There are many theories about the birth of one of Italy’s most famous dishes: the Spaghetti Carbonara recipe. In this article, we’ll investigate one popular theory in Italy itself: that the original spaghetti carbonara recipe was invented for Allied forces in Rome after liberation by a famous WWII chef .
This theory is related to the legend that Spaghetti Carbonara was created to use WWII ‘K-Rations’ ingredients. For a more detailed summary of the Spaghetti Carbonara and K-Rations debate, check out our other article.
Prefer to start cooking? This is the Spaghetti Carbonara recipe considered traditional in Italy today! Keep reading to find out how different it is from the probably original Spaghetti Carbonara recipe.
Watch the Video Recipe!
If you prefer to watch a video recipe, click on the video below.
Birth of the Spaghetti Carbonara?
According to a popular legend (even in Italy), the Spaghetti Carbonara was born during WWII when American troops liberated Rome in 1944.
American troops in Rome had need for a recipe that utilized ingredients they had on-hand as a part of their food and meal rations. Local Rome chefs got involved and created the Pasta Carbonara by combining some eggs (or egg product) and bacon with cheese and Italian pasta (spaghetti).
Invented by Chef Renato Gualandi?
One of the most popular theories accepted in Italy today is that the Carbonara was created by one Chef Renato Gualandi. Why do we think Renato created the original Spaghetti Carbonara recipe? Well, first because he claimed he did in his memoirs! Secondly, his account of the ingredients he used are consistent with the ingredients that would have been available to him if Americans asked him to create something using the rations on hand.
Evidence Supporting Chef Renato Gualandi
In his memoirs (Erbissima), Renato says he was tasked with creating an impressive dish for Allied troops with ration ingredients. According to Renato, his dish debuted in the Italian seaside city of Riccione (just outside Rome) on September 22, 1944 when he prepared a celebratory lunch for the British Eighth Army and the American Fifth Army.
What Was in the Original Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe?
We struggled to find Renato’s actual memoir, as it seems to only be available in print. However, one English translation has Renato saying this: “The Americans had fantastic bacon, delicious milk cream, cheese, and egg red [dried?] powder. I put it all together and served this pasta to the generals and officers for dinner. At the last moment, I decided to put black pepper which gave off an excellent flavor.”
This version of events was given even more credibility when Chef Igles Corelli (of the Gambero Rosso program “Il gusto di Igles”) interviewed a colleague of Renato’s named Silverio. Silverio had this to say about his friend’s original Carbonara recipe:
“So, Gualandi assembled what he could: powdered milk, freeze-dried egg, bacon and melted butter. The result was a dish of great delicacy, where it was not so much the egg, but the melted cheese that created that sloppiness that would have conquered the diners.”
So: powdered milk, freeze dried egg, bacon, butter, black pepper and meltable cheese. Did American troops have these ingredients in their rations? Yes!
Original Carbonara Recipe: Likely Ingredients
One often repeated legend attributes the Carbonara to using ingredients from not just any American WWII rations, but specifically ‘K-Rations.’ K-Rations were emergency pre-prepared, pre-cooked meals.
K-Rations came in breakfast, lunch and dinner units. They looked like this:
There were limited versions of these K-Rations and we know what was in them.
If the K-Rations were indeed used as ingredients in the original Carbonara in any way, then the original carbonara recipe must have had one of these ingredients:
- Canned Chopped Ham and Eggs – That means cooked ham and eggs, chopped.
- Canned Processed Cheese with or without Bacon – This seems to have been like Velveeta cheese with some bacon. Later versions had no bacon. So, like a spread and the bacon came with the cheese—the bacon wasn’t separate.
- Canned Pork Luncheon Meat – Think Spam! You could have theoretically sliced it and tossed it in a pan… but this is far from ham or bacon.
If we believe Renato, we can dismiss the chopped ham and eggs and the canned pork luncheon meat which aren’t in his stated recipe. Also, including them would create a pretty strange Carbonara that is arguably too far from what is considered traditional today.
So, that leaves us with processed cheese with or without bacon. This processed cheese was likely very similar to the Kraft Foods ‘Velveeta’ products that don’t require refrigeration— products you can find on the shelf today. Velveeta in fact was a company and a product already known during WWII. This processed cheese would have been American or Swiss. It would have (like processed cheese today) melted wonderfully and had a long shelf life.
More evidence that Renato probably used processed American Cheese in the original Carbonara recipe? Our own family members who grew up in Italy after WWII remember being offered so-called ‘war cheese’ by priests as a treat when they were children. They describe this cheese exactly like one would describe Velveeta or similar cheese products available in Italy today.
