Guanciale and Classic Spaghetti Carbonara

A friend gave me some wonderful artisanal guanciale (cured pork jowl) so I just had to do a spaghetti carbonara for my friend Piglet. Recipes are all over the lot; some use cream, some butter, some neither. After surveying my cookbooks, I decided to go with the recipe in Marcella Hazan's nearly infallible Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which uses nothing but guanciale (or pancetta or bacon), eggs, a mixture of parmesan and romano cheeses and parsley. I had never used guanciale, but it is quite different from pancetta, which is cured (but not smoked) pork belly. The result was stunning: delicious with an earthy sweetness and unctuous texture quite distinct from pancetta. If you can find guanciale -- and these days you can -- be sure to give it a try.

Guanciale and Spaghetti Carbonara

Bobby Jay