Roman Carbonara with Guanciale and Pecorino (Spaghetti alla Carbonara) Carbonara has four ingredients and one real problem: the egg has to thicken without cooking. Everything else is shopping. Get the temperature right and the sauce turns glossy and clings to every strand. Get it wrong and you have scrambled egg on spaghetti, which is what most of the world has eaten at least once. Yield: 4 servings. Prep: 15 minutes. Cook: 15 minutes. Total: about 30 minutes. Difficulty: int

Spaghetti alla Carbonara Passo Passo (Step by Step Roman Carbonara with Egg Yolk Emulsion) This is carbonara taken apart and photographed at every stage, because the dish fails in specific places and those places are easier to recognise than to describe. Seven pictures, seven moments. If your pan and your bowl look like the pictures at each stage, the sauce will work. The method here is the yolk only version with a Pecorino paste built first, which is how many Roman kitchens

Traditional Roman Spaghetti alla Carbonara made with guanciale, egg, Pecorino Romano and black pepper, with professional technique for a glossy sauce without cream.