What did you cook or eat today? (October 2025)

It's funny, I had never heard of carbonara until my teenager was over in Italy this Spring on a college trip and fell in love with it. He brought back Pecorino Romano (among other Italian foods) and requested that I make it for him, which I've done a few times now. He came home from college for the weekend last evening and loved it.
That made me smile. We made carbonara for years using bacon and Parmesan, or local (Venezuelan) Pecorino. When I was in London 3 years ago, with my eldest son, he said " why don't we try and make a real, Italian, Carbonara? AND an amatriciana? " So, challenge accepted.
I trudged the streets of London (quite happily!) searching for a good Italian Deli, and eventually found one. Got all the ingredients and we made our authentic Carbonara. Good? No, excellent, but I'd doubt very much we'd be able to tell the difference between a "real"one and a "fake"one! Doesn't matter as long as it tastes good :bravo:
 
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What is that? It looks like it's served in a dog bowl...:eek::eek::eek:
No, I know - only kidding.
It's a Cincinnati Chilli!:dance::dance::dance:
 
Took one of those crap pizza doughs I bought the other day, rolled it out in a rectangle, covered it in tapenade, cheese, and salami, rolled it up from the long side, cut it into pieces, set them up in a loaf pan, and baked them up like cinnamon rolls:
Looks pretty damn good to me!
Might do that for my son this week. He's got an appetite like a horse ( carthorse) and I'm running out of ideas!
 
That made me smile. We made carbonara for years using bacon and Parmesan, or local (Venezuelan) Pecorino. When I was in London 3 years ago, with my eldest son, he said " why don't we try and make a real, Italian, Carbonara? AND an amatriciana? " So, challenge accepted.
I trudged the streets of London (quite happily!) searching for a good Italian Deli, and eventually found one. Got all the ingredients and we made our authentic Carbonara. Good? No, excellent, but I'd doubt very much we'd be able to tell the difference between a "real"one and a "fake"one! Doesn't matter as long as it tastes good :bravo:
Yes! Use what you've got, right? All I know is he kept texting us how much he loved this "carbonara" while he was over there and sent us this pic from Italy.
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Mine may not have guanciale, but I've always made the best of what I'd had at hand. Mine could use more egg yolks or cheese, perhaps, as theirs looks pretty creamy. I guess the egg yolk garnish is a move in the right direction. :laugh: I'll admit, the first time that I made it with pancetta (runner up to guanciale), that is was so "rich" with all of the fat that I couldn't eat much at all before I had to stop.
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Yes! Use what you've got, right? All I know is he kept texting us how much he loved this "carbonara" while he was over there and sent us this pic from Italy.
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Mine may not have guanciale, but I've always made the best of what I'd had at hand. Mine could use more egg yolks or cheese, perhaps, as theirs looks pretty creamy. I guess the egg yolk garnish is a move in the right direction. :laugh: I'll admit, the first time that I made it with pancetta (runner up to guanciale), that is was so "rich" with all of the fat that I couldn't eat much at all before I had to stop.
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I have garnished with grated, salted, dried egg yolk. We've used pancetta, but it's so much better with guanciale when you can get it. Guanciale is available now at the local Italian market, but years ago I had ordered some jowl fat from a specialty butcher at a huge farmer's market to cure my own, but, after we bought it and were leaving, saw an Italian restaurant supply place and bought a huge piece of guanciale. Ended up using the jowl fat for Austrian speck, which I then used for

Recipe - Kasespaetzle

Did you add pasta water to your sauce? That helps loosen the sauce and makes it more creamy.
 
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