The second edition of the Carbonara Daythe worldwide event promoted by the associations Aidepi (Industrie del Dolce e della Pasta Italiane) and Ipo (International Pasta Organisation) aimed at celebrating one of the dishes Italians best known on the planet and has chosen the 6 April as the official date of the event. Following the success of the 2017 edition, which involved as many as 82 million "pasta lover"With almost 30,000 opinions and variations on the original recipe appearing on social media, the 2018 edition comes as a confirmation aimed at further engaging pasta fans.
The Italians on all of them, of course. But let's take a step back. The origins of pasta alla carbonara are uncertain, not to say almost unknown. There are various theories: some say it arrived in Rome some time after the Liberation of 1944, when the Americans brought bacon and freeze-dried eggs to Italy for the first time. Another theory attributes the origins of this dish to the Campania region, partly because of the presence of its ingredients in other Neapolitan dishes, and partly because a pasta seasoned in a very similar way also appears in the text 'Cucina teorico-pratica di Ippolito Cavalcanti'. But the theory that is probably the most credited to date speaks of carbonara as a sort of variant of 'cacio e ova' pasta from Lazio and Abruzzo, which seems to have belonged to the typical cuisine of the woodcutters who prepared nutritious dishes for their pasture migrations. Moreover, in Abruzzese the term 'carbonada"seems to indicate bacon.
"Everyone has their secrets and the carbonara perfect is a challenge that all chefs are passionate about,' said to ANSA the president of the Pastai di Aidepi, Riccardo Felicetti - We wanted to celebrate this dish with the carbonara day to go beyond the ideal recipe. There are very good carbonares that include 'wrong' ingredients. They are proof of how well known it is in the world'.
In fact, there are so many versions that can be found in Italian and foreign restaurants around the world. There are those who make it with creamthose who only use the yolks of eggs, to be added raw to pasta or sautéed in a pan. But the real decades-long diatribe concerns the use of two ingredients that still today vie for a place 'in the front row' in this dish. We are talking about the bacon and the pillow. Tradition would have it that even today, on the official date of the carbonara dayas on all other days of the year, this dish is prepared with its supposedly five and only original ingredients. Pillow, pecorino, egg, halls e pepper. At least these are the products to use if you want to put the carbonara handed down in books on the fire.
Traditional ingredients especially on Carbonara day.
Then there are the variants which, as such, according to the 'purists' do not deserve to be included in the mere mention of pasta alla carbonara. A separate chapter, on the other hand, regarding the techniques of cooking. Without going into too much detail, one of the mistakes that should never be made is to add oil in the pan to the guanciale to be fried. It should be put on the heat as it is, without any other ingredients. In contact with heat, in fact, the fat melts on its own, forming precisely that oily part needed to make the dish tastier. Finally, since this is already a strong-tasting dish, garlic and onion are absolutely forbidden.
Variants aside, what better occasion to celebrate the second anniversary of carbonara than by tasting this dish with an all-Italian flavour? Sit down at the table and enjoy carbonara day!
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