The Heresy of Modifying a Traditional Recipe

caseydog said:
When I get a craving for carbonara, I have most of the traditional ingredients at home, all the time. The only thing I don't have is guanciale or pancetta. I always have bacon (streaky) in the fridge. So, I use that. I'm not driving to the store to buy pancetta, and probably couldn't find guanciale if I tried.

Like you, I think that is close enough that I can still call it carbonara.

CD
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You should try making some bacon and cure it with pancetta/guanciale type spices. It freezes well in chunks and doesn't take long to thaw.
 
One of the things I plan to make in the near future is Pasta Carbonara. I would say essentially traditional - I even found some guanciale (although pancetta is also accepted - even bacon sometimes, especially since guanciale is hard to find in some parts of the world). It will be a fun cooking experiment since getting the eggs right to make the carbonara part will require mastering a technique I am atm uncertain about. It won't have tomatoes (or peas). It may have the wrong type of pasta in it as I don't like spaghetti pasta, for reasons not fully pertinent to this discussion. Right now, as I have ALL the ingredients needed (my choice of long pasta, pecorino Romano, eggs, guanciale, ground pepper) - just waiting for an appropriate headset to create this. Won't be this week, or the COVID second shot next week recovery, but hopefully after.

I believe that being able to communicate with others is an appropriate thing to do, and as one who does a food blog, I'd rather say something like: Greek-Inspired Gluten-Free Meatballs, than to mislead someone with an inaccurate title, someone who is expecting to find a traditional version of something when they waste their time opening up the link to my blog. I would never call a banana gnocchi a carbonara, at least for that very reason. At least not in public. I would also not make a French onion soup with beef broth and call it a vegetarian French onion soup. (A few years back I went with some vegetarians out to dinner, and they ordered French onion soup... made with beef stock, as it turned out...)

I will note some cultures are more picky than others - it seems that many Italians (and, French) can be more prickly about their nomenclature and exactitude of recipes than say, the Chinese or Korean people. In India, so many recipes have their own variants, from family to family. So I can make an Indian curry, and not have to call it "Indian-inspired curry" unless I'm using ingredients that have never touched that sub-continent's soil, like, say, a bolus of Jerusalem artichokes.

So... regards carbonara. There's American carbonara, and there's Italian carbonara. In this case, different levels of flexibility in how one discusses or prepares each.
 
Carbonara is a finiky thing...and even withing the Italian ranks, there are different ways to go about it..some use whole eggs, some use yolks, some use 3 yolks and one whole egg..I've always preferred rigatoni noodles with my carbonara as that is the way I first used to eat it when I was living in Italy many moons ago. I could be wrong, but the usual roman recipe is probably short pasta..
You can go for "authentic" or you can go with "really good" , both are acceptable, and use what you have..just be careful not to add your egg too soon as it will clump up.
Some may find this sacrilage, probably all of Italy and every Italian living anywhere, but my gf's favorite Carbonara is when I use Italian Sausage instead of guanciale..I usually give in and make it that way for her if she asks..it works..I have to admit..just have fun with it..make it a lot so you get better at it..manga!
 
Making food at home, who cares do what you want and who's going to criticize it anyway. I do that everyday. The only way a chef gets better at his trade is to understand and repeatedly replicate a particular cuisines food. Get that wrong in the beginning or feel it has no meaning, then you are screwed, and have no idea what you are actually cooking. That being said improvising a classic on a menu when it's fully disclosed is perfectly fine. Of course the restaurants reputation is the water mark for how food is enjoyed. Bad food is just bad food regardless of the recipe. quick answer, :happy:
 
Morning Glory said:
What are you worried about re the technique? Its not really difficult IMHO.
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TBH, this is not a good week for me. I've been bombarded by disease-carrying ticks, and the things I REALLY want to do this week - GARDEN, the weather is perfect for it - I feel are closed off from me. Carbonara will have to wait, as I'm simply not in the mood.
 
Mountain Cat said:
TBH, this is not a good week for me. I've been bombarded by disease-carrying ticks, and the things I REALLY want to do this week - GARDEN, the weather is perfect for it - I feel are closed off from me. Carbonara will have to wait, as I'm simply not in the mood.
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You have so much to do, take your time, no pressure...no rush...🍀🌾😊
Can't help but hear Shakira's Whenever, wherever😎 in my head...is staying at home getting me?😂
It is a supercool song, love her career, not to get me wrong, but why would I have bits of songs in my head?🤓
 
Rocklobster said:
Carbonara is a finiky thing...and even withing the Italian ranks, there are different ways to go about it..some use whole eggs, some use yolks, some use 3 yolks and one whole egg..I've always preferred rigatoni noodles with my carbonara as that is the way I first used to eat it when I was living in Italy many moons ago. I could be wrong, but the usual roman recipe is probably short pasta..
You can go for "authentic" or you can go with "really good" , both are acceptable, and use what you have..just be careful not to add your egg too soon as it will clump up.
Some may find this sacrilage, probably all of Italy and every Italian living anywhere, but my gf's favorite Carbonara is when I use Italian Sausage instead of guanciale..I usually give in and make it that way for her if she asks..it works..I have to admit..just have fun with it..make it a lot so you get better at it..manga!
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No it's not finicky MC it just needs to be understood better, the theory part I mean, which is simple. What scrambles eggs? Excessive direct heat, period. You've cooked your guanciale or bacon or whatever, sausage if you want, either on it's own or with a fat like EVOO in a sperate pan. Your pasta, short or long doesn't matter is a few minutes away from al dente. Turn down the heat for the guanciale to low and then take a ladle of the pasta water and add it to the guanciale. If it's bubbling up reduce heat or turn it off. Add the pasta directly from the pot and don't drain, you'll need more pasta water. Mix the guanciale and pasta until it's combined fairly well. Take your eggs and cheese mixture and add it, mix well add more cheese or pasta water to get to your desired creaminess, add pepper, that is what the dish is all about after all, enjoy. You'll never have scrambled egg, ever.
 
Also, a recipe in your average cook book is an interpretation of what's in the author (chef) mind to make it more approachable or understood easier. For example when I translate a recipe on paper it's generally never the way I actually make it. When I read a chefs cookbook it's to get into the head of that chef and not really to replicate a dish per say. cheers. Cooking should be fun, not stressful.
 
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Mountain Cat said:
Yes... hoping i don't turn the eggs into scrambled. But then of course if I do that on my first try, I can attempt it again. Okay, goal is to make the Pasta Carbonara by the end of this month!
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I was worried about that too, my first time. But, it worked out fine. Mise en place is very important with carbonara, IMO. You don't want to be multi-tasking. You don't want to be stressed out with the timing of steps. I have EVERYTHING prepped before I turn on the stove.

CD
 
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