In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to make restaurant-quality carbonara at home.
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00:00 I'm Frank Proto, professional chef and culinary instructor,
00:02 and today we're going to make foolproof carbonara.
00:05 I'm going to teach you how to make carbonara that's luscious,
00:07 creamy, and full of flavor.
00:09 This is Carbonara 101.
00:12 Carbonara is one of those dishes that
00:13 can seem super complicated, but in the end, it's really easy.
00:16 And all you really need is a few techniques.
00:18 If you follow all of my techniques,
00:19 it'll be foolproof every single time.
00:21 One of the most important ingredients in carbonara
00:27 is black peppercorns.
00:28 Now, I like to grind my own.
00:30 But before I grind them, I like to toast them.
00:32 And toasting is going to give us this really nice, nutty,
00:35 deep black pepper flavor.
00:36 So put it over kind of medium-low heat.
00:39 And we're just going to put the peppercorns in until I start
00:42 to smell that they're fragrant.
00:43 It's just a subtle nuance that makes
00:45 this dish so much better.
00:46 Make sure we're moving our peppercorns around
00:49 so that they toast evenly.
00:50 So what I'm looking for here is that I can smell
00:54 my peppercorns getting fragrant.
00:56 They start to kind of like move around in the pan a little.
00:58 You'll see that they'll jump a little.
01:00 Right?
01:01 We might hear a little pop.
01:02 And once I hear that first popping, I take it off.
01:05 I don't really want to go any further than that,
01:07 because then we're going to get it overcooked.
01:09 I'm going to let these cool on this tray.
01:11 And in the meantime, I'm going to start
01:12 prepping my other ingredients.
01:14 One of the keys to a foolproof carbonara
01:19 is to gather all of your ingredients.
01:22 You need everything within arm's reach.
01:24 So when I cook my pasta, I'm not waiting for anything.
01:27 I can make it right away.
01:28 Now that my peppercorns have cooled, I can crush them.
01:31 Now, you can use a pepper grinder if you want.
01:34 But I'm going to use the old classic technique.
01:36 I get the pan.
01:38 I hold it down with my hand here, body weight down.
01:43 So I'm pushing and rolling.
01:45 Almost like you're doing a lever, right?
01:48 I'm pushing down on this side and crushing my peppercorns
01:52 and rolling.
01:53 So I can smell as I crush that these are super fragrant,
01:56 super nutty, that toasting brings out those flavors.
02:00 We get the oils out.
02:02 And I don't want this to be super fine.
02:03 I want it to have some texture to it.
02:06 We're talking about how to take this dish
02:08 from just kind of a standard dish to just that much better.
02:11 And as a chef, grating your own cheese is super important.
02:14 For my carbonara, I choose to use two cheeses.
02:16 I'm using Parmesan cheese and I'm using Pecorino.
02:19 And I do buy the good stuff for this.
02:21 I go to the Italian cheeses.
02:23 If you can get it, go for the best cheese you can find.
02:26 I like to use a microplane for this.
02:27 Now, a microplane is a very fine grater.
02:30 When this cheese melts, I want it to be nice and fine.
02:34 I don't want to get shreds in there.
02:35 I want to get this beautiful, fine cheese
02:37 that's going to make my sauce super silky in the end.
02:40 What I like about using two cheeses here
02:41 is the Parmesan gives me a nice nuttiness
02:43 and it gives me a really great kind of earthy flavor.
02:45 Whereas the Pecorino is super sharp
02:48 and it's got a lot of bite to it.
02:50 So look, I have a lot of cheese here
02:52 and that's a good thing.
02:53 That's what I want.
02:54 So this is for about four servings.
02:56 Now that my cheese is grated, I can get to my eggs.
03:00 For carbonara, I like my eggs to be room temperature.
03:02 So what I'll do is I'll set them on the counter
03:04 for about a half hour before I make the dish.
03:06 'Cause if they're cold, that's going to slow everything down.
03:09 I'm going to put hot pasta and cold eggs
03:11 and the dish isn't going to come together
03:12 and emulsify right.
03:14 So eggs are the binder for this dish.
03:16 This is what brings the whole thing together.
03:18 And I'm going to use three whole eggs and two egg yolks.
