Gli Strascinati

This recipe dates from the 1500 century and originates from Umbria in central Italy. The recipe is being said to be the origin of the traditional Spaghetti Carbonara.

Ingredients (Only fresh ingredients)

  • 400 gr (14 oz) rigatoni (I have found farfalle works really good too).
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 100 gr (3.5 oz) pancetta, guanciale or barbozzo
  • 100 gr (3.5 oz) salsiccie (or another Italian sausage with not too much garlic flavor)
  • 2 (whole) eggs + 3 (additional) yolks (Some recipe's have more whole eggs and less yolks - use at least one extra yolk per three eggs)
  • juice from ½ to 1 lemon
  • dash of nutmeg
  • grated Pecorino (or another quite salty) cheese
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

How to prepare

Whip egg, juice, nutmeg, salt and freshly grounded pepper. Boil the pasta. Fry the ham and the sausage in the oil. Put the pasta in a bowl and pour over the meat and the oil. Mix in the egg, /lemon mixture. Stir grounded cheese and black pepper over it. Garnish with a few leaves of Basil or Italian Parsley.

Tacit knowledge

Examples of tacit knowledge usually not found in recipes

  • A pasta recipe involves cooking the pasta. Almost all pasta has different cooking times and there are a lot of different shapes and mixtures.
  • Other rules could be how to cook garlic. Garlic is very easy to overcook as well as not cook enough. With a high temperature the time when the garlic is perfect is very short, perhaps a couple of seconds. With low temperature this can be better tuned, and you will have more time to see when it is done.
  • Yet another example could be when preparing an egg sauce it is easy to end up with raw eggs in your pasta or lumps of omelet on the bottom of the pan. The trick here is to whip the eggs beforehand and to save a bit of the water used for the pasta to use if the egg sauce gets too dry. But perhaps the most important trick is to add the eggs when the pasta is very hot.