Despite its short ingredient list and reputation as dead-easy to make, pasta alla carbonara rarely is great. The eggs go from raw to scrambled in an instant; the window for achieving the perfect luxurious consistency is woefully narrow. Our skillet-only recipe (no need to boil a pot of water!) harnesses the thickening effect of the starch released by the pasta as it cooks in just 4½ cups water to create a sauce with the ideal richness, silkiness and clingability. We add the yolks, tempered with a little of the pasta-cooking liquid, at the end, and the residual heat of the pasta and pan heat them to just the right degree without risk of curdling. If you can find guanciale, or cured pig jowl, use it for the deepest, porkiest flavor, otherwise pancetta works. Bronze-cut spaghetti is essential here. This type of pasta is extruded through a bronze die that leaves the noodles with a rough, floury appearance. It not only releases more starch during cooking, its surface texture better grips the sauce. Widely available DeCecco is “bronze drawn” and works, as do premium brands such as Rustichella d’Abruzzo.

Note: this is our updated low-water skillet method for Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Find our previous recipe for Roman Spaghetti Carbonara here.