03:23 And what I like to do is crack my egg in half
03:25 and just run my yolk between the shells
03:28 until the white all runs out all the way.
03:30 A lot of times people will just use straight eggs for this.
03:34 And that's okay, but the yolk is a lot of fat
03:37 and the white is a lot of liquid.
03:39 So by adding the extra yolk,
03:41 I'm adding more fat to the dish,
03:43 more richness to the dish.
03:44 The next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to mix my eggs
03:46 and cheese together.
03:47 And this is a really important step
03:49 because I want this to be a smooth and creamy sauce
03:52 around my pasta.
03:54 We want to get this into a nice homogenous mixture
03:57 so that when we actually add the pasta to it,
03:59 we don't get scrambled eggs.
04:00 Not a good look for Carbonara.
04:01 All right, so let's just take the cheese,
04:03 dump it into the eggs,
04:05 and we can just get this together.
04:07 And you'll see, it's going to get kind of like
04:10 a thick, creamy mixture.
04:12 Get that all in there.
04:14 I use a whisk just to get this together,
04:16 but I'm not going to use a whisk past this point.
04:19 But you can see, the mixture looks nice and creamy.
04:23 It's come together.
04:24 There's no bits of eggs or bits of cheese
04:26 that aren't mixed in.
04:27 And that's what I want.
04:28 This is super important, getting your Carbonara
04:31 to the right finished texture.
04:33 At this point, I want to add a little bit
04:34 of my toasted black peppercorns, right?
04:36 Give it a shake.
04:38 Get a little bit of your finely ground stuff.
04:41 Get a little bit of your bigger chunks.
04:45 So my egg and cheese mixture is ready to go.
04:48 And now it's time for the star of the show, the guanciale.
04:51 And this is super traditional for Carbonara.
04:53 Now, if you don't have guanciale,
04:54 if you can't find it where you're at,
04:55 you can use pancetta.
04:57 I've seen bacon be used.
04:58 Traditionally, guanciale is used for Carbonara.
05:00 And that's the jowl or the cheek of the pig
05:02 that's being cured, salt cured.
05:04 Sometimes they rub it in spices
05:06 and sometimes in peppercorn, but it's just cured.
05:08 It's salty, it's fatty, it's delicious.
05:10 And that's why they use it.
05:11 It has that fattiness.
05:13 When we cook it out, we get a lot of fat
05:15 that helps make our sauce smooth and creamy.
05:18 So when it comes to guanciale,
05:19 I like nice big chunks of it.
05:21 So I like to cut my own.
05:22 I don't like to buy a pre-cut.
05:24 So I wanna get nice matchsticks or big mardons or chunks.
05:28 Don't be shy.
05:28 I want them to be super visible in my dish.
05:32 So you see, I have like kind of like this matchstick
05:35 or a very thick matchstick.
05:37 So we're gonna cut those into nice chunks.
05:39 I don't want any wimpy little chunks.
05:41 I wanna see this guanciale.
05:42 It's a beautiful ingredient.
05:44 It's got some meat on it,
05:45 but it's not super meaty.
05:47 Now that I have my guanciale cut,
05:48 my eggs, cheese, and pepper mixture,
05:50 we are ready to make our carbonara.
05:52 [upbeat music]
05:55 You'll notice in front of me,
05:56 I have all the ingredients I need within arm's reach.
06:00 This is one of those things as a chef
06:02 that you have to set yourself up for.
06:03 It's proper mise en place.
06:05 My water is boiling.
06:06 I'm going to add some salt to my water.
06:08 I want my water to be basically sea salty.
06:11 And I'm using dry pasta.
06:13 It holds the sauce really well.
06:15 I like to use spaghetti for this.
06:17 I like the shape.
06:18 I like the way it holds onto the sauce.
06:20 I like the bite to it.
06:21 Pasta's gonna take about 10 minutes,
06:22 and in that time, I'm going to get my guanciale ready to go.
06:25 So turn your heat on.
06:27 I like to use a little olive oil in my pan
06:28 before I start cooking my guanciale.
06:30 People will say, "But Chef Frank,
06:32 "the guanciale has a lot of fat."
06:34 I like to put this in the pan
06:35 to get the process going quicker.
