Carbonara

Carbonara

Spaghetti alla carbonara
Course	Primo (pasta course, Italy); main course (elsewhere)
Place of origin	Italy
Region or state	Lazio
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	eggs, bacon, black pepper, grated cheese
Variations	(US) peas, mushrooms, or other vegetables, cream

Carbonara (Italian: [karboˈnaːra]) is an Italian pasta dish from Rome made with eggs, cheese (Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano), bacon (guanciale or pancetta), and black pepper. Spaghetti is the usual pasta; however, fettuccine, rigatoni, linguine or bucatini can also be used. The dish was created in the middle of the 20th century.

The pork is cooked in fat, which may be olive oil, lard, or less frequently butter. The hot pasta is combined with a mixture of raw eggs, cheese, and a fat (butter, olive oil, or rarely cream) away from additional direct heat to avoid coagulating the egg, either in the pasta pot or in a serving dish. The eggs should create a creamy sauce, and not curdle.Guanciale is the most commonly used meat in Italy, but pancetta and local bacon are also used. Recipes differ in the use of egg: some use the whole egg, others only the yolk, some a mixture.

Cream is not used in most Italian recipes, though there are exceptions; but it is often used elsewhere. Garlic is similarly found mostly outside Italy. Other variations on carbonara outside Italy may include peas, broccoli, mushrooms, or other vegetables. Many of these preparations have more sauce than the Italian versions.

As with many recipes, the origins of the dish and its name are obscure.

The dish forms part of a family of dishes involving pasta with bacon, cheese, and pepper, such as spaghetti alla gricia. Indeed, it is very similar to the southern Italian pasta cacio e uova, dressed with melted lard and mixed eggs and cheese.