---
title: 'Carbonara'
slug: 'carbonara'
kind: 'recipe'
revision: 1
source: 'mcp'
created: '2026-10-12T12:30:32.960Z'
url: 'https://noble-notations.ryanjnoble.dev/recipes/carbonara'
---

# Carbonara

_Yolk-only carbonara with guanciale, pecorino and Grana Padano_

Roman carbonara with a sauce of egg yolk, cheese, pork fat and pasta water. Four yolks dress 280 g of pasta for four people. The cheese is only 50 g, so the sauce tastes of yolk more than of cheese. The pepper is high at 20 g.

## Why this revision

First version. Quantities are from the video card for 4 people. The steps put all preparation first.

## Categories

- **Technique**: Emulsifying, Rendering, Tempering
- **Cuisine**: Italian
- **Course**: Main
- **Texture**: Silky, Creamy

## Ingredients

- 20 g Black pepper, whole, ground coarse to order
- Salt
- 200 g Guanciale, rind removed, cut into strips
- 4 Egg yolks
- 20 g Pecorino, finely grated
- 30 g Grana Padano, finely grated
- 280 g Spaghettoni, dried

## Method


### Mise en place

1. Remove the rind from the guanciale. Cut it into strips 10 mm wide.
2. Grate the pecorino and the Grana Padano fine. Mix them in a bowl.
3. Grind the black pepper coarse. Keep a small amount apart to finish the plates. _(Grinding)_
4. Add the egg yolks, the cheese and the pepper to one bowl. Mix to a thick paste.
   > The paste is thick because the cheese is almost equal in weight to the yolk. The pasta water thins it later.

### Cook

5. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add 8 g salt for each litre. _(Boiling)_
6. Put the guanciale in a cold pan. Render it on low heat until the fat runs clear and the strips are crisp. _(10 min · Rendering)_
7. Cook the spaghettoni 1 min less than the packet time. _(Boiling)_
8. Keep 250 ml of the pasta water before you drain the pasta.
9. Move the pasta into the pan with the guanciale and all its fat. Toss to coat.

### Sauce

10. Take the pan off the heat. Let it stand for 1 min. _(1 min)_
   > The yolk proteins set near 65 °C and go grainy above 70 °C. The pan must cool below that.
11. Stir 30 ml of hot pasta water into the yolk paste. _(Tempering)_
12. Add the paste to the pasta. Toss until the sauce is glossy and coats each strand. _(Emulsifying)_
13. If the sauce is thick, add pasta water 15 ml at a time. _(Emulsifying)_

### Serve

14. Serve at once. Put the black pepper that you kept on each plate.

## Notes

### Source of the quantities _(research)_

The ingredient amounts are from the card shown for the second chef in this video, at 4 min 25 s. The card lists, for 4 people: 4 egg yolks, 20 g pecorino, 30 g Grana Padano, 200 g guanciale, 20 g pepper and 280 g spaghettoni.

The card names no salt for the water. The method steps here are standard technique, not a copy of the method in the video.

- Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elq1UYbJ-JQ&t=265s

### Pancetta and Parmigiano for the first cook _(substitution)_

The first planned cook, on 12 October 2026, uses 100 g of rendered pancetta in place of 200 g guanciale. It uses Parmigiano Reggiano in place of Grana Padano, at the same 30 g. It uses dried spaghetti in place of spaghettoni.

The yolks, the cheese and the pasta stay at the card amounts. The yolks set the size of the sauce, so the pasta and the cheese follow the yolks, not the pork.

Half the pork gives about half the rendered fat. Keep all of the fat for the sauce.

### A sauce led by yolk _(science)_

Four yolks are about 70 g. The cheese is 50 g. Most carbonara uses more cheese for each yolk, so this sauce is looser and tastes more of yolk.

The yolk phospholipids, mainly lecithin, hold the pork fat and the pasta water together as an emulsion. The yolk proteins start to set near 65 °C. Above about 70 °C they join into grains and the sauce becomes scrambled egg.

Take the pan off the heat before the paste goes in. The pasta and the fat are hot enough to thicken the sauce without the burner.

Conditions: yolk sets 65 °C → 70 °C · pan off the heat

### Starch and casein protect the yolk _(science)_

Amylose from the pasta water and casein from the cheese sit between the yolk proteins. They slow the proteins from joining, so the sauce can take a few degrees more before it goes grainy.

This recipe has little cheese, so the pasta water does more of this work. Spaghettoni is thicker than spaghetti and gives off more starch into the water.

Add the water in small amounts. Too much water drops the temperature and the sauce stays thin.

Conditions: starchy pasta water · added in 15 ml steps