06:37 My guanciale is gonna brown a little more evenly.
06:39 I don't really have to wait for that fat to render out.
06:41 So a little bit of fat in my pan to start
06:43 is the way that I always go.
06:45 We're gonna cook this until it is light golden brown.
06:48 You can hear it start to sizzle.
06:50 I don't want this to be crisp.
06:51 I want it to have some chew to it in the end.
06:53 So we're not gonna brown it all the way.
06:55 We want to keep all the fat.
06:57 A lot of people say, "Whoa, that's a lot of fat.
06:59 "We're gonna put that in the pasta?"
07:00 Yes, we're using all the fat.
07:02 The fat is key to this dish.
07:04 It's also going to emulsify with the egg yolks
07:07 and make this sauce super creamy.
07:09 Don't forget to get in there and stir your pasta occasionally.
07:12 We don't want it sticking.
07:13 Well, how do you tell if pasta's done?
07:15 If you look at it right now, it's still very firm, right?
07:18 We want it to be nice and al dente,
07:20 which means to the tooth.
07:21 We don't want it to be overcooked.
07:23 We want it to have a little bite to it.
07:24 My guanciale is ready to go.
07:27 You can see it's still bubbling away.
07:29 It's not completely done,
07:31 but if I leave it in the pan and keep it hot,
07:33 it's gonna continue to cook.
07:35 I don't want it to get any more crisp than this.
07:37 So I think my pasta's ready.
07:38 The best way to determine if it is, is to take a piece,
07:41 try not to burn yourself, and actually taste it.
07:44 And that's good to go.
07:46 A lot of people will mix carbonara in a pan,
07:48 and I don't like doing it in a pan, right?
07:50 Pans retain heat.
07:51 I'm afraid my eggs might overcook and get scrambled.
07:54 So I like to mix everything in the bowl
07:57 that I mix the cheese and eggs in.
07:58 So let's take our pasta out, right?
08:01 I drain it, but I don't drain it too well.
08:03 We want to get a little bit of that pasta water in there.
08:06 The pasta water has starch, it has a little bit of salt.
08:10 So this goes right into my eggs.
08:12 And this is gonna start that process of cooking those eggs.
08:17 And then guanciale and all the fat goes in.
08:21 Don't be shy.
08:22 And then we mix.
08:23 I have a pair of tongs, and here's the key here.
08:26 We want to mix, mix, mix, right?
08:29 We want that egg and that cheese to start to cook.
08:34 We want that fat to be emulsified into the sauce.
08:37 But look at that, right?
08:39 Super creamy.
08:41 Those eggs start to cook.
08:42 It smells cheesy.
08:43 Oh my gosh.
08:44 Nice big chunks of the guanciale,
08:46 which this is the important part here.
08:48 We're emulsifying the sauce around the pasta.
08:52 All of that fat from the guanciale is getting in there,
08:54 and we get this beautiful, luscious, creamy sauce.
08:57 Look at that.
08:58 It's almost like magic when this sauce comes together.
09:01 Give it a little twist.
09:04 I'm going to take some of my guanciale, put it on top, right?
09:08 Get some of that creamy guanciale from the bottom.
09:10 I'm going to take a little more
09:11 of my toasted black peppercorns,
09:13 and just a little more of my pecorino and Parmesan cheese,
09:16 as if there wasn't enough already.
09:19 And that is foolproof carbonara.
09:22 Time to dig in.
09:25 I'm so excited.
09:27 This is one of those dishes that waits for no man,
09:30 woman, or child.
09:31 You want to make sure you eat it while it's hot,
09:33 and ready to go.
09:34 Make sure you get a little bit of everything in there.
09:36 The sauce is silky and creamy,
09:40 'cause I took the time to get everything mixed really well.
09:42 The guanciale has some chew to it.
09:44 We get a little bit of spiciness from that black peppercorn,
09:47 and the mixture of both cheeses, sharp and kind of earthy,
09:50 I think makes this carbonara
09:52 one of the best versions you'll ever have.
09:54 It's not complicated.
09:58 It takes a little technique, a little bit of love,
10:00 and just makes every part of you happy.
10:03 Not only your tummy, but your soul as well.
10:05 (upbeat music)
10:08 (upbeat music)