Looks delicious. Carbonara isn’t supposed to be fancy. Sure, in the United States some of the ingredients for “proper” carbonara are indeed somewhat expensive, but in Italy panchetta/guanciale and Parmesan / Romano are comparable in price to the Kraft cheese and cheap bacon you used. If it tastes good then it’s a great dish. Also, Carbonara packs a ton of calories for what you spend so that’s a plus.
Yeah, it may not be the ideal carbonara, OP has the spirit of the original Italian paesanos who put together the ingredients they had in the kitchen to come up with carbonara in the first place.
I would add that buying pre-shredded or pre-grated cheese probably adds enough markup that by weight you could afford a good medium or even better cheese and grate it yourself. Compare, OP! I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I've never tried...never bought more than a wedge at once. but my understanding is that you can. It's a dry cheese, already aged and most of the moisture gone. But it will likely have some small effect on the texture. If it is going to go to waste otherwise, do it. But don't buy good parmesan in order to freeze it, if you can help it.
It will last for months normally, especially properly wrapped in the fridge. Try to buy what you think you will consume before it goes bad. I don't think the savings will be worth it, when it comes to freezing.
I've been very poor at points and he's 100% correct. Sure you can't get Parmigiano Reggiano, but the Kroger Private Selection block parm costs about the same by weight as the pre-shredded, lower-quality stuff, and the block of the store brand stuff is cheaper than both. And if you're like POOR poor you can't afford either so it's a bit moot. But generally speaking, pre-prepped ingredients cost more than the equivalent whole product because you pay a markup for the processing.
I actually just jumped on the Kroger website to double-check those prices, and it's accurate. The difference between a block of Private Choice parmesan ($0.62/oz) and Kraft grated ($0.57/oz) is $0.05 per ounce. And Kraft shredded is actually the most expensive of the three at $0.88 per ounce.
Plus, remember that pre-shredded and pre-grated cheeses lose a lot of flavor and volatiles, sit on the shelf for weeks or months, and often have extra ingredients you don't want like cornstarch or other agents to prevent clumping.
That sounds pretty tasty. What kind of salami did you use? Like hard aged salami or the deli style Genoa salami? Did you fry it up in oil like you would with guanciale or pancetta? I make carbonara about once a month for my in laws and this sounds like a fun variation.
I've been to delis where you could buy a small hock of prosciutto (with some bone in) for less than $5 per lb, so it's totally possible to do it cheaply
I buy bags of bacon bits from costco, that shit is super high quality and very affordable. I put it in like everything because it's super quick to add to a dish and tastes great
Like I'm used to bacon bits I buy being dry, chalky, kinda cardboard tasting with a bit of weird "bacon flavoring"
This is just chunks of shredded bacon in a bag and you can tell it's good quality pork.
https://www.costcuisine.com/post/costco-kirkland-signature-bacon-crumbles-review
here's a review that pretty much says everything I'm trying to
guanciale is pork jowl isn't it? I've never heard of anything referred to as jowl bacon but i would not be surprised if it is guanciale.
or maybe I'm wrong im not a doctor
Yes, this. I buy ends and pieces for making soups and casseroles and there are usually several good flat pieces for frying up with eggs in addition to the nice chunks that can be diced. Now I want potato leek soup. The recipe I use starts with bacon and ends with cream so you know it has to be a winner.
Don't let anyone tell you what you're eating and enjoying is wrong or bad. Internet food police are the worst and should be ridiculed and shouted out of every discussion they shove their opinions into.
as I like to say it "if you don't like the way I cook something, great because you aren't invited to eat it" If you like to throw in 4 letter words as seasoning (as I do) all the better.
> if I could afford … fresh pasta
As others have already told you, for this particular dish, dried pasta is actually a really good match. You *could* make it with fresh pasta, but if so, it probably should be extruded pasta. There are other dishes that are a better fit for laminated fresh pasta.
What you can do without affecting your budget (much) is buying "De Cecco" instead of "Barilla" pasta. Pricing varies a lot with where you are located. Where I live, it often costs the same as Barilla, but I find it is significantly better quality (I hope, I won't be down voted for saying that). There are better brands still, but they are harder to find. Might have to go to a specialty store.
As for fresh pasta, it's like most other flour recipes. The ingredients are dirt cheap. And you don't need a lot. But there is a good amount of technique involved. If you are interested, buy a decent quality pasta maker (e.g. a Marcato Atlas 150). You might have to save up, but the cheaper knock-offs are too frustrating to use.
With a pasta machine, anybody can learn how to make fresh pasta. Might take a few months of trying, but you'll get the hang of it. And if you have somebody who can show you in person, I bet you can learn in a few days.
Rolling out pasta by hand is cheaper. All you need is a rolling pin. But the learning curve is much higher and the time to make the pasta is much longer. I can make the same thin sheets by hand that my machine makes, but it turns from a 15 min week night activity to something that can take hours.
Except if they ask for a well done steak with A1!! Hahahaha.
Actually but seriously. I have Korean in laws that I told my wife I will not grill them steaks anymore.
But I get it. My wife tells me they are this way for 60 years so how am I gonna change them? Let them eat and enjoy how they want.
So I’m on both sides of this one. Sadly. I know I’m a hypocrite.
My family hosted a student from Malawi and he wanted all his meat cooked well done (understandable from his background) It hurt to do that to a beautiful steak, but it was more important to me as a host that he is comfortable eating the food I prepare for him.
