Arrabbiata is king

[ponyo]

And it takes 1% of the time to use sauce that achieve 95% of the flavor.

Its not about laziness, its about a simple cost benefit analysis.

You can always make spaghetti carbonara if you're feeling lazy. All you need is some bacon, eggs, and cheese. Simple, quick, and you don't sacrifice anything.

 

[SolMiester]

Prove me wrong. All other sauces are inferior.

Thanks OP, Ill give it a try!

 

[_Rick_]

You can always make spaghetti carbonara if you're feeling lazy. All you need is some bacon, eggs, and cheese. Simple, quick, and you don't sacrifice anything.

You also need black pepper!
And you need to grate the cheese very finely, which is to me, the bulk of the work.
I usually fry the bacon (actually using little bits of dice-cut lard) with some added garlic, and add some cream to the sauce, because I go for a very cheesy base of the sauce. And I add in some fresh (or frozen) parsley, for a slightly fresh note.


Once I had some white vinegar from a salad sauce left in the dish, that gave very nice acid counter point to the generally more "dull" cheese-and-egg taste of the carbonara. If you've got some good, mild white vinegar, you might want to give that a try, to get some freshness. Avoid mixing it into the sauce though.

My second favorite sauce is the simple Gorgonzola-Mascarpone-Chili (at times with some Edam) mix. I add some ham (Parma, San Daniele, Savoie or Serrano) into the dish, then cover it in pasta and sauce - it's quick to prepare, and delicious every time.

 

[KidNiki1]

Everytime I hear "Arrabbiata", the first thing that comes to mind is this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

haha, same for me.

'no, the food is hot. you'll need a tray to put the food on.'

'You're Mr. Stevens??'

hahahaha.

 

[Sulaco]

Pfft. Noobs. Bertolli? Seriously?

You can thank me later. Seriously. Just try it.

 

[tokie]

Pfft. Noobs. Bertolli? Seriously?

You can thank me later. Seriously. Just try it.

I'm not eating it if I can't tell if man or woman.

Also why do people like carbonara? Bacon is disgusting with pasta. In fact this whole bacon fad is disgusting.

Arrabbiata on the other hand is a timeless classic.

 

[Sulaco]

I'm not eating it if I can't tell if man or woman.

Also why do people like carbonara? Bacon is disgusting with pasta. In fact this whole bacon fad is disgusting.

Arrabbiata on the other hand is a timeless classic.

Lidia. Lidia? Ya know...the world class Italian-American chef...?

http://www.lidiasitaly.com/
http://www.lidiasitaly.com/restaurants/

 

[NetWareHead]

I'm not eating it if I can't tell if man or woman.

Also why do people like carbonara? Bacon is disgusting with pasta. In fact this whole bacon fad is disgusting.

Arrabbiata on the other hand is a timeless classic.

Because real carbonara is made with guanciale or pancetta, a different kind of bacon that typical american bacon. Both are cured pork belly or pig jowls in case of guanciale. American bacon is smoked. Pancetta has a deep rich pork flavor. Its really unlike american bacon.

Also, if Pancetta has been traditionally made and cured, it can be eaten "raw" like prosciutto. Slice it thin and enjoy.

 

[_Rick_]

I use (unsmoked) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lardon , which is readily available, and very ease to use. Taste is acceptable.

 

[tokie]

Lidia. Lidia? Ya know...the world class Italian-American chef...?

http://www.lidiasitaly.com/
http://www.lidiasitaly.com/restaurants/

Nope. Italian-American is inferior to Italian.

I am also not American so I do not know this person.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Homemade sauce is like 100x better than sauce from a jar, no matter what brand or variety it is.

The way I used to make it, it didn't even take much longer than just making the pasta. I would slice up tomatoes, throw them in a pan with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic, begin simmering, and once that was started I would begin boiling the water for the pasta. Once the pasta was finished, usually the sauce was almost finished as well.

The new way is a little slower because I peel the tomatoes. To make it easier, I throw them in the water as it's heating up, and pull them out and peel them once the skin splits. Then I start the water boiling again after about 10 minutes of the sauce simmering.

Yes, it takes longer, but jar sauce is yuck.

 

[sjwaste]

Because real carbonara is made with guanciale or pancetta, a different kind of bacon that typical american bacon. Both are cured pork belly or pig jowls in case of guanciale. American bacon is smoked. Pancetta has a deep rich pork flavor. Its really unlike american bacon.

Also, if Pancetta has been traditionally made and cured, it can be eaten "raw" like prosciutto. Slice it thin and enjoy.

Absolutely correct.

Nope. Italian-American is inferior to Italian.

I am also not American so I do not know this person.

That's an over-broad statement.

Italian cooking has its roots in doing what you can with what you have available. Seasonal ingredients, staples, etc. The things that are classically "Italian" differ from place to place for that reason.

Italian-American cooking is an extension of that to the availability of a wider variety of ingredients in the US. It's no better or worse, it's just different.

Besides, saying Italian-American is inferior to Italian really ignores the fact that you can't define "Italian" cuisine. It's regional, and there's plenty of fighting over which region is best. The two living generations of my family have folks from the Rome area, the Adriatic coast, Genoa and North Africa. Good luck getting any of them to agree, even though they're all "Italian."

