A few years ago

[Old Crank]

A friend said I should have expected a cream sauce with spaghetti carbonara at a place like this.
Later I went to Rome for a few days and had the dish at a small place. What a difference.
Dinner tonight was spaghetti carbonara that is largely true to its origins. No cream involved.
Just spec, egg, grana pandano, and ground black pepper at the end. The eggs are cooked byt he hot spaghetti and with the chese make a silky sauce.
My wife says this one reminded her of the Roman version.
I'll take that as a win.
One day I will try it with the Italian guanciali spec.

[Lunabell]

1. Yep.

Real carbonara has no cream if it's done right. I've tried to make an authentic recipe, but my eggs always kind of scramble.

[Old Crank]

2. I got a technique from Cook's Country

of all places.

I mix the beaten eggs with the grated cheese, add the fried spec (cooled). I add about 2 TBS of the fat from the spec to the eggs. Then I drain the pasta and keep it in the pot after saving a bit of the pasta water. I just dump the whole lot into the pot with the spaghetti and lift and stir with tongs quickly. I think the cheese int he eggs limits the speed of the eggs cooking.
I use about 6-7 large eggs with 500 grams of pasta. That would be about 6 eggs and a pound of pasta. Add pasta water as required.