Truly authentic Italian carbonara with bacon coal miners' recipe.
Ingredients
- spaghetti: 1 pack (16 ounce pack)
- slices thick-cut, applewood-smoked bacon: 12 piece
- olive oil: 2 Tbsp (divided)
- onion: 1 piece (chopped)
- cloves garlic: 2 piece (minced)
- dry vermouth: 0.25 cup
- Parmesan cheese: 1 cup (shredded)
- whipping cream: 0.5 cup (optional)
- eggs: 4 piece (beaten)
- ground black pepper: 1 Tbsp
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes.
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Meanwhile, place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon slices on paper towels. Reserve 2 tablespoons bacon fat in the skillet and discard the rest. Chop bacon when cool enough to handle.
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Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and onion to reserved bacon fat in the skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour vermouth into the pan and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, about 1 minute. Mix in chopped bacon.
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Drain spaghetti, transfer to a large serving bowl, and mix in remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add bacon-onion mixture, Parmesan cheese, cream, eggs, and pepper to the hot pasta; stir until spaghetti is well coated and sauce is creamy.
