To think that when you make a spag bol

[HelloCanYouHearMe]

You fry the mince off first?!

DP rarely cooks & tonight has decided to do spag bol and is following a Jamie Oliver recipe (which in itself is U afaic)

The recipe has him frying off onion, celery, carrot, garlic... so far, so good. Then it goes on to say to throw in the minced beef & 2 cans to tomatoes, water from 2 cans and simmer for an hour.

The hour is up & DP asked me to taste - the casserole dish is swimming in liquid & tbh all i can taste is powdery boiled mince

I chop my soffrito in the food processor. Sometimes I do lots and freeze it. I can feel the weight of my ancestors' disapproval.

Seriously- all you non believers-try it. Also try not to eat a bolognaise on the day you make it. So much better the next day.

Tastes bloody amazing to me.
I can't stand the bolognaise in Jamie's Italian mind you. Far too watery.

I went to Italy on honeymoon and ordered carbonara in a really really old school restaurant. They served the carbonara floating in butter and garlic and Parmesan.... no creaminess!
I still don't know to this day if the owner had dementia or this is what carbonara should be

vintage

Smart, maybe I should propose this to DH? He's an awesome cook (much better than I am for most things) but his chopping is a bit ehh...

But I probably couldn't do it either if I hadn't chopped stuff for my DM ever since I was little and she wanted it chopped as good as she thought I should manage...

dizzy

But... carbonara has no creaminess... has it?

I mean, a little creaminess from the semi cooked egg but...?

Carbonara has no cream at all. Just egg and bacon.

I have googled and a true carbonara should have egg and definitely no cream (you always get creamy carbonara in the Uk)
This one definitely didn't have egg either. It was spaghetti floating in melted butter and Parmesan. I could feel my arteries furring as I ate it.

The 'cream' in carbonara comes from you leaving a little bit of the cooking water from the spaghetti in - it's full of starch and this mixed with the egg is what provides the creamy sauce.

Had Carbonara yesterday.

Just egg and pancetta and masses of black pepper and cheese. Definitely no cream. (dp used to order carbonara in UK restaurants on purpose to test them until I made him stop it)

Most Italian recipes will have a ladle of the pasta cooking water thrown in to help emulsify the sauce.

Right...

So, carbonara. You take pancetta and fry it. Then egg and cheese (preferably pecorino) get mixed together.

You put the noodles in a warm bowl and mix with the bacon, some cooking water and the egg and cheese mix and freshly crushed pepper.

But there's no pasta floating around in garlic, as happened to the person on their honeymoon.

could I just add that you have one whole egg, and then one separated egg yolk per person eating.
If you leave all the egg whites in , its not so nice.

I mean, there is no floating. There's nothing the pasta could float it, could it?

I've never had carbonara in the U.K. Maybe I should .
I did have it in Switzerland. But these were family restaurants, so, idk.

Now to set the cat among the piccione........pasta cacio e pepe anyone?

Russel
this thread makes me so hungry! I think I have to cook today (not that DHnwill mind, he loves Italian food. Well, he better love it. Not sure how long we would have lasted if he didn't )

Totani a patate, anyone? And risotto alla pescatore, parmigiana, broccoli con salsiccia, polpette. Or just spaghetti alla puttanesca... and baccala. and mpepata di cozze. I could probably sit here and list my favourite foods for hours.

Jamie Oliver definitely has a weird obsession with adding a lot (too much for my taste) of water to everything, and especially to pasta. He seems to have a pathological fear of pasta going 'stodgy', to the point that you end up with 'soggy'.

I had carbonara once in Italy where the egg was served on top of the pasta - I think the idea was you stirred it in yourself. DH now claims this must be the correct version, but I think not.
Not that our own version is correct. We cook the bacon separately and those who want it add it to their serving. This is because DH is veggie.
We also add mushroom and parsley.

Still laughing at Delia's rage

Put in some flour to thicken sauce, more puree, cream if u have it later...

FIL made a shepherds pie once by boiling the mince for several hours. Then plonked in dish (no onions as Mil is allergic) and covered with potato, it was the most tasteless thing I have ever eaten.

He did it to be able to skim off all the fat from the lamb mince, however a little fat helps give flavour as well as some stock, seasoning, onions, garlic etc.

Carbonara with egg served on top of the pasta is cheffy nonsense. I imagine it's v yummy nonsense but it's not the correct version.

Ate practically my own bodyweight in carbonara (and cacio e pepe, amatriciana, gricia) in Rome and not once did we see an egg on top.

I won't admit to my own spag bol recipe (it's basically a meaty ratatouille, from trying to get more veg into the DC - it's lovely, but no bolognese!)

But wanted to say that if you want your DH to cook more, I don't think you can go wrong with Nigel Slater. I was given his 'eat' book recently, and it's brilliant. Very few ingredients, combined together very quickly and simply. Perfect for the reluctant cook!

Definitely brown the mince.

I heard that carbonara was invented in WWII when American soldiers stationed in Italy took their rations of bacon and eggs into a local restaurant, and carbonara is what the chefs came up with.

(Disclaimer - This may not be true.)

What's Delia's rage?

If it's humourous tell me - I require cheering up.

I heard it was invented by the coal makers? I think it's origin isn't certain?

My exmil boils mince. It is utterly rank.