How to get away with adding parsley to carbonara (and other tweaks Italians will hate)

Publish date: 2024-05-09

I think I may have found a solution to the “carbonara controversy” which engulfed the food world around this time last year. Just in case you were hiding under a rock to avoid the rest of the distressing news, angry Italian food lovers attacked our national treasure, Nigella Lawson for adding wine to her carbonara. The issue of cream was also hotly debated.

Maybe this wasn’t as distressing as impending nuclear war or Brexit, but you would think by some reactions that it ran them close.

The basic tone was that carbonara should never include cream or wine and anyway, what would an English chef know about Italian food?

I think to understand such a reaction we have to look into Italian history. Their food has become one of the wonders of the modern world and they are fiercely protective of it.

I remember when I was younger, and got to be a fan of a group when they were still unknown such as T.Rex or the Ramones. I would then have to deal with them becoming popular. Everybody would jump on the bandwagon, and I would let them know that I had loved them since the early days.

I still do it now, as the confused young waitress in a local café can testify after I recently saw her Ramones T-shirt and assumed she was a fan. She didn’t even know they were a group – she just liked the design.

Credit: Andrew Twort and Annie Hudson for The Telegraph

It’s clear the Italians feel very protective about their food and give both barrels to those of us who play fast and loose with it. In writing today’s recipe I had to tread carefully. I opted to omit guanciale and replace it with bacon because I couldn’t find the cured pig cheek anywhere – even though we used to make it at the pub.

When I need some reliable Italian food advice I turn to my friend Dino Joannides’s excellent book Semplice (“Simple”), In his recipe he even toasts the black pepper to bring out the taste.

Joannides offers six different theories on the origins of carbonara. One explores the possibility that although we think of it as a Roman dish, it may have originated in Abruzzo to the east, and was mainly cooked with penne.

He also points out that there are as many Italians living abroad as there are at home – about 60 million – because of migration. This means there are many people cooking Italian food in Brazil, Britain or North America who have adapted their recipes to the local ingredients and tastes.

When Mikael Johnsson, the chef at Hedone in London, visited my kitchen, he saw us making agnolotti (a type of stuffed pasta). I was reproducing it after a visit to restaurant Guido near Alba. He pointed out that the shape was wrong: they looked more like little UFOs. He suggested a different name. I didn’t know that the shape we were using could be called “al plin” meaning “pinched”. That night the menu read “wild mushroom ufozzi”.

So, here is my solution to the “carbonara controversy”. If you are cooking a classic, named dish then strictly follow the original classic recipe – if such a thing exists. If you diverge from the original then make up your own name, just like the Italians do, and you can have all sorts of fun. So I would humbly suggest Nigella renames her dish “spaghetti alla creamerama”. That was easy.

Next week: Brexit.

Penne carbonara

Credit: Andrew Twort and Annie Hudson for The Telegraph

I like to add some chopped parsley at the end, but if I recommend it I may never be allowed into Italy again.

SERVES

Four

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

  • Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add two tablespoons of salt.
  • Cook the pasta in boiling water for three quarters of the recommended time – about eight minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and leave the pasta to finish cooking in the hot water. Drain after about three minutes (check the pasta is cooked by cutting one penne in half or tasting it).
  • Cook the bacon in a frying pan over a medium heat until the fat is golden and crisp. This will take about five minutes – don’t be tempted to turn up the heat to hurry the process.
  • Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl with a third of the grated cheese and one and a half tablespoons of fat released by the bacon.
  • Have all of the above ready for when you have drained the pasta.
  • Drain the water from the cooked pasta and add back to the pan with the cooked bacon (along with any remaining fat). Stir well.
  • Add the beaten egg mixture and again stir well. Add another half of the remaining cheese with some black pepper to taste, and stir well. Make sure the sauce is coating the pasta.
  • If no Italians are watching, add some chopped parsley...
  • Serve the pasta in four warm bowls and finish with the last of the cheese.

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