carbonara, a pasta dish, typically made with spaghetti, that blends diced pork, eggs, cheese, and black pepper.
When U.S. military personnel arrived in Italy in 1943 to battle the forces of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, they brought with them abundant stocks of powdered eggs and dehydrated bacon, goods that served as a currency of goodwill—and sometimes actual currency—in a starving nation. Combined with pasta, these ingredients became pasta carbonara, the name suggesting food that one might feed a hungry coal miner in need of ample sustenance before heading into the pit. Spaghetti alla carbonara—other forms of pasta will do, but spaghetti is the common medium—is now a staple of Italian cuisine.
At war’s end, Italian chefs began to fall back on local ingredients, including Pecorino, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses, pancetta instead of bacon, and fresh eggs in place of the powdered eggs the U.S. soldiers had distributed. The dish spread throughout the country and is strongly identified with Rome. It is estimated that there are at least 400 versions making use of numerous ingredients, including butter, garlic, parsley, peas, spinach, basil, onions or scallions, and guanciale.
Roman pasta traditionally allows only five ingredients: pasta, guanciale or pancetta, egg yolks, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. This classical version of carbonara is very simple to make, and it is a favourite of home cooks. As pasta is being cooked al dente, pancetta or some other diced pork such as thick bacon is lightly fried (often with a tad of garlic). Once cooked, the drained pasta is added to the bacon mix (along with a ladleful of the pasta water) and tossed. The pan is then removed from the heat, or the pasta mix is transferred to a separate, warmed bowl. The lightly beaten eggs (or just egg yolks) are then immediately but slowly poured into the pasta and mixed again. (If the pan or mix is not removed from the heat, the beaten eggs will scramble. The heat from the pasta should be sufficient for cooking the eggs just slightly but enough to ward off the dangers of consuming uncooked eggs.) The mix is again tossed while adding grated cheese and black pepper to taste.
With its use of fatty meat, oil, eggs, cheese, and carbohydrate-laden pasta, carbonara is decidedly not a health food and should be eaten in moderation.