Serves 10
- 1kg pasta (rigatoni, spaghetti or bucatini (tube-like-spaghetti))
- 10 eggs
- 500g guanciale (bacon from the pig’s cheek)
- 300/400g pecorino romano… and not parmigiano! (also keep some for serving)
- Pepper, pepper, pepper
- Optionally some white wine
Boil water for the pasta.
Cut the guanciale in relatively thing slices (see photo). Fry it in the pan until the fat becomes transparent and the meat part starts cooking a little (don’t let it burn!). Adding a sip of white wine doesn’t hurt (not mandatory). There will be some fat liquid left in the pan, that’s normal and required as we’ll add the pasta in there later.
Add salt to the boiling water, cook the pasta. Check it 1-2 minutes before the end of the indicated time to make sure you don’t overcook it (it’s even advised to stop cooking it slightly before the indicated time, to eat it “al dente”, still a little firm).
The eggs: in a large bowl, whisk 7 full eggs and of the 3 last ones use only the egg yolk. Grate the pecorino in that mixture, then cover the whole surface with grinded pepper. Mix until obtaining a sort of cream.
Once they are ready, add the pasta to the guanciale at low heat, toss. Add the egg mixture and half à cup of pasta water and mix well, so that you nicely cover all pasta with a thin layer of egg cream.
Once served, add grated pecorino and as much pepper as you like/can!
Source: Emanuele
Note: talk to several Romans and you risk ending up with different recipes, disagreeing among each other on crucial points such as the presence of onions, authorized or not