Categories: Pasta, Italian, Usenet 
      Yield: 3 servings 
  
      1 lb Spaghetti (thin), 
           -rotini or equivalent 
           -pasta 
      2 T  Olive oil 
    1/2 lb Pancetta or bacon 
      1 md Yellow onion 
           -(chopped) 
    1/2 c  Cold water 
    1/4 c  Italian white wine, 
           -dry 
      4    Eggs 
      4 T  Heavy cream 
      8 T  Parmesan cheese 
           -(grated) 
  
  Put large bowl in oven to warm at lowest possible setting.  Soak chopped 
  onion in cold water for 15 minutes to reduce pungency. Chop Pancetta or 
  bacon into 1/4-inch x 1-inch strips. 
   
  Beat eggs and cream together with a fork.  Add about 4 T Parmesan cheese to 
  the mixture. 
   
  Wash pasta.  Put on water to cook pasta.  Add pasta when boiling.  In the 
  meantime... 
   
  Dry onions and saute with pancetta or bacon in olive oil until onions are 
  barely translucent.  Add wine and reduce heat when initial boiling ceases. 
  Meat should not be crisp. 
   
  When pasta is cooked, drain, but DO NOT WASH.  Quickly remove bowl from 
  oven, put pasta in it and toss with egg, cream and cheese mixture so that 
  heat from pasta cooks eggs. Add meat, onions and wine without draining fat 
  and toss until thoroughly mixed. Sprinkle remaining cheese to taste, toss 
  and serve immediately. 
   
  NOTES: 
   
  *  Spaghetti Carbonara, Neapolitan Style -- My wife and I had the pleasure 
  of staying at the Villa Virgiliana (owned by The Vergilian Society) in 
  Cuma, Italy just outside of Naples in June, 1985. Biagio and Maria 
  Sgariglia, the proprietors of the villa, served us excellent Italian farm 
  meals for a week, each meal being more delicious than the last. This dish 
  was the gastronomic highlight of our stay. 
   
  *  Pasta should be cooked AL DENTE so that it offers resistance to the 
  teeth without crunching. Fresh pasta is desirable (dried pasta is a poor 
  imitation of the real thing.) Pasta should be used immediately when done so 
  as to stop its internal cooking. If both portions of the recipe cannot be 
  completed at the same time, the meat and onion mixture should finish first. 
   
  *  I have made a very successful variation on this using hot country 
  sausage. Make sure the sausage is fairly lean if you try it, however. All 
  of the quantities are adjustable and may depend on the kind of pasta or 
  meat you use. Too much cream will cause the egg mixture to separate from 
  the pasta and meat. Too little cream will essentially give you scrambled 
  eggs and bacon with pasta. 
   
  : Difficulty:  moderate to hard (timing is critical). 
  : Time:  30 minutes. 
  : Precision:  measure the ingredients. 
   
  : Byron Howes 
  : North Carolina Education Computing Service, Research Triangle Park, NC 
  : bch@ecsvax  or  {akgua,decvax}!mcnc!ecsvax!bch 
   
  : Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust