00:00Hi, I'm Mattia Moliterni from Rocioli New York City and today we make our
00:06perfect version of spaghetti alla carbonara.
00:11Rocioli opened in 1972. The restaurant is one of the most popular restaurants in
00:15Rome. Here in New York today we are making our traditional spaghetti alla
00:20carbonara. A simple recipe driven by ingredients. It's creamy, it's rich but
00:24not too fatty. It is a very complex dish even if it's something very simple. First
00:29things we prepare our ingredients. Okay we start from the guanciale. Guanciale is
00:35the cheek of the pork. I think that guanciale for the carbonara is way better
00:39than any bacon or pancetta because the balance between the fat and the meat.
00:44The fat is a lot. The guanciale is covered with black pepper and on the other side
00:50is a skin. We have to remove both because the skin is inedible while the black
00:55pepper. As soon as it goes to the pan it's going to be burnt and bitter so we
01:02remove both of them. Technically what we want is a cube that is very crunchy outside
01:08but soft inside and when meat is not fat enough this is something that is tough to
01:13get. Now we take a pan. We like iron pan but regular pan is fine. We put the fire
01:21like very high heat and as soon as the pan is hot, so you can see that now it's hot, you
01:29put all the cubes of the guanciale here. As soon as you put the guanciale in the pan you
01:36can lower down the fire up to medium heat. If you overcook the guanciale it becomes kind
01:43of burnt and bitter. Guanciale doesn't require any extra virgin olive oil, any butter because the
01:50meat is extremely fat and if you don't use a pan that is too wide you will have the guanciale
01:58frying in its own fat which is exactly what we want. It's still a bit translucent. As soon
02:06as it becomes dark we can take it off. You want to put in the bowl even the fat that the guanciale
02:14have cooked with because if the guanciale is in its own fat it's going to remain crispy even
02:21something like in four hours so even almost the day after. In a separate pan we put our pepper.
02:29We like to use a mix of different peppers. We have black pepper from Sarovac which is the
02:35one that we use the most, the one that we use even in Rome. And then we have this spicy pepper
02:40that is white. It's from Muntok in Indonesia. And then we have a red pepper called Kampot. In this way
02:46you don't have just the flavor of the black pepper but it's way more floral and aromatic. But at home
02:51if you have the black pepper is more than fine, it's perfect. The pepper release all these flavors and
02:58aromas. It starts already smelling, it's a beautiful smell. Technically you understand when the pepper is
03:03ready because the pepper can start to jump. So as soon as they jump the pepper is ready you can take
03:07it off and grind it. The more you screw the grinder the more is going to be fine the texture and so we
03:15don't want that too fine and so we don't screw that too much. Some grinder have the screw on the bottom
03:21to calibrate the thickness, some on the top. This way we have the texture that we prefer and we can move
03:29and start making the sauce. We don't make the sauce in a pan but in a bowl. The pan it can be fine,
03:37the only thing is that is a bit more risky because when you put the pan on the fire you take the risk
03:42to have the egg coagulate and the cheese can become very chewy, which is something that we don't want.
03:48We want a sauce that has to be very smooth. For the sauce we need first the eggs. So let's say that for
03:56two people we use two yolk and half white. The yolk is very rich and fatty and this is the main
04:02ingredients of the sauce. Fresh eggs bring this nice yellow color to the sauce. We add some cheese.
04:09Traditionally the carbonara requires just pecorino cheese. We prefer to use a mixer. One of the key of
04:18the carbonara is the saltiness. Balance the saltiness is something that is super important and so that's why we
04:25prefer not to use just pecorino romano but to add the pecorino moliterno that is way sweeter.
04:30The texture of the cheese should be very very fine. At home if you have a cheese grater let's use the
04:35smaller one and here we use a machine actually. Then you have to add the pepper and a spoon of the fat
04:46of the guanciale. Usually we do one spoon per person. Without the flavor of the meat it's not the
04:52carbonara. I mean it's something it's something different. Before mixing the sauce we add a little
04:57bit of water. I took the water from the pasta that is boiling, melt everything together. Then we leave
05:05the bowl with the carbonara sauce on the water. The steam is going to warm up the sauce, help to make it
05:12creamy without coagulating the eggs. Now it's time for us to put the pasta in the boiling water. This is
05:20spaghettone, so it's a thick spaghetti. One of my favorites, the producers are very small. They dry
05:27their pasta slowly at low temperature. The problem when you dry pasta at a temperature that is too high
05:35is that it loses a lot of nutritional elements and even flavors. All the components are already very
05:42salty, so you don't need to add too much salt to the pasta in the water. We prefer to use a thick
05:48spaghettone because of its texture and it doesn't go overcooked. It remains very al dente. You want a
05:55pasta that is al dente but is cooked. We put it in the sauce and then we start melting it. Once the pasta is in
06:05the bowl with the sauce we start adding the guanciale. I'm trying not to add the fat of the guanciale because
06:11I have it already in the sauce so I don't need more fat. I just need the guanciale that you can
06:16probably even see that is super crispy. So now that we have the guanciale we can just emulsify the sauce.
06:24Emulsifying means melting all the ingredients together. Fat ingredients, especially the cheese,
06:30helps a lot the emulsion. If you add the right amount of water and you do that at the right temperature,
06:36is going to be a perfect sauce. Very smooth, very homogenous and that's exactly what you want. The
06:42goal here is to have a texture that is smooth. If needed we can add even a little bit of water with
06:52the starch. We want this emulsified, not watery, but not super thick. And as soon as you see that the pasta
07:01is creamy, that the sauce is smooth, you are good to go. Time to plate. A spoon is a great help. It's
07:10pretty easy to plate the pasta because you have it in the spoon and you have just to turn it. You remove
07:15the tweezers and you have a pasta plated nicely. Add a bit of guanciale on top. We need now to finish the
07:24pasta with the mix of our three peppers. And here it is, spaghetti alla carbonara.
07:42The pasta is very al dente. I truly love this mix of peppers. I think that is very aromatic and in
07:48some ways a bit unusual. Let's say that this can be a New York twist on our carbonara. The guanciale is
07:54crunchy. It's not overcooked. And again, you have this beautiful balance in your mouth between saltiness.
08:01It's for sure a rich flavor, but it's definitely not unbalanced. That's the way we like it.
08:09If you want to make carbonara at home, my recommendation is besides following these
08:13few easy steps is to be thoughtful about the ingredients that you purchase because they are
08:20so important. And if you do all that, you are going to end up with a pasta that is going to be rich,
08:25delicious and perfect.
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