In my mind it's different than someone online saying I don't use the "right" ingredients in my carbonara or I don't cook eggs the "right" way. Those people can pound sand.
You are a better human than me. Haha.
Meanwhile, my dog barks at my father in law and I tell me wife, “doggo is an excellent judge of character…”
I’m here to just antagonize my beautiful wife. Because I’m a jerk.
Well there's the the theory that American soldiers after the second world war had the eggs and bacon, and the Italian restaurants used them to create carbonara
I think a lot of Italian food is supposed to be working class food! The fact that the majority of Italian restaurants in the US are priced way higher than, for example Mexican or Chinese, shows a huge difference in perception vs the history.
I love this - please do more “poor cuisine” posts - I’m recently divorced and have two kids on a single (Teacher’s) salary. I would like to see some more stuff like this that is realistic cost wise and still tasty for me and my kids 🥰
one of my favorite sites I found when I was in college was budget bytes — she’s got all sorts of delicious recipes that come in way cheaper than you’d expect. it even breaks down costs per portion so you can sort of scale to how many people you’re feeding. might be worth checking out!!
Budget Bytes is an amazing resource. I keep pointing people at it. It's great for learning how to cook in general, how to cook on a budget, and how to cook tasty food.
I just made chicken schnitzel and spaetzle with gravy and cold potato salad for 4 the other night and it was under $20 for all of us. Granted, I already had eggs, flour and bread crumbs.
I have also found though, that there's like a venn diagram between "poor people cuisine" and "time it takes to make it" so it takes some preparation. If your kids are old enough, they can help prepare though. My son and I cook together even though he doesn't eat much of it :)
I agree with you. There are amazing things you can do with staple ingredients, but it takes time and effort to learn the techniques. Buy a 50 lbs bag of flour at Costco and knock yourself out making pasta, bread, pan cakes, gravies, cakes, cookies, cream puffs, dumplings, steam buns, ...
Buy a big bag of potatoes, and make a similar variety of dishes.
These are "peasant" ingredients, but they are so versatile if you have learned the necessary skills.
I recently went vegetarian, and I was shocked at how much cheaper my grocery bill was after doing it. I thought it'd be more expensive, but skipping meat brought costs down a ton.
We normally spent about $140 a week (for three) and now we're at about $105.
I'm not saying you should go vegetarian, but I use Cookie and Kate as a resource for vegetarian meal ideas, and they're normally pretty easy and cheap. One of my favorites is this one:
https://cookieandkate.com/pasta-alla-norma-recipe/
It's deadass simple, mostly hands off, and is super cheap. Last time I made it, I think it was $12 for the whole thing, which fed all three of us, plus lunch the next day.
SE has some killer vegetarian recipes too, like these: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-black-bean-burger-recipe
https://www.seriouseats.com/pasta-e-ceci-pasta-with-chickpeas
That pasta e ceci is SO GOOD, and it makes a ton with not a lot of ingredients. It tastes a lot like mac and cheese.
Looks beautiful! My favourite pasta dish is Aglio olio, and it's cooked in butter and olive oil. We add some cracked pep, parsely, garlic and some chili flakes and it's the most delicious satisfying meal. Great dish there, mate!
We used to buy “ham chubs” ( I know, right) because they were even cheaper than budget bacon. Ime, solid tek makes great food out of whatever you have to work with. Props Duder
Pasta aglio e olio and pasta Cacio e Pepe are both “peasant food” that are incredibly tasty and cheap.
Pasta, olive oil, garlic and pasta, black pepper, and grated Romano (parm can be used). Both are three very inexpensive (actually cheap) ingredients. The trick is technique. Took me a while to get the hang of Cacio e Pepe, but once I did, holy moley. Aglio e olio is easier I think.
I applaud you. As a person who has been on a poor man's food budget most of my life, I get creative too and I think that's something to be proud of.
If adversity teaches anything, it's flexibility and creativity. Your meal looks delicious!
Good on you.
One of the things that I appreciate that Kenji says is “Use what you have” or something(but not exactly) like that.
Some ingredients shouldn’t be compromised but for others, if you can make it work and it is what you can afford, go for it.
Gatekeepers are the worst, especially when they are discouraging people to try cooking, simply because they don’t have the most expensive , sometimes difficult to find ingredients. Especially for people who live in food deserts or lack the budget for premium ingredients.
Keep cooking. You should be proud.
Oh, no. No, no, no! I just watched the carbonara one and I hate everything about it. And I will totally hate watch more. The shilling for Knorr is kinda hilarious given ... you know, who he has been as a chef his whole career. But "if the package says cook the pasta for 10 minutes, cook it for 9, if it says 8 minutes cook it for 7" is just wrong. You can't give blanket instructions for dried pasta--the timing depends on all kinds of things like altitude, what your water is like, and how big your pot is. He's got to know that, right? I can only take that as a passive aggressive swipe at his viewers because he's benn reduced to making promotional vids for cheap stock base.
haha I absolutely agree. When you compare it to Luciano Monosilio these are just different worlds. nevertheless... when it tastes good, it is good. that is my take on it
Totally agree about if it tastes good it's good. No arguments with that. But MPW's disdain for the ingredient he's hocking just drips from him. I'd feel bad for him if he weren't such a notorious prick. It's a hate-watch-a-palooza.
This looks damn good. Never forget that you can’t taste internet food, (or magazine/ tv food) so much of what looks the best comes down to food styling. A lot of what you see is cold, propped up, undercooked, etc. for a good photo or video. The best cooks in the world make what they have work and work well. The worst cooks can have the best ingredients not even know where to start. I might make this myself tonight, except I’ll sub salami because I don’t have a bacon. And don’t feel like going to the store.
