Carbonara without cream: yolks, cheese, guanciale and pasta water
Four ingredients and one skill: turning yolks, cheese and starchy water into a creamy sauce without scrambling them. Roman carbonara has no cream, because the emulsion of yolk, rendered guanciale fat and cooking water is thicker and silkier than anything from a carton. The whole trick is temperature: yolk sets at 65 °C, so the pan comes off the heat before the sauce goes in.
Your own work in that: 28 min.
- Guanciale 10 min
- Egg sauce 5 min
- Pasta 10 min
- Emulsion 3 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneStart the guanciale in a cold pan
Cut the guanciale into 1 cm cubes and spread them in a single layer in a cold, dry pan. Only now set it over medium-low heat. Add no oil: the fat from the guanciale is all the dish needs.
Ingredients: 400 g spaghetti · 150 g guanciale or pancetta · 1 tbsp salt for the water
TipThe cold pan is not fussiness: the fat melts slowly and evenly, giving the meat time to colour before it burns. Cubes dropped into a hot pan scorch on the outside before they give up any fat.
Cold pan, single layer, no oilRender it to amber
Cook 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and the pieces are amber and crisp at the edges but still soft inside. Take off the heat and leave them in the pan. Do not pour the fat away.
Amber edges, soft centres, the fat staysGrate the cheese and mix the sauce
Set aside 2 tablespoons of the grated cheese for serving. In a large bowl mix 4 yolks and 1 whole egg with the rest of the cheese and the pepper using a fork. You get a thick, almost crumbly paste that clings to the fork. That is correct: you will loosen it with pasta water. The eggs in carbonara are only lightly set — for children, pregnant women and older people use pasteurised eggs.
Ingredients: 5 pcs eggs · 100 g pecorino romano or parmesan · 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
TipOne whole egg alongside the yolks adds a little white, which binds water better, while not scrambling as readily as two whole eggs would. Grate the cheese to a powder: coarse shavings will not melt at this low a temperature.
Yolks, cheese, pepper: a thick pasteCook the pasta in less water
Bring 3 litres of water to the boil with a tablespoon of salt (less water than usual, so it carries more starch). Cook the spaghetti one minute less than the packet says. Before draining, scoop out two cups of the cooking water.
Temper the sauce
Pour half a cup of the hot pasta water in a thin stream into the egg mixture, whisking with the fork the whole time. The paste loosens into a smooth, pale cream. This is tempering: the yolks warm gradually, so they are less likely to set on the hot pasta.
Water in a thin stream, whisking without pauseCombine off the heat
Tip the drained pasta into the pan with the guanciale and its fat and toss. Wait a minute, until the pan stops sizzling, and only then pour in the egg sauce. Toss vigorously with tongs 1–2 minutes, until the sauce thickens and coats every strand. Too thick? A spoon of pasta water. Too thin? Put the pan back on low heat for 5 seconds and lift it off.
Ingredients: 5 pcs eggs · 100 g pecorino romano or parmesan · 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
TipYolk proteins begin to set at 65 °C and by 70 °C you have scrambled eggs. Pasta straight from the boiling water is over 90 °C and the pan may still be hot from the guanciale, so that minute's pause is not caution but a condition of success. A thermometer in the finished sauce reads 60–65 °C.
Pan off the heat, tossed hardServe immediately
Transfer to warmed plates, finish with the rest of the cheese and fresh pepper. Carbonara does not wait: after five minutes the sauce soaks into the pasta and loses its gloss. Reheated, it loses its creaminess, so cook only what will be eaten.
Warm plates, cheese, pepper, at once
Before you start
Rescuing a split sauce
If the sauce curdles, take the pan off, add 2 tablespoons of cold water and toss hard: some of the lumps will dissolve. Next time wait longer before adding the eggs.
Cacio e pepe and gricia
The same pasta without eggs, with cheese, pepper and water, is cacio e pepe. With guanciale, cheese and water but no eggs, it is gricia. All three rest on the same emulsion.
Without guanciale
Smoked bacon works, but it brings smoke that carbonara does not have. If you use smoked, cut it to 120 g and salt the pasta water more lightly.
