Find TV Listings
Listen To Our Radio Show
Follow Us
From America's Test Kitchen Season 2: Pesto, Carbonara, and Salad
Standard carbonara is often a lackluster spaghetti dish; it’s either covered in a leaden sauce or riddled with dry bits of cheese. To add to the problems, if the dish gets to the table a few minutes too late, the sauce congeals and the pasta turns rubbery. We set out to make the sauce silky and smooth. Eggs form the base of the lush, silky sauce, so we used three whole eggs to guarantee superior texture and richness. A combination of Pecorino Romano, with its distinctly sharp flavor, and Parmesan, with its sweet, nutty flavor, provided the most bite and creaminess. Raw garlic balanced the richness of the eggs and cheese.
In place of the traditional guanciale (salt-cured pork jowl), we used American bacon, which gave our dish the perfect crunch and a hint of sweetness and smoke. Skipping over the heavy cream—which deadened the flavor of the cheeses—we added white wine to achieve a rich, translucent sauce. Pouring the cheese and egg mixture right over the hot pasta in a warmed serving bowl helped ensure that everyone at the table could enjoy a perfectly coated portion of pasta and sauce.
Serves 4 to 6
Add regular table salt to the pasta cooking water, but use sea salt flakes, if you can find them, to season the dish. We like the full flavor they bring to the carbonara. Note that while either table salt or sea salt can be used when seasoning in step 3, they are not used in equal amounts.
Start Your 14-Day Free Trial Membership
Get all 13 years of America’s Test Kitchen:
Dear Friend,
It is hard to believe, but 2013 marks the thirteenth anniversary of the America’s Test Kitchen television show. Since our very first season, we have been public television’s most watched cooking show and have shared hundreds of our best recipes, equipment reviews, ingredient taste tests, and cooking techniques with our viewers. And, AmericasTestKitchen.com is the only place you’ll find everything we’ve ever featured on the show — every recipe, equipment rating, and taste test since the very first episode of America’s Test Kitchen.
As you may know, America’s Test Kitchen is the home of “Recipes That Work,” and our mission is to be your trusted source for recipes that work every time you use them. Our test cooks spend their days obsessively testing recipes until they offer consistently great results. As we like to say here, “We make the mistakes so you don’t have to.” So, try out our website for a 14-Day, No-Hassle Trial Offer. Whether you are new to America’s Test Kitchen or have been an avid viewer for years, I think you’ll find AmericasTestKitchen.com to be an invaluable resource.
Thanks for your consideration,
Christopher Kimball
Founder and Publisher
