Italian restaurant in London refuses to serve carbonara after too many customers demand to add ‘cream, mushrooms and chicken’ to ‘traditional Roman-style recipe’

Italian chef Massimo Bianchi has revealed the secret to preparing the perfect spaghetti carbonara every time.

Sharing his recipe with Gourmet travelerthe top chef – who has worked in restaurants around Sydney – said all you need are five main ingredients: guanciale, eggs, spaghetti, parmesan and pecorino cheese.

To prepare the dish, Bianchi said to sauté guanciale, a salted pork cheek, over medium heat until crispy. Another alternative you can use is pancetta.

In a large bowl, whisk together six egg yolks, three white eggs, Parmesan cheese, pecorino, and black pepper.

Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta, but save some cooking water.

Then quickly mix the spaghetti with the egg mixture, guanciale and a dash of extra virgin olive oil. If the pasta is too dry, add the cooking water.

Season with salt and pepper. Bianchi said you should always eat the dish immediately after cooking.

Many chefs have previously suggested eating carbonara fresh because you get that smooth, velvety texture. Reheating the dish leads to scrambled eggs.

In his book, A Brief History of Pasta, Italian food historian Luca Cesari tells the story of pasta and how it conquered the world.

Italians have been eating pasta since the Middle Ages, and possibly much earlier, but until the late 18th century it was eaten with nothing more than a garnish of butter and cheese.

Then some bright spark came up with the idea of ​​adding meat juices and the great sauce revolution began.

Pasta and tomato sauce seem like the most obvious combinations, but the first mention of this classic combination didn’t come until 1790, when a cookbook suggested cooking pasta in a thin tomato stock, also adding herbs, vegetables or – gulp – frogs.

Half a century later, the discovery that tomato sauce could be stored in a sterilized glass jar for months made it affordable year-round. Even today, many Italian families still prepare their own tomato sauce every summer and Spaghetti al Pomodoro has become ‘the king of pasta dishes’.

The more luxurious Spaghetti alla Carbonara first appeared in an American cookbook from the 1950s; rather than being an Italian recipe, it may have been invented by GIs stationed in Italy at the end of World War II.

With its rich combination of eggs, pancetta and a generous dose of cheese, it summed up the abundance and optimism of the post-war era.

Although Italian purists cringe at the frequent addition of cream to the recipe, Cesari says it helps the dish achieve its “velvety smoothness.” Without the cream, you can end up with “a slimy raw egg soup.”