Carbonara

When friends come over unexpectedly, one of my go-to dishes is carbonara. It’s an easy to prepare dish, and hits the spot after a long day.

Mom learned this dish in 1976 from Mario and Rose Giordano, when they visited from Italy. Tita Rose was the only daughter of “Tata” Rosario Vacani Roxas. Tata helped Mom take care of myself and Brian when we were growing up in Pampanga.

The use of pancetta and bacon is interchangeable in this recipe because of the availability of pancetta in the Philippines. Bacon is more affordable than pancetta, and because of its familiarity to the Filipino palate, is a more acceptable flavor.

Make sure to use a high-quality hot sauce, made with hot peppers like habañero or siling labuyo (bird’s eye chili). In the 1970s, the most common imported hot sauce was Tabasco. So I’ve grown up usually using it. Your favorite brand of hot sauce will suffice. If in doubt, use ground white pepper or black pepper.

This recipe serves about 6-8 persons.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams pancetta or bacon
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 cup all-purpose cream or whipping cream
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ cup grated cheese (use cheddar, Parmesan, Edam, or any combination of the three)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 dash hot sauce or ½ teaspoon ground white pepper or ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 250 grams uncooked spaghetti
• ¼ cup butter

Procedure:

1. Cut pancetta or bacon into pieces ⅛” long.
2. Prepare a draining plate for the bacon by lining it with paper towels. Set near cooking area.
3. Get a frying pan and place over low heat. Add cooking oil. Add bacon. Stir and toss bacon to ensure even frying. Cook bacon until it is medium brown and crispy. Remove from heat. Using a pair of tongs, remove bacon from frying pan and place on prepared plate lined with paper towels. Set aside to drain.
4. The oil left on the frying pan is rendered bacon fat. Get 1 tablespoon of rendered bacon fat and place in a bowl.
5. Add cream, egg yolks, cheese, salt, and hot sauce to bowl with bacon fat. Mix well until well blended. Set aside.
6. Cook spaghetti according to package directions in a large pot. Once cooked, immediately drain water. Return spaghetti to pot.
7. Cut butter into 8 portions. Add butter to spaghetti and gently toss to coat noodles thoroughly.
8. Add cream mixture to spaghetti and toss to coat noodles.
9. Add bacon and toss noodles.
10. Serve immediately.

Notes:

• Bacon can be prepared ahead of time. Store in an airtight container so it retains its crispiness.
• The rendered bacon fat can also be set aside by storing in a clean airtight container after it has cooled.
• Use white ground pepper if you want a sauce that has less heat than hot sauce, and you want to have a clean look to the sauce. Use black ground pepper if the look doesn’t matter.

Photos by Rica Palomo-Espiritu