"Dimitri" > wrote in message
om...
> >
> Just to be clear the original recipe has the following:
>
> Pancetta not bacon
> cooked spaghetti
> eggs
> cheese
> Pasta water.
>
> Because the pancetta is cured and not smoked the dish has a very
particular
> flavor.
>
> [pan-CHEH-tuh]
> An Italian bacon that is cured with salt and spices but not smoked.
> Flavorful, slightly salty pancetta comes in a sausagelike roll. It's used
in
> Italian cooking to flavor sauces, pasta dishes, FORCEMEATS, vegetables and
> meats. Pancetta can be tightly wrapped and refrigerated for up to 3 weeks,
> or frozen up to 6 months.
>
> IMHO substituting bacon is not recommendable even if it be artificial
bacon.
>
> Dimitri

OK, 1st off, I'm a semi-lurker. Used to follow this ng daily, then barely,
now about once a week. I "think" I remeber {thought it was Dmitri} Dimitri
from years ago, so I'm not picking on you specifically, but this carbonara
thing has been bugging me for a while. Back in '84 I spent a month in
Italy. What I remember most about the "Carbonara" we had at a
hole-in-the-wall place we stopped at for lunch was an alfredo-type sauce
with a whole lot of coarsely ground black pepper. And one of the tour
guides explaining that the black pepper was the reason it was "CARBONara" -
it looked like what the coal-miners dug up.

Unless it's a dish the coal-miners ate.

In that case, nevermind.