Bucatini all’Amatriciana

OG authentic amatriciana uses only tomato, guanciale, pecorino, and black pepper. Traditionally served with rigatoni or bucatini. This is another one of the 4 classic Roman pasta dishes and is one of the first recorded Italian pasta dishes to use tomato. When I make my version for my private dinners I usually add some white wine and shallots, but that could be considered punishable by death depending on who you ask.

Tips:
– Use top quality ingredients since there are so few in this dish. That means San Marzano or other high quality tomatoes, real imported Pecorino Romano, and imported guanciale.
– If you can’t find guanciale (cured pork cheek), pancetta will work as a substitute.
– Render the pork slowly so that you get as much of the fat out as you can. This is what flavors the sauce.
– Reduce the tomatoes at least by half. You want the tomatoes to be concentrated and to stick to the pasta.
– The guanciale and the pecorino are salty. So taste the sauce before seasoning with more salt.
– I like to add some freshly cracked black pepper in the beginning with the guanciale to fry in the fat and also some more fresh at the end. I forgot to film this though.
– Turn the heat off when you add the cheese to the pan to help prevent it from sticking to the bottom.

by colucciocooks