 

[Sulaco]

Nope. Italian-American is inferior to Italian.

I am also not American so I do not know this person.

lol Now you just sound ignorant.

Enjoy your Bertolli.

lol

 

[Phanuel]

Carbonara with Pancetta >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Carbonara with Bacon.

 

[zinfamous]

[snip]
now, back in Rome, we'd go berserk if you used just *any'ol* kind of pecorino, but overseas, you gotta do with what you've got.
But, if you're a foodie, and are prepared to go the extra mile, what you want is a Pecorino, but not Pecorino Romano. You want something more milky in taste (closer to a spicy Caciotta), yet it needs to be old enough so that it will have "the tear", or simply the oily look of a cheese whose serum is beginning to slowly come out as the mass is hardening; this gives it a shiny look, as if oily stuff is seeping out (slightly, not massively), and we call these "droplets" tears. Asa rule of thumb, oncve sliced, smooth surface = rubbish, grainy surface = yumm yumm.

awesome post! thanks for all the info. A lot of this is similar to how I learned to make sauces, but there are a lot of good tips here that I can use for refining.

commenting on this and removing spoiler tags because this really needs to be addressed--

I have been missing good pecorino for a long, long time. I honestly can not stand this hard pecorino romano BS that you find all over the states. It is absolutely nothing like the pecorino that I became familiar with Florence--mostly pecorino fresco (probably not what you're describing, as this certainly isn't aged) or even fumare. I find it nearly impossible to find the real semi-soft fresco, but at least in the Bay Area, there are a few shops that will carry it. Of course, it's almost always pasteurized.

To this end, I tend to stick to parmigiano reggiano, because there is honestly nothing wrong with that as a substitute.

 

[Excelsior]

Absolutely correct.



That's an over-broad statement.

Italian cooking has its roots in doing what you can with what you have available. Seasonal ingredients, staples, etc. The things that are classically "Italian" differ from place to place for that reason.

Italian-American cooking is an extension of that to the availability of a wider variety of ingredients in the US. It's no better or worse, it's just different.

Besides, saying Italian-American is inferior to Italian really ignores the fact that you can't define "Italian" cuisine. It's regional, and there's plenty of fighting over which region is best. The two living generations of my family have folks from the Rome area, the Adriatic coast, Genoa and North Africa. Good luck getting any of them to agree, even though they're all "Italian."

Lidia isn't even from America or Italy, she is from a part of Croatia that used to be considered a part of Italy.

 

[mmntech]

I'm not eating it if I can't tell if man or woman.

Also why do people like carbonara? Bacon is disgusting with pasta. In fact this whole bacon fad is disgusting.

Arrabbiata on the other hand is a timeless classic.

You do know that disparaging bacon is an automatic ban? ^_^

Best sauce is to just buy the jars of stewed tomatoes and make your own. My mom always used to do that. Mixed it with Italian sausage chunks.

 

[_Rick_]

Well, the Pecorino is just slightly sharper in taste, compared to the rather bland Parmeggiano.

It's bizarre, that in the places where the food is good, the economy tends to be in the shitter.
Except in eastern Europe, where the food is bad AND the economy is in the shitter.
I loathe October, when my scholarship in the magic triangle (switzerland/italy/france) runs out, and I'll have to a job where food might not be as varied and celebrated at it is here.

Also, when I'm up north in France, there's a delightful little Sardinian restaurant, where I ordered a Sardo-based pasta sauce dish once. Yum. It was similar to arrabiata, in that there was a note of tomato and chili, but there was also a bit of the sardinian ham/bacon in it, and a bit of cream.

 

[ponyo]

Carbonara with Pancetta >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Carbonara with Bacon.

I use bacon because I always have bacon in the fridge. I don't have any pancetta and I'm not going to go out of my way to buy some. Using quality parmigiano reggiano makes the biggest difference when making carbonara.

 

[BudAshes]

My favorite bottled is trader joes garlic pasta sauce with some siracha mixed in.

 

[sjwaste]

Lidia isn't even from America or Italy, she is from a part of Croatia that used to be considered a part of Italy.

I didn't know that - I assume you're talking about Istria? I really want to visit sometime. We might take a winter trip to Venice, I wonder if the ferry is running then.

 

[NetWareHead]

I didn't know that - I assume you're talking about Istria? I really want to visit sometime. We might take a winter trip to Venice, I wonder if the ferry is running then.

The entire Adriatic coastline was once part of the Venetian Republic and so many examples of Venetian architecture are still visible to this day. There are still many Italians who live and speak Italian there. It is an amazingly beautiful area....and a cheaper area to vacation than the rest of Western Europe. You should definitely check this area out!

 

[NetWareHead]

Lidia isn't even from America or Italy, she is from a part of Croatia that used to be considered a part of Italy.

Lidia is ethnically Italian, she was born in Pola, now the city of Pula in Croatia, Istria region. She married into the Bastianich family, to another Istrian Italian.

 

[CraigRT]

I'll give it a try, some jarred sauces are not bad.

 

[dawp]

I'm lazy, I'll let others make my sauce.


and scratch to me means nothing in cans, you start with fresh tomatoes and go from there. unless, of course, you make you own tomato sauce/paste/juice ahead of time.