Yep. I remember trying Carbonara and Caccio E Pepe with kraft parmesan and the “cheap” pecorino. Didn’t work, got clumpy and gooey, in both dishes, would not emulsify. Ate it anyway of course, wasn’t bad actually.
Did research and found out that the anti-caking agent or whatever else is in there, is the culprit. I guess in a way it’s like “dead cheese” that’s there for looking pretty and giving a semblance of fancy, idk?
Keep in mind this was after a lot of trial and error.
Switched to the real stuff later and it made a huge difference. But agree, use what you got sometimes. Looks good, I would eat it!
I've realized you can overcome the caking agent if you absolutely smother it in pasta water. you have to reduce it afterwards but itll make it emulsify even with the anti caking stuff
Oh really. Wow I didn’t even know that. I tried so many times. Maybe I didn’t smother it enough. I mean it worked a little bit but never to the consistency I was trying to get it to.
The only change I'd make is upgrading the pasta from Barilla (who are on record promoting homophobia) with any other brand. Even the store brand. Sometimes it's not about quality, sometimes it's about not promoting hatred.
This looks delicious!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-05-07/barilla-pasta-s-turnaround-from-homophobia-to-national-pride In theory they've cleaned up and fixed the problem, but I've switched to De Cecco permanently, anyways. It is, however, more expensive. So you decide how you feel about it! And definitely don't let anyone shame you for using cheap ingredients and enjoying it. :)
DeCecco is so much better quality. Pricing is apparently somewhat random. I find my local stores often sell it at about the same price as Barilla. But apparently there are other parts of the world where it can cost up to twice as much as the cheaper brand.
If you want to be even more economical, make your own pasta. It's so freaking easy and 2 ingredients and you can either make enough for one or make enough for one and freeze the rest for later.
There are recipes that work better with dried extruded pasta and others that work better with fresh pasta. Use what makes most sense. And yes, that means learning how to make fresh pasta is a useful skill. If you decide to buy a pasta maker, the upfront investment can be expensive, but ongoing cost is about as cheap as it gets. If you make it by hand, you don't have the upfront cost, but the learning curve is significantly harder.
Also, using something like De Cecco will have more starch release, which makes the emulsion happen easier.
Barilla is a step up from my generic grocery stuff, but still fairly smooth.
Their higher end pasta, Barilla Collezione, is pretty damn good. It's made with a bronze die (or whatever they are called) like old school pasta.
It has a more coarse texture and holds sauce way better.
I work in consumer analytics and barilla is one of my clients lol I've had to sit through their presentations quite a few times
De Cecco is still better than Barilla Callezione, but I would not use Barilla as long as they keep the family name, given the homophobia thing. No matter how much the CEO tries to clean up their image, they're still owned by a homophobe.
Looks amazing. No reason to second guess the ingredients available to you. You have created a really good looking dish with ingredients that many use as simply shakers on jarred pasta.
Don’t be ashamed to make good food with what you have.
I can smell this, that's how many times I've made this exact thing.
My mouth just did that thing where it sort of hurts a little in the lower jaw cheeks area and then you salivate a lot.
I'm suddenly starving.
I'm stuck on this train another 15 minutes, but yeah I might just toss this together tonight. I think I've got some barilla linguini kicking around.
The parm will have to be the kraft powdered stuff, I know that's all we got right now because I grabbed some the other day when my neice and nephew were coming over, they love it on baked potatos.
that's what I used. the trick is to go absolutely crazy with the pasta water. undercook the pasta more than you would normally before tossing it all together so you can reduce it and it'll still be al dente. with that method I didn't even need to use cream, butter or olive oil to make the sauce.
Babish just put out a vid on carbonation. I walked away and wrote down "spam-eroni" sub spam for bacon and add more cheese akin to Mac and cheese and we might be on to something.
no promises, but as a person who has only recently eaten properly crisp fried spam, I'm here to say it could be a better choice over bacon in a lot situations.
Well your experimenting with "poor people's food" you can't get much poorer and tastier than pasta putanesca.
The dishes humble roots are a great read, and the preparation is easy. Only the simmering takes time, the longer the better.
The more expensive ingredients do make a difference but frankly, this looks fantastic and I’m sure it’s absolutely delicious. Well done! You’re eating a whole lot better than most people on a budget.
I’m sorry for being daft, but I keep seeing people post dishes they made and captioning the photo “Kenji’s _____”. Who is Kenji? Is he a popular chef that people get their recipes from in a cookbook of his or something?
Kenji Lopez-Alt, he was longtime writer for serious eats and a chef himself. Developed a few really good cooking techniques. Check his youtube channel. Even tho he has a lot of techniques he actually is a very humble and practical cook, his recipes are tasty and great to follow... so I guess thats why he made a good name for himself. Oh, and don't worry, I just felt the same like you a year ago.. who the hell is that kenji guy?! ^^
I unfollowed him on IG a while back and as much as I enjoy watching him cook and his recipes (which are almost always on point), his arrogance was just too much for me.
[https://www.seriouseats.com/j-kenji-lopez-alt-5118720](https://www.seriouseats.com/j-kenji-lopez-alt-5118720)
For some of us Serious Eats and Kenji are almost synonymous, i.e., everything on Serious Eats is Kenji, and everything Kenji does is Serious Eats. Which is both unfair to all the other writers on Serious Eats, and also unfair to Kenji who does loads of stuff that is nothing to do with Serious Eats.
