Spaghetti Carbonara with Cream and Bacon - the Original Recipe?
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 :)
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!