We lived with Italians when we were living in London. They were Sam's friends from his school days in Rome. Everyone ended up in London after University. Anyway, we know how much passion goes into cooking pasta and how much work goes into preparing the perfect pasta dish. Yes, you can make an easy simple pasta dish, but it probably won't taste the same as what we were served back in those days. It seems like you have found 'almost' the authentic way of preparing Carbonara (would skip out on the chives, but it's adds colour and is your touch, so don't take our advice). Ah, we miss a well-prepared bowl of pasta!
Thanks for the recipe and glad you got to spend time with Mark and Bianca. Hope the mouse is gone!
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Thanks, I agree cooking pasta properly is not as easy as it seems and yes I'm aware that the chives aren't part of the original recipe but it does add a touch of freshness to it that matches perfectly. Same goes if you add thin slices of leek during the guanciale grilling process, but then the difference to the original would be more obvious in the second case.
It's your own creation and we like it! We're just trying to remember what our friends did and we remember that they saved some pasta water to add to the last 'cooking' process when the egg is being cooked by the heat of the pasta. The salted pasta water helps retain some moisture that gets lost as the beaten eggs are cooked. Is guanciale pretty much the same as pancetta?
Nope guanciale takes spices in the preparation and has a more unique flavour which reminds me of spanish Jamon Iberico, nothing like like it though.
Ah ok, more flavorful with the spices, but still (at least from the pictures) looks fatty like pancetta. Good addition to the dish ;)
Pancetta will substitute just fine ofc, it's also delicious. Guanciale is just more rich but it's pretty hard to find unless you got an Italian deli nearby.