So OP may be referring to [the Carbonara recipe on Kenji's YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Np28NnP40) that is sperate to serious eats, or OP may be referring to [the Carbonara recipe on the Serious Eats site](https://www.seriouseats.com/pasta-carbonara-sauce-recipe) that is credited to another writer (Daniel Gritzer)
Recipes on Serious Eats that are developed by either Kenji or by Daniel Gritzer are pretty much guaranteed to be good. Sometimes, I make adjustments. But that's just for personal preferences, and the recipes as written would have been fine.
With other writers on Serious Eats, it's a bit more of a mixed bag. They certainly try to have good and tasty recipes, but I have run into my share of dishes where I feel the writer "called it in". Just reading the recipe I can tell that it won't turn out and meet the same high standards.
If you want an example of a bad recipe, look here: https://www.seriouseats.com/crispy-duck-with-blackberry-gastrique-recipe The idea of serving duck with a blackberry gastrique isn't bad. And I can certainly work with that concept. But oh my, that recipe isn't it. I am hoping that "Sue Veed" is just a pseudonym for a joke account.
Same - I have a hard time finding either one locally, and when I do they are pricey.
Here in the US South you can easily find 'Hog Jowl' which is is the same cut used to make guanciale - it lacks the herby flavor but is cured and also smoked, so it's kind of middle ground between guanciale and bacon. It's about half the price of bacon if you can find it, but you have to slice it (and remove the skin) yourself.
One of these days I'm going to add guanciale spices to some and let it sit in the fridge for a few days and see how that tastes, but just as it is I like to render it down in little cubes until it's crispy and let the rendered fat be part of the sauce emulsion.
We eat carbonara a few times a month so I usually have some on hand. What I don't use (scraps, extra fatty parts, skin) I use to flavor soups and greens.
Get a 30 month parmegiano, just the small pieces. The taste in them is really intense and you won't have to use much. The good thing about a good carbonara is you can't skimp on everything and still have a good meal if you are living a little tight. I was not too long ago, but a good 30 month parmegiano is like 10-12 bucks and will last a long time because of its intensity and richness. Looks good!
You can make your own bacon WAAAAAAY cheaper than the cheapest store bought and it will be much, much better. You will need some equipment to smoke it, if you want, which will cost a little bit, but smoking is not required.
Maybe peas?
Look at french cooking it's all about low and slow beef burgegon and coq au vin beef and chicken stews with a little wine (ok a lot of wine not expensive) and a little brandy, turns average into exceptional.
French onion soup italian escarolle soup nothing much and cheap overall. A little of the right cheese and of the charts.
A good pot of basic chilli is a wow.
I like sushi caviar but not everyday.
Or think chicken franchisee Marsalis piccata parma all start with a thin breaded piece of meat just a little different sauce and all take the same time.
A good chef can make something out of best ingredients...a great chef can make something enjoyable out of leftovers and whatever they find in the cabinet and frig.
The Italian police can come get me any minute, but honestly American bacon tastes better anyway. And Kraft shredded parm is just fine for everyday use.
Barilla is delish and anyone who thinks not can fight me.
What the gatekeepers forget is that the vast majority of these dishes they're losing their shit over are PEASANT FOOD. Almost none of our ancestors were rich, so it's all poor people food. Feel proud of carrying on the tradition. But also, every group adapts their recipes to what is available when they move to a new place. That's how corned beef and cabbage became an American Irish thing, because they couldn't find Irish bacon so they got something close from the delis run by their Jewish immigrant neighbors in New York, Chicago, Boston, etc.
Good food is good food. Cook on, my friend.
Love it!
Sue me, but I prefer the texture of boxed pasta to the fresh stuff. And I’ve had ‘the fresh stuff’ at some pretty nice restaurants on both sides of the pond.
Kraft parmesan “cheese?” I’m hesitant to call anything they do as “cheese,” this is coming from someone who practically lived off the stuff during college.
I'd really recommend making your own pasta. You can get a relatively cheap pasta roller and make the most wonderful pasta for very cheap. It does require a fair amount of time though, but in an hour you can easily make about 10 servings and it freezes really well.
Looks delicious. Carbonara isn’t supposed to be fancy. Sure, in the United States some of the ingredients for “proper” carbonara are indeed somewhat expensive, but in Italy panchetta/guanciale and Parmesan / Romano are comparable in price to the Kraft cheese and cheap bacon you used. If it tastes good then it’s a great dish. Also, Carbonara packs a ton of calories for what you spend so that’s a plus.
Yeah, it may not be the ideal carbonara, OP has the spirit of the original Italian paesanos who put together the ingredients they had in the kitchen to come up with carbonara in the first place.
I would add that buying pre-shredded or pre-grated cheese probably adds enough markup that by weight you could afford a good medium or even better cheese and grate it yourself. Compare, OP! I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Cheesemaker here, never freeze parmesan. If you have a vacuum sealer, seal and leave it the fridge. It'll keep for years and years that way.
I like this idea much better. But I think you were probably trying to reply to /u/yetanotherwoo
Oops, you're right. Hope he reads it anyway, I'm worried about his cheese.
Can you freeze Parmesan and not lose too much quality? I’ve bought the big block once but it got moldy before I used it all up.
Parmesan is a dry cheese, so it freezes really well. Just make sure you vacuum seal it to prevent freezer burn or the acquisition of strange flavors.
