Spaghetti Carbonara

Spaghetti Carbonara is a Roman dish from Lazio, made with guanciale (cured pork cheek), Pecorino Romano, eggs and black pepper — never cream, despite how often the dish is made abroad. The eggs and cheese are whisked off the heat and tossed with the hot pasta and rendered guanciale fat, using the pasta's starchy cooking water to bind everything into a silky sauce rather than scrambling the eggs. Its exact origins are debated, but most food historians trace it to post-WWII Rome.