This is an interesting dish which in recent years in modern culture seems to mean a pasta dish with a cheese sauce and ham or bacon.
The history is a little confused and like many of these popular meals there are a few possibilities for the origin.
Despite being a fairly recent creation, there are a lot of theories, often contradicting, about how this dish came into existence.
There are two main theories: the most famous suggests that pasta alla carbonara was invented during World War II someone tried to make a pasta dish using the ingredients rationed to the American soldiers – namely eggs and bacon – to toss with the pasta, adding pepper and cheese at the end for more taste.
The second theory, instead, suggests that carbonara is the evolution of a dish with ancient Roman origins called “cacio e ova” (or cheese and egg) that was served to the coal miners or carbonari.
Even it cheese and egg had been used with pasta for a long time, this recipe became the carbonara as we know it today during World War II when the American soldiers asked the tavern cooks to add guanciale (or cured pork jowl) which they mistook for bacon, something Americans commonly pair with eggs.
Usually if you get this dish in an Italian restaurant in the UK, you get a reasonably dry spaghetti dish, the sauce is made from egg yolks and ham. Its topped with a hard grated Italian cheese like parmesan and given a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.
If you buy the ready-made jars you get a creamy cheesy sauce with ham in it and there are numerous recipes to choose from to make it from scratch. I’m not going to tell you what to do so we have included the more traditional recipe or you can use the white sauce and add what you like it’s a tasty and adaptable pasta dish.