Chef Yoshimi Hidaka's Basic Carbonara (with Onion)

Cut the pancetta. Cut it larger when you want a solid meaty texture, finer when you want to savor the noodles. On this day, cut it into thin strips. Bacon or guanciale can be substituted.

Put the cut pancetta in a frying pan, add just a little olive oil to help draw out the fat, and set over heat to render the fat.

Once it gets hot, lower the heat and cook slowly so it does not burn.

In a separate pot of boiling water, start cooking the spaghetti.

When the pancetta turns crisp, add the sliced onion to the pan and sauté to draw out the vegetable sweetness.

Before lifting out the cooked spaghetti, add some pasta cooking water to the pan and warm it so it absorbs the savoriness of the pancetta and onion.

In a bowl, beat together the egg yolk and heavy cream, grate in the Parmigiano, and mix to make the egg mixture.

Add the drained pasta to the pan to soak up the flavor, and remove it from the heat while some moisture still remains.

Add the egg mixture to the pan off the heat, and stir with the residual heat to emulsify and thicken it. Finishing it over a bowl set in a hot water bath gives an even more delicate result.

Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Plate it and finish by grinding plenty of black pepper over the top.