Classic Carbonara with Damien Leroux

So today I want to prepare with you a very nice recipe of carbonara. The star ingredient is the guanciale. I will start to cut some beautiful slices. The guanciale is the cheeks of a pork that have been put in salt and also a lot of black pepper which create the fundamental recipe of carbonara. I put my pan at very low heat at the beginning especially to have the fat that will melt directly. Don't start too fast or after the fat will stay really inside and it's gonna be too fatty when you eat them. You try to separate as much as you can and then they will melt very slowly. During that time I'm gonna start to peel an onion. So now you can see in my pan that the fat is coming out. Now I will start to get a very little coloration on the guanciale. Like this it will bring a very beautiful and nice flavor. While they are coloring I will start to shave some parmesan. I have taken a 24 months parmesan which is gonna bring a lot of flavor. For me I like carbonara to be very strong flavor. More or less 100 grams of parmesan. So now you can see that all the guanciale have really released all the fat. Now they start to get a very beautiful golden color. Make sure it's not too hot and now I will add inside the onion for them to start to sweat. When you start sweating onion it's very important to not bring them in a too high temperature. Like this all the flavor of the onion will release inside the pan. So I have some black peppercorn. I put it directly inside. Then after I will just add some at the end fresh one to bring fresh pepper flavor. When you cook black pepper when you put raw pepper at the end tastes are completely different. When you cook it it releases a lot of flavor compared to when you put at the end it brings more the spiciness. So during the time my onion are cooking I'm gonna prepare the eggs. I will separate the white and the yolk. What is important is really to take your time to be sure that you don't leave any white part inside. For this recipe I have used some organic eggs. Which is very important as you're gonna let them cook very little. It's just to bring some thickness inside the pasta at the end. So now the onion are perfectly sweat. They start to get a very little coloration. Now I will add directly the pasta dry like this. You know it's kind of the same style of doing risotto. I will mix everything to incorporate the fat inside the pasta. I will mix very slowly to avoid any fat going out. And then when all the pasta will have absorbed the fat I will directly put some water. You know like these techniques we will use very little of water. What is important is to keep all the starch of the pasta will bring some natural thickener. Which will make the perfect texture for your pasta. So now I will take some hot water. Very important like this it doesn't stop the cooking. And I will just cover up. So now you can see all the pasta are inside the water. Don't put too much. We can always add little by little to be sure that we will manage perfectly the cooking. Because you need approximately 12 minutes to cook this pasta. But with these techniques sometimes it takes a little bit more time. So now I have my egg yolk. I will put inside all the parmesan cheese to mix it together. Then I will add just a little bit of water until it becomes a bit creamy. So at the beginning you mix very slowly to incorporate inside. No worry it's not grated carrots. Then you can see it start to make a very thick paste. Now I will take a bit of hot water. And then I will combine it together. So you need to obtain a very nice creamy texture. And inside I will add extra black peppercorn. Also I keep the same size of grinding. Because I want to have these little pieces of crunchy of fresh black pepper. So we are almost done. Now we just wait for the pasta to be cooked. So you can see I'm about halfway of the cooking of the pasta. I have almost removed all the water content of the pasta. So I will again add more water for the pasta to continue to cook. So carbonara came out as a recipe because it was prepared by the some guys that was working in the mine taking some charcoal out. And you know when they was cooking their pasta you know always with their dirty hand some black dots or black dust of charcoal was coming inside the pasta. Now we do it only with black pepper of course. But you can see all this beautiful color. Also the smell of the black pepper combined with guanciale is just delicious. So now my pasta are 90% cooked. I will reduce the liquid content and I will start to put a little bit less the temperature to reduce very slowly. In that way you know like it will help you to find the right balance before to put your eggs and to not have the pasta too hot or after it will overcook the egg yolk. So now my pasta are cooked. I will switch off completely the stove. You can see the texture it starts to be very creamy. You know like the balance between fat and the liquid from the water that I have put is perfect. So now I will add the full quantity of mix of parmesan and the egg yolk. Very quickly like this you avoid your egg yolk to be cooked. And then slowly you start mixing together until it becomes very creamy. So now what is important for me is to make sure that I will mix perfectly all the egg yolk to get the perfect texture of my pasta. I will mix like this to be sure it will combine well together. So if you feel that your cream is becoming too thick don't hesitate to add a little bit of water. You know it will make it creamier. Then you incorporate inside and you can see all the sauce going well around all the pasta. It's very creamy. So now as you can see since the beginning I didn't put salt to avoid oversalted the pasta. The guanciale is already very salty so I will try a bit of the cream. Like this I will see if I need a bit more salt. I will just add a very little pinch. Don't over salty as at the end we will put again some parmesan cheese. So now I have warmed up a plate so make careful to not be too hot. But it's very important to have a hot plate to put your pasta. Like this they don't cool down too quickly. Then I will just take my full pan. Then I will take every corner of the pan with a spatula to keep all this creamy sauce. Then after to finish now I will shave some fresh parmesan on top to put a bit everywhere. Like this it will bring a very beautiful flavor at the end. And now a bit of black pepper a bit everywhere. So now we have our carbonara pasta. I think all the guys from the mine will be happy with this.