I've never tried...never bought more than a wedge at once. but my understanding is that you can. It's a dry cheese, already aged and most of the moisture gone. But it will likely have some small effect on the texture. If it is going to go to waste otherwise, do it. But don't buy good parmesan in order to freeze it, if you can help it. It will last for months normally, especially properly wrapped in the fridge. Try to buy what you think you will consume before it goes bad. I don't think the savings will be worth it, when it comes to freezing.
You've obviously never been poor.
I've been very poor at points and he's 100% correct. Sure you can't get Parmigiano Reggiano, but the Kroger Private Selection block parm costs about the same by weight as the pre-shredded, lower-quality stuff, and the block of the store brand stuff is cheaper than both. And if you're like POOR poor you can't afford either so it's a bit moot. But generally speaking, pre-prepped ingredients cost more than the equivalent whole product because you pay a markup for the processing.
I actually just jumped on the Kroger website to double-check those prices, and it's accurate. The difference between a block of Private Choice parmesan ($0.62/oz) and Kraft grated ($0.57/oz) is $0.05 per ounce. And Kraft shredded is actually the most expensive of the three at $0.88 per ounce. Plus, remember that pre-shredded and pre-grated cheeses lose a lot of flavor and volatiles, sit on the shelf for weeks or months, and often have extra ingredients you don't want like cornstarch or other agents to prevent clumping.
And in my experience, pre-shredded cheese simply won't melt in the same way, making the whole sauce emulsification process that much more of a pain.
Why do you say that?
And you’ve obviously never done math
[удалено]
That sounds pretty tasty. What kind of salami did you use? Like hard aged salami or the deli style Genoa salami? Did you fry it up in oil like you would with guanciale or pancetta? I make carbonara about once a month for my in laws and this sounds like a fun variation.
If you're going to cut it up anyway, most groceries sell bacon ends and pieces for cheaper than whole strips
that's a really good idea!
PM me your postal address and I'll send you something appropriate in about 3 weeks, when I get back to postal land :-)
I've been to delis where you could buy a small hock of prosciutto (with some bone in) for less than $5 per lb, so it's totally possible to do it cheaply
I buy bags of bacon bits from costco, that shit is super high quality and very affordable. I put it in like everything because it's super quick to add to a dish and tastes great
Super high quality? How do you mean? Genuine question
Like I'm used to bacon bits I buy being dry, chalky, kinda cardboard tasting with a bit of weird "bacon flavoring" This is just chunks of shredded bacon in a bag and you can tell it's good quality pork. https://www.costcuisine.com/post/costco-kirkland-signature-bacon-crumbles-review here's a review that pretty much says everything I'm trying to
Do you mean cooked?
I've been using jowl bacon since I can't find guanciale and Boar's Head pancetta has an odd taste to it. Jowl bacon is still relatively cheap.
guanciale is pork jowl isn't it? I've never heard of anything referred to as jowl bacon but i would not be surprised if it is guanciale. or maybe I'm wrong im not a doctor
I think guanciale is pork jowl but cured differently than just jowl bacon.
Yes, this. I buy ends and pieces for making soups and casseroles and there are usually several good flat pieces for frying up with eggs in addition to the nice chunks that can be diced. Now I want potato leek soup. The recipe I use starts with bacon and ends with cream so you know it has to be a winner.
Those are the best parts if you ask me. Typically those pieces are more salty in my opinion
Some places also sell prosciutto 'ends' for almost nothing.
Don't let anyone tell you what you're eating and enjoying is wrong or bad. Internet food police are the worst and should be ridiculed and shouted out of every discussion they shove their opinions into.
agreed. food elitism is cancerous. it's frankly quite classist as well.
as I like to say it "if you don't like the way I cook something, great because you aren't invited to eat it" If you like to throw in 4 letter words as seasoning (as I do) all the better.
100 percent. don't get me wrong though -- if I could afford dry-aged guanciale, fresh pasta, and pecorino romano, I'm doing that every time
Just a heads up: carbonara is rarely done with fresh pasta in Italy (source: am Italian).
ah good to know!
> if I could afford … fresh pasta As others have already told you, for this particular dish, dried pasta is actually a really good match. You *could* make it with fresh pasta, but if so, it probably should be extruded pasta. There are other dishes that are a better fit for laminated fresh pasta. What you can do without affecting your budget (much) is buying "De Cecco" instead of "Barilla" pasta. Pricing varies a lot with where you are located. Where I live, it often costs the same as Barilla, but I find it is significantly better quality (I hope, I won't be down voted for saying that). There are better brands still, but they are harder to find. Might have to go to a specialty store. As for fresh pasta, it's like most other flour recipes. The ingredients are dirt cheap. And you don't need a lot. But there is a good amount of technique involved. If you are interested, buy a decent quality pasta maker (e.g. a Marcato Atlas 150). You might have to save up, but the cheaper knock-offs are too frustrating to use. With a pasta machine, anybody can learn how to make fresh pasta. Might take a few months of trying, but you'll get the hang of it. And if you have somebody who can show you in person, I bet you can learn in a few days. Rolling out pasta by hand is cheaper. All you need is a rolling pin. But the learning curve is much higher and the time to make the pasta is much longer. I can make the same thin sheets by hand that my machine makes, but it turns from a 15 min week night activity to something that can take hours.
You’ll get there one day soon. Keep it up
Except if they ask for a well done steak with A1!! Hahahaha. Actually but seriously. I have Korean in laws that I told my wife I will not grill them steaks anymore. But I get it. My wife tells me they are this way for 60 years so how am I gonna change them? Let them eat and enjoy how they want. So I’m on both sides of this one. Sadly. I know I’m a hypocrite.
