How to make a good carbonara? Just made some from a website called cookingclassy.com… never again. Disastrous. It wasn’t absolutely terrible for me, but mother didn’t really like it and dad thought it was terrible. Other recipes/tips for making the dish VERY appreciated. After a good streak of making good pasta dishes, this honestly decimated me. Father had to help fix it and it was still a bit odd.
by Nate-Lee-123
14 Comments
Call me crazy, but that looks good to me. It’s fine, you made a mistake, but everyone does with cooking.
I would love to give advice, but I am too young to cook by myself. But it looks fine to me.
Looks delicious
I mean I’d eat it. You def scrambled the eggs a little bit though which means your heat was too high and didn’t temper the egg mixture with a little pasta water.
Learned your lesson about making pasta that looks absolutely delicious? Yeah, don’t ever do that again. 😉
In seriousness, it doesn’t look bad at all, though I know everyone is pickiest about their own work.
Yeah looks good enough to eat for sure. Mistakes were made, and that’s totally fine. But still, at worst it’s edible, and that’s really all that matters. Kinda blows my mind that people who you cooked for would tell you your food was terrible. I can’t imagine saying that to anyone who cooked for me, even if it actually was terrible lol. Different strokes, I suppose.
Serve me 2 please! 1 for now and 1 more in the middle of the night
What lesson?
look great for a first try. you learn something new every time you cook. your parents are lucky.
https://www.seriouseats.com/pasta-carbonara-sauce-recipe#toc-cooking-pasta-carbonara-the-right-way
Good on you for having a go at something new – practice makes perfect (I’d have no dramas eating that as well!)
First of all, that looks way better than my first.
How did I improve? I unabashedly make my carbonara in a blender. Babish has a decent video on it, it’s really the best way. I grate the cheese and run it in the blender until powdered, add fat, then egg yolks, s&p then pasta water until sauced. You can always add more pasta water. The Luciano/ Bain Marie method is the way.
The real trick to the whole thing is getting the right stuff. Bronze cut noodles and using a wide pan gets you way starchier water. Getting proper guanciale from a specialty grocery or butcher helps too. IMO toasted black pepper is the biggest factor.
Watch a bunch of versions on YouTube and don’t overthink it.
I found it helpful to study Chef Luciano Monosilio. He is nicknamed the “King of Carbonara” in Rome. He’s also in all of the videos I link below
The first of my favorite carbonara videos is from [Italia Squisita](https://youtu.be/elq1UYbJ-JQ?si=6LbRuhBnB8W4lWcC) the first two methods really helped me to understand what could go wrong with Carbonara (namely, overcooking the eggs).
The accompanying [reaction video](https://youtu.be/bnZ_70XyVAk?si=rTe4VfRbz3d6_JHT) to popular YouTube recipes of carbonara also helped to clarify what NOT to do with Carbonara
Lastly, [Alex French Guy Cooking](https://youtu.be/rw03AUoL7yk?si=L4pChi_euvDTfcaF) has an excellent video where he interviews chef Luciano Monosilio in great detail about how to make a good carbonara.
During my honeymoon I recently had the chance to eat the Carbonara at Chef Luciano Monosilio’s restaurant in Rome and I can confirm it’s the best carbonara I’ve ever had
I really like [Basics with Babish](https://youtu.be/qoHnwOHLiMk?si=w6fqCX6f0pm9m_wL) because he explains stuff along the way, why do certain things and why avoid certain things. He also usually keeps in mistakes that he makes, so as to let the viewer know how it can be messed up and how to course-correct or avoid altogether.
In general, sauces that require emulsifying the cheese with residual heat like carbonara or cacio e pepe are really tricky, and it takes a few tries to get it right. Don’t let this discourage you! Keep practicing until you nail it! 🙂
I like Chef Jean-Pierre. He is a very funny chef, and the way his videos go, you tend to remember as he is so funny. You got to have good butter! He has his recipe which is actually pretty darn good! Chef Jean-Pierre Traditional Carbonara. Gotta love his humor