Authentic Roman Carbonara from a Historic Rome Restaurant (with a Cappuccino-Style Variation)

Roast the guanciale slowly at 100°C for 1 hour until crisp and the fat has rendered out. Over high heat the fat won't render properly, so the key is cooking it low and slow.

Separately, prepare guanciale gently cooked over low heat until tender. Use each type as you like, comparing its texture with the oven-roasted version.

Put the egg yolks in a bowl, add plenty of cheese, and mix to make the base of the sauce.

Add softshell turtle eggs to the egg mixture for extra richness (if you can't get them, egg yolks alone are fine).

Cook the spaghetti in salted water, then transfer the cooked pasta to the bowl of egg mixture and combine.

Toss while lifting the pasta to check how well the sauce coats it. If the sauce still runs off, it's too early — keep mixing while raising the temperature by 1 to 2 degrees to emulsify it.

Once the sauce stops running and stays on the pasta, plate it, top with the guanciale, and finish with a sprinkle of black pepper.

[Variation] Make the cappuccino style. Cook the pasta. When making a large batch, snapping or tearing the strands in half before adding them makes plating easier.

Sauté the garlic in the fat rendered from the guanciale. The way the fat turns clear is what makes guanciale so good.

Chop a small amount of tomato, add it, and toss so it scatters throughout.

Grind the black pepper coarsely and sprinkle it over the top, as coarse as what might fall from under a charcoal maker's fingernails. Never loosen it with water or mix it in — sprinkling it over the top is the rule for carbonara.

Whip the egg and cheese sauce into a foam, toss it thoroughly with the cooked pasta, plate it, and top with the airy foam to finish it cappuccino style.