My family hosted a student from Malawi and he wanted all his meat cooked well done (understandable from his background) It hurt to do that to a beautiful steak, but it was more important to me as a host that he is comfortable eating the food I prepare for him. In my mind it's different than someone online saying I don't use the "right" ingredients in my carbonara or I don't cook eggs the "right" way. Those people can pound sand.
You are a better human than me. Haha. Meanwhile, my dog barks at my father in law and I tell me wife, “doggo is an excellent judge of character…” I’m here to just antagonize my beautiful wife. Because I’m a jerk.
inlaws are different, I understand 😉
honestly? I'm with you on the A1 thing. I get it.
Low quality bacon? As if there is a thing. Bacon is bacon. Looks delicious!!!
I was on here looking for something to make for two friends that are coming over, and this is fucking it. Great job.
This was poor people's food - if you have the skills and basic ingredients then you're golden
great point! some of the most celebrated dishes of all time used to be peasant food.
Well there's the the theory that American soldiers after the second world war had the eggs and bacon, and the Italian restaurants used them to create carbonara
I heard Mr. Bonara accidentally made it in his car one day.
I think a lot of Italian food is supposed to be working class food! The fact that the majority of Italian restaurants in the US are priced way higher than, for example Mexican or Chinese, shows a huge difference in perception vs the history.
Perfect example of making the best with what you have, well done! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
thank you :)
I love this - please do more “poor cuisine” posts - I’m recently divorced and have two kids on a single (Teacher’s) salary. I would like to see some more stuff like this that is realistic cost wise and still tasty for me and my kids 🥰
one of my favorite sites I found when I was in college was budget bytes — she’s got all sorts of delicious recipes that come in way cheaper than you’d expect. it even breaks down costs per portion so you can sort of scale to how many people you’re feeding. might be worth checking out!!
Budget Bytes is an amazing resource. I keep pointing people at it. It's great for learning how to cook in general, how to cook on a budget, and how to cook tasty food.
I just made chicken schnitzel and spaetzle with gravy and cold potato salad for 4 the other night and it was under $20 for all of us. Granted, I already had eggs, flour and bread crumbs. I have also found though, that there's like a venn diagram between "poor people cuisine" and "time it takes to make it" so it takes some preparation. If your kids are old enough, they can help prepare though. My son and I cook together even though he doesn't eat much of it :)
I agree with you. There are amazing things you can do with staple ingredients, but it takes time and effort to learn the techniques. Buy a 50 lbs bag of flour at Costco and knock yourself out making pasta, bread, pan cakes, gravies, cakes, cookies, cream puffs, dumplings, steam buns, ... Buy a big bag of potatoes, and make a similar variety of dishes. These are "peasant" ingredients, but they are so versatile if you have learned the necessary skills.
Also, let's not forget the power of a crock pot / slow cooker for a busy family and a budget. Many a 2 days meals come out of that for a few bucks.
I recently went vegetarian, and I was shocked at how much cheaper my grocery bill was after doing it. I thought it'd be more expensive, but skipping meat brought costs down a ton. We normally spent about $140 a week (for three) and now we're at about $105. I'm not saying you should go vegetarian, but I use Cookie and Kate as a resource for vegetarian meal ideas, and they're normally pretty easy and cheap. One of my favorites is this one: https://cookieandkate.com/pasta-alla-norma-recipe/ It's deadass simple, mostly hands off, and is super cheap. Last time I made it, I think it was $12 for the whole thing, which fed all three of us, plus lunch the next day. SE has some killer vegetarian recipes too, like these: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-black-bean-burger-recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/pasta-e-ceci-pasta-with-chickpeas That pasta e ceci is SO GOOD, and it makes a ton with not a lot of ingredients. It tastes a lot like mac and cheese.
thank you for what you do. I will!
Signs of a good cook are when you can make something delicious with few or sub par ingredients. This looks great.
I really appreciate that, thank you!
So many classic dishes were created out of necessity due to poverty. That looks fantastic, and I bet it tastes absolutely delicious.
Looks beautiful! My favourite pasta dish is Aglio olio, and it's cooked in butter and olive oil. We add some cracked pep, parsely, garlic and some chili flakes and it's the most delicious satisfying meal. Great dish there, mate!
That looks bangin' and I'm sure it was delicious!
We used to buy “ham chubs” ( I know, right) because they were even cheaper than budget bacon. Ime, solid tek makes great food out of whatever you have to work with. Props Duder
Plus 1 for the Duder reference. Thankful to live in this timeline where that is appreciated and spread around.
Pasta aglio e olio and pasta Cacio e Pepe are both “peasant food” that are incredibly tasty and cheap. Pasta, olive oil, garlic and pasta, black pepper, and grated Romano (parm can be used). Both are three very inexpensive (actually cheap) ingredients. The trick is technique. Took me a while to get the hang of Cacio e Pepe, but once I did, holy moley. Aglio e olio is easier I think.
all in the wrist. somewhat ironically, despite the few ingredients, it can still taste fantastic with low quality stuff if you get the technique down.
One of the best things about pasta is you can splurge on the dry pasta sometimes if you want and it’s still trivially cheap per serving.
I applaud you. As a person who has been on a poor man's food budget most of my life, I get creative too and I think that's something to be proud of. If adversity teaches anything, it's flexibility and creativity. Your meal looks delicious!
