A re-creation of the WWII Carbonara recipe —one of several origin stories for Pasta Carbonara in Italy today! This Spaghetti Carbonara with Cream and Bacon and processed cheese is creamy and delicious! It's also similar to the Carbonara recipes popular outside of Italy. Just beware: It is NOT the Carbonara considered traditional in Italy today! But don't worry— we have that recipe too :)
1 Large Skillet to fry the bacon and finish the pasta
1 Large Pot to cook the pasta
Ingredients
6ozAmerican Baconaround 24 slices
6ozprocessed American or Swiss flavored cheese spreadThink Velveeta or Mio Formaggino in Italy...
2tbspbutteroptional if using freshly fried bacon with the grease
4tbspheavy cream
4egg yolksthe original WWII recipe used powdered eggs. Use fresh or pasteurized egg yolks.
¾black pepperor to taste
12ozspaghettidried
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!
Video
Notes
Remember: The Sauce Will Thicken on the Plate!Carbonara pasta sauce (like many other kinds of cheesy sauces) will continue to thicken on the plate as it cools. For this reason, you want to plate it when it's a touch liquid-y. If needed, drizzle in a few tablespoons of hot pasta water towards the end of the cooking time to thin out the sauce. Is the Egg Safe to Eat?Generally speaking, if you use fresh eggs in Carbonara, the eggs will not reach hot enough temperatures to ensure food safety. This is true of this WWII recipe or the traditional Spaghetti Carbonara recipe. So, if you like to be extra safe...Use Pasteurized Egg Yolks... or Powdered Eggs!In fact, this WWII Carbonara recipe specifically used powdered eggs from military rations. We couldn't get our hands on powdered eggs, so instead we purchased a carton of pasteurized egg yolks from the supermarket and used that.