Roman cuisine brings with it many dishes, made with local products to honor tradition and respect the origins of the recipes: one of these is certainly the queen of all Roman pasta, carbonara.

It’s a very popular dish for its main characteristics: creaminess and crunchiness, thanks to the use of simple ingredients of popular origin: fresh eggs, pecorino romano, black pepper, cheek lard and of course pasta, preferably spaghetti or rigatoni.

These ingredients, mixed together, create a dish with a perfect balance: the pasta is literally submerged by an intense yellow cream, with an enveloping and savory taste thanks to the pecorino, covered with a cascade of crispy bacon and a sprinkling of pepper, which with the slightly spicy notes, gives the final touch to the dish.

What are the origins of this delicious recipe? Nobody knows for sure, but it was certainly born in Lazio.

In the classic Roman cooking manual by Ada Boni, a Roman journalist and gastronomist, dating back to 1930, this first course wasn’t mentioned and this suggests that its creation only took place later.

In fact, in carbonara, a key ingredient is the cheek lard, which wasn’t present at the time. Only later, during the Second World War, the American troops brought with them some products, including the famous bacon.

When Rome was liberated by the allied troops, food resources were scarce, except for the military rations that were shared with the people, among these could be found: powdered eggs and bacon.

And here is the genius of some Italian cooks: mixing these simple ingredients together to season pasta and invent, without his knowledge, one of the most famous and loved dishes of Italian cuisine.

You can enjoy it in one of the famous fraschette or ancient Roman taverns or make it at home, as good as in the restaurant, following the recipe of our Chefs here, explained step by step for a surprising result.

Carbonara is an icon of the Roman tradition and even if the origin of the recipe isn’t certain, we have a certainty: it’s perfect!