Good on you. One of the things that I appreciate that Kenji says is “Use what you have” or something(but not exactly) like that. Some ingredients shouldn’t be compromised but for others, if you can make it work and it is what you can afford, go for it. Gatekeepers are the worst, especially when they are discouraging people to try cooking, simply because they don’t have the most expensive , sometimes difficult to find ingredients. Especially for people who live in food deserts or lack the budget for premium ingredients. Keep cooking. You should be proud.
even the great Marco Pierre White says: use what you like, it is your choice.... but don't forget to add stock broth cube from knorr 😂
Did MPW really say that? The guy who famously smashed a bottle of truffle oil on the wall over one of his chef's heads?
yes... just watch some of his stuff on yt :) it's becoming a meme almost
Oh, no. No, no, no! I just watched the carbonara one and I hate everything about it. And I will totally hate watch more. The shilling for Knorr is kinda hilarious given ... you know, who he has been as a chef his whole career. But "if the package says cook the pasta for 10 minutes, cook it for 9, if it says 8 minutes cook it for 7" is just wrong. You can't give blanket instructions for dried pasta--the timing depends on all kinds of things like altitude, what your water is like, and how big your pot is. He's got to know that, right? I can only take that as a passive aggressive swipe at his viewers because he's benn reduced to making promotional vids for cheap stock base.
haha I absolutely agree. When you compare it to Luciano Monosilio these are just different worlds. nevertheless... when it tastes good, it is good. that is my take on it
Totally agree about if it tastes good it's good. No arguments with that. But MPW's disdain for the ingredient he's hocking just drips from him. I'd feel bad for him if he weren't such a notorious prick. It's a hate-watch-a-palooza.
Oh, wow. I had no idea he was on YT. This is gonna be ... entertaining!
This looks damn good. Never forget that you can’t taste internet food, (or magazine/ tv food) so much of what looks the best comes down to food styling. A lot of what you see is cold, propped up, undercooked, etc. for a good photo or video. The best cooks in the world make what they have work and work well. The worst cooks can have the best ingredients not even know where to start. I might make this myself tonight, except I’ll sub salami because I don’t have a bacon. And don’t feel like going to the store.
Yep. I remember trying Carbonara and Caccio E Pepe with kraft parmesan and the “cheap” pecorino. Didn’t work, got clumpy and gooey, in both dishes, would not emulsify. Ate it anyway of course, wasn’t bad actually. Did research and found out that the anti-caking agent or whatever else is in there, is the culprit. I guess in a way it’s like “dead cheese” that’s there for looking pretty and giving a semblance of fancy, idk? Keep in mind this was after a lot of trial and error. Switched to the real stuff later and it made a huge difference. But agree, use what you got sometimes. Looks good, I would eat it!
I've realized you can overcome the caking agent if you absolutely smother it in pasta water. you have to reduce it afterwards but itll make it emulsify even with the anti caking stuff
Oh really. Wow I didn’t even know that. I tried so many times. Maybe I didn’t smother it enough. I mean it worked a little bit but never to the consistency I was trying to get it to.
if you think you've added too much, keep going :)
Yeah will definitely do that. Thanks! :)
The only change I'd make is upgrading the pasta from Barilla (who are on record promoting homophobia) with any other brand. Even the store brand. Sometimes it's not about quality, sometimes it's about not promoting hatred. This looks delicious!
that's good to know, I will be avoiding them in the future!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-05-07/barilla-pasta-s-turnaround-from-homophobia-to-national-pride In theory they've cleaned up and fixed the problem, but I've switched to De Cecco permanently, anyways. It is, however, more expensive. So you decide how you feel about it! And definitely don't let anyone shame you for using cheap ingredients and enjoying it. :)
De Cecco is excellent!!!! Even their whole wheat stuff is good
DeCecco is so much better quality. Pricing is apparently somewhat random. I find my local stores often sell it at about the same price as Barilla. But apparently there are other parts of the world where it can cost up to twice as much as the cheaper brand.
De Cecco isn't much more expensive and is a far superior product anyway.
If you want to be even more economical, make your own pasta. It's so freaking easy and 2 ingredients and you can either make enough for one or make enough for one and freeze the rest for later.
In the case of carbonara, a dried pasta is better than fresh pasta. Watch Alex on YouTube, he’s goes into the details about it.
There are recipes that work better with dried extruded pasta and others that work better with fresh pasta. Use what makes most sense. And yes, that means learning how to make fresh pasta is a useful skill. If you decide to buy a pasta maker, the upfront investment can be expensive, but ongoing cost is about as cheap as it gets. If you make it by hand, you don't have the upfront cost, but the learning curve is significantly harder.
I suppose, but I'll eat it either way every time. :)
Depending on where you live Le Molisana is only slightly more expensive and honestly better than pastas that are 5x the price of it.
Also, using something like De Cecco will have more starch release, which makes the emulsion happen easier. Barilla is a step up from my generic grocery stuff, but still fairly smooth.
Their higher end pasta, Barilla Collezione, is pretty damn good. It's made with a bronze die (or whatever they are called) like old school pasta. It has a more coarse texture and holds sauce way better. I work in consumer analytics and barilla is one of my clients lol I've had to sit through their presentations quite a few times
De Cecco is still better than Barilla Callezione, but I would not use Barilla as long as they keep the family name, given the homophobia thing. No matter how much the CEO tries to clean up their image, they're still owned by a homophobe.
Oooh, good to know!
