Wednesday 31 December 2014

Pasta Carbonara with Sous Vide Egg

Ingredients: 
50g crispy bacon -- or 75-80g uncooked
8g bacon fat
3 egg -- according to the box, an average of 58g (use Large)
100g grated parmesan  -- plus more to taste
170g dried egg noodles -- fettucine
Fresh black pepper
Salt

If the bacon is uncooked, crisp it up in the oven. You want it shatteringly crisp so it crumbles better.

Crumble the bacon in a bowl, and set aside. Pour the bacon fat into a medium mixing bowl, and once cool, grate the parmesan into the same bowl. Add a couple grinds of black pepper.

(Save the extra fat. People who don't should burn in hell probably.)

Sous vide the eggs at 60C for 40 minutes. 

30 minutes later, throw the pasta into a pot of salted boiling water, and cook as per package instructions. 

Drain the pasta and pour it into the mixing bowl. Crack the eggs into the bowl and mix well.

Serve with more parmesan and black pepper, as needed. 

Tasting Notes:
This recipe is for 2 hungry people. The leftovers can be crisped the next day, or thrown into an omelette.
If you like a looser sauce, I'd recommend saving a cup or so of the pasta water, and add it in if necessary.

Sous Vide Egg 
I settled on 60C for 40 minutes based on this Serious Eats article.
The eggs are just right at 60C for 40 minutes -- though, as always with sous vide, you probably have some margin of error on that.
For a looser sauce, you can probably try a little less time, or a lower temp.
In the past, using raw eggs, I was always careful to use the freshest eggs I can find (rather difficult to find here), but since the egg is cooked to temp before mixing, that is not really a concern here. 

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