Carbonara
Yolk-only carbonara with guanciale, pecorino and Grana Padano
Roman carbonara with a sauce of egg yolk, cheese, pork fat and pasta water. Four yolks dress 280 g of pasta for four people. The cheese is only 50 g, so the sauce tastes of yolk more than of cheese. The pepper is high at 20 g.
Why the first revision
First version. Quantities are from the video card for 4 people. The steps put all preparation first.
Mise en place
4 steps-
Remove the rind from the guanciale. Cut it into strips 10 mm wide.
-
Grate the pecorino and the Grana Padano fine. Mix them in a bowl.
-
Grind the black pepper coarse. Keep a small amount apart to finish the plates.
Work Grinding -
Add the egg yolks, the cheese and the pepper to one bowl. Mix to a thick paste.
The paste is thick because the cheese is almost equal in weight to the yolk. The pasta water thins it later.
Cook
5 steps-
Put the guanciale in a cold pan. Render it on low heat until the fat runs clear and the strips are crisp.
Time 10 min–15 minWork Rendering -
Keep 250 ml of the pasta water before you drain the pasta.
-
Move the pasta into the pan with the guanciale and all its fat. Toss to coat.
Sauce
4 steps-
Take the pan off the heat. Let it stand for 1 min.
The yolk proteins set near 65 °C and go grainy above 70 °C. The pan must cool below that.
Time 1 min -
Add the paste to the pasta. Toss until the sauce is glossy and coats each strand.
Work Emulsifying -
If the sauce is thick, add pasta water 15 ml at a time.
Work Emulsifying
Serve
1 step-
Serve at once. Put the black pepper that you kept on each plate.
Notes
2The ingredient amounts are from the card shown for the second chef in this video, at 4 min 25 s. The card lists, for 4 people: 4 egg yolks, 20 g pecorino, 30 g Grana Padano, 200 g guanciale, 20 g pepper and 280 g spaghettoni.
The card names no salt for the water. The method steps here are standard technique, not a copy of the method in the video.
The first planned cook, on 12 October 2026, uses 100 g of rendered pancetta in place of 200 g guanciale. It uses Parmigiano Reggiano in place of Grana Padano, at the same 30 g. It uses dried spaghetti in place of spaghettoni.
The yolks, the cheese and the pasta stay at the card amounts. The yolks set the size of the sauce, so the pasta and the cheese follow the yolks, not the pork.
Half the pork gives about half the rendered fat. Keep all of the fat for the sauce.
Provenance
The quantities come from the ingredient card of the second chef in a YouTube video, at 4 min 25 s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elq1UYbJ-JQ&t=265s. The card is for 4 people. The method steps are standard carbonara technique. They are not copied from the video.
Literature
1The pattern
dressed noodlesThe plain idea under this dish. Cook it with what you have. The full recipe is on the Method tab.
pasta + yolk and cheese sauce + crisp cured pork + rendered pork fat + starchy pasta water + black pepper
Other dishes with this pattern: dressed noodles.
The parts
6280 g dried spaghettoni, cooked 1 min less than the packet time
Carries the sauce. The starch it gives to the water helps to hold the sauce together.
- Swap: Dried spaghetti in place of spaghettoni. Spaghetti is thinner and gives less starch to the water. The sauce has less protection from heat. Add the pasta water in small amounts.
4 egg yolks mixed to a thick paste with 50 g grated cheese (20 g pecorino and 30 g Grana Padano) and the ground pepper
Becomes a glossy emulsion that coats each strand. The yolk holds the fat and the water together.
- Swap: Parmigiano Reggiano in place of Grana Padano, at the same 30 g. The amount stays the same. The yolks, the other cheese and the pasta stay at the recipe amounts.
200 g guanciale, rind removed, cut into strips 10 mm wide, rendered from a cold pan until crisp
Gives salt, pork taste and a crisp bite against the soft sauce.
- Swap: 100 g rendered pancetta in place of 200 g guanciale. Use 100 g pancetta, rendered, in place of 200 g guanciale. Half the pork gives about half the rendered fat. Keep all of the fat for the sauce. Do not change the 4 egg yolks, the 50 g cheese or the 280 g pasta: the yolks set the size of the sauce.
All the fat that renders out of the guanciale
Coats the pasta first. The yolk then holds this fat in the sauce as an emulsion.
Salted pasta water: keep 250 ml. Use 30 ml to loosen the paste, then 15 ml at a time.
Thins the paste to a sauce. Its starch slows the yolk proteins from going grainy.
20 g black pepper, ground coarse. Keep a small amount to finish the plates.
Gives a strong pepper heat. The amount is high on purpose.
The basic method
7- Put the guanciale strips in a cold pan. Render them on low heat until the fat runs clear and the strips are crisp.
- Mix the egg yolks, the grated cheese and most of the ground pepper to a thick paste.
- Boil the pasta in salted water. Stop 1 min before the packet time. Keep 250 ml of the pasta water.
- Put the pasta in the pan with the pork and all its fat. Toss to coat.
- Take the pan off the heat. Let it stand for 1 min.
- Stir 30 ml of hot pasta water into the paste. Add the paste to the pasta. Toss until the sauce is glossy.
- If the sauce is thick, add pasta water 15 ml at a time. Serve at once with the pepper that you kept.
What the full recipe adds
The full recipe gives the amounts from one chef's card for 4 people. The ratio is the point: four yolks are about 70 g and the cheese is only 50 g. Most carbonara uses more cheese for each yolk, so this sauce is looser and tastes more of yolk. The full recipe also explains the temperature limit. Yolk proteins start to set near 65 °C and go grainy above about 70 °C, so the pan comes off the heat before the paste goes in. Starch from the pasta water and casein from the cheese slow the proteins from joining. This recipe has little cheese, so the pasta water does more of that work. That is why it uses spaghettoni, which gives more starch, and why the water goes in 15 ml at a time. The full recipe also sets the salt for the pasta water at 8 g for each litre, because the pecorino and the guanciale carry salt.
The science
2What is actually happening in the dish, and why the techniques work.
Four yolks are about 70 g. The cheese is 50 g. Most carbonara uses more cheese for each yolk, so this sauce is looser and tastes more of yolk.
The yolk phospholipids, mainly lecithin, hold the pork fat and the pasta water together as an emulsion. The yolk proteins start to set near 65 °C. Above about 70 °C they join into grains and the sauce becomes scrambled egg.
Take the pan off the heat before the paste goes in. The pasta and the fat are hot enough to thicken the sauce without the burner.
Amylose from the pasta water and casein from the cheese sit between the yolk proteins. They slow the proteins from joining, so the sauce can take a few degrees more before it goes grainy.
This recipe has little cheese, so the pasta water does more of this work. Spaghettoni is thicker than spaghetti and gives off more starch into the water.
Add the water in small amounts. Too much water drops the temperature and the sauce stays thin.