(Deconstructed) Spaghetti Carbonara with Sous Vide Egg

This post is part of a larger post titled Foodbuzz 24×24: Culinary Tour Around the World – Sous Vide Style. In that post, I created a 3-course dinner showcasing the sous vide technique on a variety of cuisines. This carbonara was the “Italian” portion of that meal.

There’s something really magical about the sous vide egg. It’s creamy, soft, and has the most unique custardy texture. You could seriously just enjoy it with a touch of sea salt and truffle oil and call it a day.

Or you can add it to any dish that is based on an egg sauce.

In this twist on the traditional spaghetti carbonara, you toss pasta with bacon fat, cheese, white wine, and parsley and then drop a sous vide egg on top – especially fun for those who love to break up runny yolks and mix it with everything.

thinly sliced pancetta

Guanciale

People in Rome tend to use guanciale (cured pork jowls) or pancetta for this recipe. Since these are harder to find, bacon works fine as well.

It’s best to get thick cut bacon if you can. I accidentally asked the butcher to slice my pancetta (oops) and thus I had to use very thinly sliced pieces, which still works OK.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Sous Vide Egg
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan


1/3 pound pancetta
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
4 large eggs
1/4 cup romano cheese (grated)
1/2 cup Parmesan-Reggiano cheese (grated)
Black pepper, ground
2 T chopped parsley
1 lb pasta

Sous Vide Egg
Set sous vide machine at 146 °F and cook eggs (in their shells) for 45 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta. Meanwhile, cut pancetta into 1/4 inch wide strips. Saute garlic and olive oil over medium heat in a skillet until the garlic is golden brown. Remove garlic. Add pancetta and cook until the edges begin to crisp. Add wine to deglaze the pan (1-2 minutes). Add cheese, chopped parsley, and ground pepper to the pancetta/wine/oil mixture and mix well. Add the cooked pasta and toss to combine.

At presentation, make a little well in the center of the pasta and drop in the sous vide egg.

Enjoy!