. If necessary, add Pecorino and Grana Padano. Innervate with a sprinkling of pepper. Garnish with the crunchy bacon diced that you will have put aside.

Ingredients for 4 people: 500g of spaghetti, 5 egg yolks, 60g of egg whites, 300g of cubed cheek, deprived of pepper and cotenna, 200g of grated Roman pecorino, salt and pepper to taste

Procedure: Bring the water to a boil and salt it. In the meantime, heat an iron pan and place the bacon. Continue the frying by turning occasionally, making sure that all sides become crunchy. Put aside the fat of the boiling cheek. Dry the crunchy cubes of bacon on absorbent paper. Put the eggs (yolks and egg whites) in a boule, start mixing them with the fat of the bacon and the Roman pecorino. Turn vigorously by putting the boule on the boiling water, in order to make a bain -marie and pasteurize the eggs. Cook the spaghetti in the salted water and drain 2 minutes in advance. Put some bacon fat in a large pan, turn on the heat and add a little cooking water of the pasta. Mix for about 3 minutes, turn off the heat and pour the egg mixture, the bacon fat and pecorino cheese into the pan. Mix everything well and, if necessary, help with the cooking water to reach the creamy consistency. Finish the plate with the cheek
Crunchy, pecorino at will and ground pepper.

Ingredients for 4 people: 280 g Spaghettoni, 200 g cheek, big salt tooth
For the “Carbomix”: 4 egg yolks, 30 g grated pan Grana, 20 g grated Roman pecorino, 30 g cooking water, 20 g ground black pepper, cheek fat qb
For finishing: 20 g grated Roman pecorino, ground black pepper

Procedure: Bring the pasta cooking water to a boil (it rises to 10% per liter of water). Clean the bacon well from the cotenna using a saw knife, then cut into slices of about half a cm and obtain cubes. Heat a non -stick pan slightly, then add the bacon and make it sweat gently: in this way it will release its fat inside which the cheek will go to browse uniformly. As the bacon releases the fat, drain it from the pan filtering it through a fine mesh strainer. Drop the spaghetti in salted water until complete cooking. Drain the cheek on a sheet of absorbent paper. Pour the cheeses into a large bowl, then add the egg yolks. Grind the pepper inside the bowl. Pour a ladle of cooking water and mix the ingredients with a whisk, until you have a homogeneous mixture. Pour about half of the bacon fat inside the mix. Cook the mixture in a bain -marie, as if it were a eggnog, whipping and banging continuously and with a slow pace. The mixture will be ready, when, by veiling a spoon or a spatula, it will be possible to mark a clear line with the finger, without the “coli” yolk. Drain the pasta very well, which must be completely dry, and keep the cooking water. Add a little cooking water inside the bowl and mix well. Finish to stir the dough by bringing the bowl back to the bain -marie. Once well stuck add the bacon, again a ladle of water and bring back to the bain -marie. Mix well then let it rest for about 1 minute on the water bath. Song the spaghetti with a nest, helping itself with pliers and ladles. Complete with a sprinkling of Roman pecorino and a minced reel pepper.