Carbonara | Basics with Babish

hey folks about a year ago a group of real-deal Italian chefs savagely critique some of the biggest carbonara videos on the internet and as you may remember my entry was not very well received since then I've dreamt of nothing but Redemption so today we're gonna take a crack at two different versions of carbonara a real-deal old-school Italian version at a more modern less traditional version that's sure to piss him off let's get down to basics [Music] all right so before we can make carbonara we've got to make carbonara which by definition is made with guanciale a type of cured pork jowl it is very delicious but a little hard to find so if you can't find it you can sub with pancetta if you're in a pinch I've got maybe a half pound here that I'm gonna cut into relatively sizable chunks and then set aside to make one of the essential elements of any carbonara dish the egg slurry into a medium bowl or measuring cup goes 3 large eggs and 1 egg yolk for a little added richness and then it's time to finely grate and measure out four ounces of cheese truly traditional kada panada uses 100% pecorino romano cheese but is commonly balanced out with parmigiano-reggiano if you want it a little less sharp and a little more nutty I'm going for a 50/50 ratio into which I'm going to dump our beaten eggs we're then going to beat this whole affair together with a fork until homogenous the only other thing you're gonna want to add is a whole lot of freshly ground black pepper we're not adding any salt yet because of guanciale can very insult enos and we don't want to over salt our dish beat that together until well incorporated and then it's time to head over to the stovetop where we are introducing the guanciale to a cold pan we're then gonna turn the heat to medium this is gonna cook the guanciale more slowly and allow more of its fat to render out which in traditional carbonara is a good thing once it is fully cooked but not too crispy we're gonna kill the heat and put our pasta in the hot tub the water is select oakum a Amadei or as salty as the sea and we got to keep it moving to prevent it from sticking together and then a cool trick to determine pastas doneness is to take out a strand and eat it see if it's done don't throw it against the wall you forget weirdo as you can see our pork Gela is almost entirely stopped bubbling that's exactly where we want it to be and as soon as the pasta is done we're dumping it directly into the saute pan with the guanciale once all the pasta is being added we're going to toss it around in the pan ensuring that it is evenly covered in all that guanciale fat and you want to work quickly here because the only thing that's going to cook our egg slurry and make it smooth and creamy is the residual heat from the pasta so waste no time getting the egg and cheese mixture in there and then agitate rigorously this is going to help emulsify the sauce and keep it creamy and prevent it from curdling if you find that it's not as smooth as you'd like you can add a little bit of pasta water like a quarter cup but ideally it should look just like this now we're going to taste for seasoning needs a little bit of salt then you can optionally toss the pasta this is gonna help aerate it a little bit get that sauce super creamy and then finally it's time to plate up I like to use a carving fork to twirl the pasta into a giant cylinder like this one for presentation on a long narrow plate we are then of course going to want to top this hedonistic helix with the remaining guanciale from the bottom of the pan along with any remnants of that creamy sauce and there you have it folks I'm going to say it one last time got a banana in its purest most authentic and traditional form unless of course I got something wrong in which case I'm in trouble but at this point I'm gonna ask all Italians to leave the room because it's time to make carbonara this starts very much the same way with parmesan and Romano cheese grated into a bowl along with three eggs and one egg yolk beaten together with a few healthy twists of freshly ground black pepper now when most Americans make carbonara they reach for the bacon if you can't find guanciale or pancetta and you got to use bacon just go for the thick cut stuff and likewise we're gonna slice about half a pound of it into big old chunks then likewise we're gonna start these guys off in a cold pan because we want to render out as much fat as possible but not for the same reason you'll also notice that I'm using a nonstick pan that's because in the stainless bacon can leave a lot of fond on the bottom of the pot which for once we don't want as it might make our final pasta look kind of dirty once the bacon is fully cooked and the fat rendered out we are going to strain it because this version of carbonara is going to have a much lighter sauce we're just going to strain off all but about two tablespoons worth of bacon fat which we're gonna leave in the pan and then we're gonna return it over medium-low heat to add the most egregious ingredient of all garlic this is considered sacrilege in the world of God blue nada but I think it tastes really really good and so will you we're just sauteing for one minute until fragrant before killing the heat next up I see far too many people just dumped pasta out of the box in the water which inevitably leads to disaster give this a shot where you dump the pasta into the palm of your hand and then pull it out using your hand like a real gentleman and as you can see this time I'm going with bucatini next up just like last time we're adding the pasta directly to the pan but this time we're gonna add about 1/3 of a cup of starchy pasta water which is gonna help make a cohesive sauce then we are adding the egg and cheese mixture to the party and if you find yourself in a pickle like this where your pan is too small to toss the pasta no biggie just dump it back into the emptied pasta pot just make sure that you keep it moving because there's a lot of residual heat in here and we don't want to end up with pasta and scrambled eggs so just wildly agitate that around and then it's time to taste for seasoning add salt and pepper as necessary and assess your sauces thickness if it's not quite thick enough you can rescue it with a little bit of finely grated Parmesan just add maybe another quarter ounce or so and mix rigorously and now it's time to plate up and one thing you'll notice about this carbonara is that the sauce is much lighter because it has a lot less fat it also stays creamier longer and won't congeal as quickly as kind of banana and the bucatini while a little bit difficult to get on once fork is dense and chewy and lovely whichever version of carbonara you decide to make for yourself I hope this has shown you how easy it can be so long as you follow a few simple tricks now go out there get some pasta and start rolling your R's [Music] you

Channel: Binging with Babish

Views: 2,705,363

Rating: 4.9511051 out of 5

Keywords: carbonara, pasta, spaghetti, bucatini, italian, recipe, carbonara recipe, pasta carbonara, spaghetti carbonara, how to make carbonara, basics with babish, binging with babish, cooking with babish, babbish, carbonara pasta recipe, carbonara sauce, carbonara noodles, pear qwerty horse, recipe carbonara, easy pasta recipe

Id: qoHnwOHLiMk

Length: 6min 1sec (361 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/HellblazerPrime]

"A more modern, less traditional version that's sure to piss 'em off winks"

Troll Babby is my favorite Babby.

[u/Majestic_Beard]

Babish: We dont want fond this time.

Me: Surprised Pikachu face

[u/argetholo]

The gloves are off, taking this to Basics. 👍

[u/Oh_I_still_here]

I think it tastes great and so will you

Looks like Babby has turned cannibal, can't wait for next week's basics!

[u/Quote_the_Ravenclaw]

Does video on Carbonara

Ah shit here we go again

[u/xnelsorelse]

This episode taught me that the "traditional" carbonara I make, is in fact the Americanized version. Time to get back to the kitchen!

[u/tuck265]

The only differences I can see from the first version here vs the Master of None version:

1. MoN version mixed minced garlic

2. MoN version added the eggs and cheese separately, vs mixing them together and adding at the same time

3. MoN version used fresh pasta

Otherwise, pretty much the same.

[u/almondpancakes]

Remember kids, if you find that whatever version of Carbonara you make is bland and lacks seasoning, just use the salt from every Italian person you inevitably piss off.

[u/Waltonruler5]

https://imgur.com/KJwOQst.jpg