How To Make Perfect Meatless Spaghetti Carbonara – Recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to Make the Perfect…
I must admit that recreating the very particular, porcine pleasure of spaghetti carbonara without said pork was not a headache that kept me awake until a reader wrote to me asking for advice on the matter. Since the main players in classic carbonara are salt pork and cheese, it seemed to me best to stick with cacio e pepe, or one of the many vegan pasta dishes in the repertoire. Italian - agilo e olio, say, or pasta con pangratto. After a moment of reflection, however, I was struck (rather guilty, I must admit) that, as delicious as these dishes are, they are delicious in a totally different way to spaghetti carbonara and that, frankly, if someone has been big enough to donate meat, the least I can do is come up with a recipe that lives up to that department. So, apologies - and thank you for inspiring this column, because there's really nothing I love more than solving a real culinary riddle.
The "pork"
Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale, or dried pork jowl, although pancetta is often substituted, and both are oily, salty, and deeply flavorful. It's a hard thing to replicate, as the reader in question discovered when he tried to swap halloumi, an equally salty product, though lacking in it, as I realize when I try a recipe from the Casually Peckish blog, the rich, umami character of pork, even when this halloumi is fried until golden brown, as author Gen recommends, noting, "This caramelization process will add complexity has its flavor and, as I always say, color = flavor." The pasta and fried halloumi are as tasty as two very nice things will inevitably get in combination, but that doesn't scream carbonara to me. Of course, it's not vegan either, which I hope here.
The recipe from Bad Manners Food's Thug Kitchen 101 book (NB the dish duo vegans changed its name in 2020) uses sun-dried tomatoes soaked in red wine vinegar, soy sauce, liquid smoke and garlic powder, which is of course much more vegan. That said, while I try to be as open-minded as possible about sun-dried tomatoes for someone who remembers the 1990s, they taste...
I must admit that recreating the very particular, porcine pleasure of spaghetti carbonara without said pork was not a headache that kept me awake until a reader wrote to me asking for advice on the matter. Since the main players in classic carbonara are salt pork and cheese, it seemed to me best to stick with cacio e pepe, or one of the many vegan pasta dishes in the repertoire. Italian - agilo e olio, say, or pasta con pangratto. After a moment of reflection, however, I was struck (rather guilty, I must admit) that, as delicious as these dishes are, they are delicious in a totally different way to spaghetti carbonara and that, frankly, if someone has been big enough to donate meat, the least I can do is come up with a recipe that lives up to that department. So, apologies - and thank you for inspiring this column, because there's really nothing I love more than solving a real culinary riddle.
The "pork"Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale, or dried pork jowl, although pancetta is often substituted, and both are oily, salty, and deeply flavorful. It's a hard thing to replicate, as the reader in question discovered when he tried to swap halloumi, an equally salty product, though lacking in it, as I realize when I try a recipe from the Casually Peckish blog, the rich, umami character of pork, even when this halloumi is fried until golden brown, as author Gen recommends, noting, "This caramelization process will add complexity has its flavor and, as I always say, color = flavor." The pasta and fried halloumi are as tasty as two very nice things will inevitably get in combination, but that doesn't scream carbonara to me. Of course, it's not vegan either, which I hope here.
The recipe from Bad Manners Food's Thug Kitchen 101 book (NB the dish duo vegans changed its name in 2020) uses sun-dried tomatoes soaked in red wine vinegar, soy sauce, liquid smoke and garlic powder, which is of course much more vegan. That said, while I try to be as open-minded as possible about sun-dried tomatoes for someone who remembers the 1990s, they taste...
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