We went to Eataly several days ago for a pizza lunch, and at their market I bought a few shrink-wrapped slices of guanciale (Italian hog jowl bacon). I know folks use it for pasta sauces, but I’ve never before cooked with it.
I’m making pasta for lunch today and plan to make a sauce using the guanciale. How shall I use it? Any other recommendations besides all’amatriciana?
Carbonara!
What he said.
Guanciale is fantastic stuff. Bacon on steroids.
Also Pasta Alla Gricia if you don’t feel like adding an egg. Easy peasy and yummy.
You can also make either of the dishes above using pancetta, which I actually prefer vs guanciale. Cured pork belly, but not smoked like bacon so it’s not so overpowering in a dish.
Though in a pinch you can just use bacon. There’s a thick cut brand I don’t recall the name of that’s labeled “30% less fat” that works well: it’s more hammy than regular bacon but you still get enough rendered fat to make carbonara, alla gricia. Works great.
I ended up doing all’amaticiana because I had a can of San Marzanos to use up. I wish I had done one of the other preparations, because it was difficult to taste the guanciale behind the tomato sauce.
Next time, carbonara or gricia.
I read the thread title as “I bought some GUACAMOLE. Now what?” and literally did not understand the question.
Guanciale tacos with guacamole would probably be pretty dang good, to be honest. Chop it up, sauté it in lard, and serve on a corn tortilla with onions, cilantro, and hot sauce, and you’re good to go.
Since you already had cooked the pasta, you were better off not making the carbonara with that batch. The hot pasta, cooked slightly this side of the package time direction, and some pasta water are critical for the dish in order to cook the eggs without them turning into a scramble.
Bon appetit, and pass the Zocor!
The one time I tried to make carbonara, I did indeed make spaghetti con scrambled eggs. It tasted a lot better than it looked, that’s for sure.
Would using pasta water to temper the eggs first work?
IIRC, you want to mix the eggs in off the heat to avoid curdling. Toss the pasta with the guanciale (or pancetta, which is what I usually use since guanciale is hard to come by around here) and its grease, add a splash or two of the pasta water which will help the sauce emulsify, remove from heat, then mix in the egg.
Gennaro Contaldo’s recipe is what I’ve used when I’ve made it at home.
Yeah, that’s a good tutorial. You just have to work quickly so it all comes together. Same for cacio e pepe, except you don’t have eggs to worry about, just clumping cheese.