We are assuming that processed cheese (with or without some bacon) must have been the only K-Ration ingredients Renato would have used to make the Carbonara. So, where did the other ingredients come from?
Dry Eggs, Bacon, Butter.. Oh My!
While K-Rations did NOT contain powdered eggs or slices of bacon, both powdered eggs and slices of bacon were available in other WWII ‘rations.’
B-Rations, for instance, contained ingredients that did not require refrigeration but might have required preparation. Military cooks used them to create meals for the troops whenever they were close enough to camp to enjoy a hot meal. Both the powdered milk and powdered (dry eggs) would have been available in B-Rations. Powdered eggs were so popular among American military as a nutritious ration ingredient that the military made this video to sing its praises to the American public.
While cans of sliced bacon were not in K-Rations, there is evidence they would have been used in B-Rations and they also were a known ingredient in the 5-in-1 Rations. These meal units were called ‘5-in-1’ because they were designed to feed 5 men.
Where’s the Pecorino Cheese?
Italians in Italy today might be shocked and dismayed to see that the pecorino cheese absolutely critical to the accepted traditional recipe of Carbonara does not seem to be mentioned in these accounts of the original Carbonara recipe!
We don’t know if Pecorino cheese was around (procured locally as an A-Ration), but what we do know is that Italians were pretty short on food during the time of liberation. Though American troops had hoped that liberated Italians could be self-sufficient in the food department, it wasn’t the case.
Three emergencies (a severe food shortage, a typhus epidemic, and an unforeseen refugee problem) made it impossible for liberated Italians to feed themselves alone during this time. So, during the winter and spring of 1944, up to 84% of the population of Italy were relying on imported food from the Allies. In fact, it represented probably more than half of the food they consumed. So, we doubt they had a lot of extra pecorino cheese available for the Allied troops.
In Summary?
The original spaghetti carbonara likely contained:
- processed American (or Swiss) cheese with bacon
- dry milk powder
- dry egg powder
- water to reconstitute the milk and eggs?
- butter
- some chopped slices of bacon
- spaghetti
- black pepper
This would have been a kind of creamy ‘mac and cheese’ style sauce for the spaghetti, made even richer and more decadent with the addition of powdered milk, eggs and a bit of butter. And, of course, it would have had some good old fashioned American bacon!!
What do you think of this recipe? Let us know in the comments!
Or, learn more about the Origin of Spaghetti Carbonara and K-Rations in our article!
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Spaghetti Carbonara with Cream and Bacon – the Original Recipe?
Equipment
- 1 Large Skillet to fry the bacon and finish the pasta
- 1 Large Pot to cook the pasta
Ingredients
- 6 oz American Bacon around 24 slices
- 6 oz processed American or Swiss flavored cheese spread Think Velveeta or Mio Formaggino in Italy…
- 2 tbsp butter optional if using freshly fried bacon with the grease
- 4 tbsp heavy cream
- 4 egg yolks the original WWII recipe used powdered eggs. Use fresh or pasteurized egg yolks.
- ¾ black pepper or to taste
- 12 oz spaghetti dried
Instructions
Fry the Bacon
- Fry the slices of bacon over medium heat until they are golden brown and crispy.
- Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the bacon grease in the pan for the next step.
- Roughly chop the crispy bacon. Return half of the bacon to the pan with the grease.
Partially Cook the Pasta
- Add the spaghetti to boiling, salted water. Cook the spaghetti 1-2 minutes LESS than the time called for 'al dente' pasta on the package instructions. We will finish cooking it in the skillet.In the meantime…
Melt the Butter (Optional)
- During WWII, canned pre-cooked bacon was likely used to make this dish. It's likely for this reason that a bit of butter was added to reinvigorate the bacon and add some fat to the dish to replace the bacon grease. However, if you already have bacon grease in the pan, you can leave out the butter and use the bacon grease instead to add flavor and fat to the Carbonara sauce.
Finish the Pasta
- Bring the skillet with the bacon and grease back to medium heat. Add the partially cooked spaghetti to the skillet along with 1 ladle of the hot pasta water. Add the processed cheese spread and the heavy cream to the pasta and mix to melt the cheese. As the spaghetti finishes cooking to al dente, continue stirring the pasta to melt the cheese. When the cheese is melted and the pasta almost ready, add the beaten egg yolks and black pepper to the spaghetti. Mix these ingredients into the pasta off the heat. Serve immediately!
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