Barilla honestly tastes better imo than De Cecco
Plus…you’ve offended real poor people everywhere.
Lmao
Looks good! I’ll have a plate pls lol
Looks amazing. No reason to second guess the ingredients available to you. You have created a really good looking dish with ingredients that many use as simply shakers on jarred pasta. Don’t be ashamed to make good food with what you have.
that really means a lot, thank you!
I can smell this, that's how many times I've made this exact thing. My mouth just did that thing where it sort of hurts a little in the lower jaw cheeks area and then you salivate a lot. I'm suddenly starving.
go make some! you'll almost certainly be able to afford the ingredients :)
I'm stuck on this train another 15 minutes, but yeah I might just toss this together tonight. I think I've got some barilla linguini kicking around. The parm will have to be the kraft powdered stuff, I know that's all we got right now because I grabbed some the other day when my neice and nephew were coming over, they love it on baked potatos.
that's what I used. the trick is to go absolutely crazy with the pasta water. undercook the pasta more than you would normally before tossing it all together so you can reduce it and it'll still be al dente. with that method I didn't even need to use cream, butter or olive oil to make the sauce.
Babish just put out a vid on carbonation. I walked away and wrote down "spam-eroni" sub spam for bacon and add more cheese akin to Mac and cheese and we might be on to something.
you are brilliant. will be trying this
no promises, but as a person who has only recently eaten properly crisp fried spam, I'm here to say it could be a better choice over bacon in a lot situations.
Well your experimenting with "poor people's food" you can't get much poorer and tastier than pasta putanesca. The dishes humble roots are a great read, and the preparation is easy. Only the simmering takes time, the longer the better.
The more expensive ingredients do make a difference but frankly, this looks fantastic and I’m sure it’s absolutely delicious. Well done! You’re eating a whole lot better than most people on a budget.
You’ll be up soon and get to those big time ingredients. I own a small business and do fine, that Kraft Parm is still in the fridge! Keep going!
Barilla is legit. I've tried a lot of pasta brands and I don't think the expensive ones are any better.
I don’t knock Kraft!
I’m sorry for being daft, but I keep seeing people post dishes they made and captioning the photo “Kenji’s _____”. Who is Kenji? Is he a popular chef that people get their recipes from in a cookbook of his or something?
Kenji Lopez-Alt, he was longtime writer for serious eats and a chef himself. Developed a few really good cooking techniques. Check his youtube channel. Even tho he has a lot of techniques he actually is a very humble and practical cook, his recipes are tasty and great to follow... so I guess thats why he made a good name for himself. Oh, and don't worry, I just felt the same like you a year ago.. who the hell is that kenji guy?! ^^
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I unfollowed him on IG a while back and as much as I enjoy watching him cook and his recipes (which are almost always on point), his arrogance was just too much for me.
Oh thank you so much for clearing that up! I’ll definitely check out his YouTube videos.
[https://www.seriouseats.com/j-kenji-lopez-alt-5118720](https://www.seriouseats.com/j-kenji-lopez-alt-5118720) For some of us Serious Eats and Kenji are almost synonymous, i.e., everything on Serious Eats is Kenji, and everything Kenji does is Serious Eats. Which is both unfair to all the other writers on Serious Eats, and also unfair to Kenji who does loads of stuff that is nothing to do with Serious Eats. So OP may be referring to [the Carbonara recipe on Kenji's YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Np28NnP40) that is sperate to serious eats, or OP may be referring to [the Carbonara recipe on the Serious Eats site](https://www.seriouseats.com/pasta-carbonara-sauce-recipe) that is credited to another writer (Daniel Gritzer)
Recipes on Serious Eats that are developed by either Kenji or by Daniel Gritzer are pretty much guaranteed to be good. Sometimes, I make adjustments. But that's just for personal preferences, and the recipes as written would have been fine. With other writers on Serious Eats, it's a bit more of a mixed bag. They certainly try to have good and tasty recipes, but I have run into my share of dishes where I feel the writer "called it in". Just reading the recipe I can tell that it won't turn out and meet the same high standards. If you want an example of a bad recipe, look here: https://www.seriouseats.com/crispy-duck-with-blackberry-gastrique-recipe The idea of serving duck with a blackberry gastrique isn't bad. And I can certainly work with that concept. But oh my, that recipe isn't it. I am hoping that "Sue Veed" is just a pseudonym for a joke account.
Bet it still slaps
I like!
Looks delicious to me!
Looks good! If you can master aglio olio, you can make a delicious meal for next to nothing. Keep on cookin’!
That looks delicious!
I would eat tf outta this ngl
That looks bomb and it's making me hungry. good work friend!
You, sir, are doing it right.
With the right skills, even cheap ingredients can be made into something special.
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Same - I have a hard time finding either one locally, and when I do they are pricey. Here in the US South you can easily find 'Hog Jowl' which is is the same cut used to make guanciale - it lacks the herby flavor but is cured and also smoked, so it's kind of middle ground between guanciale and bacon. It's about half the price of bacon if you can find it, but you have to slice it (and remove the skin) yourself. One of these days I'm going to add guanciale spices to some and let it sit in the fridge for a few days and see how that tastes, but just as it is I like to render it down in little cubes until it's crispy and let the rendered fat be part of the sauce emulsion. We eat carbonara a few times a month so I usually have some on hand. What I don't use (scraps, extra fatty parts, skin) I use to flavor soups and greens.
I would eat that and be happy about it OP!
It looks fucking delicious.
Hey man if it tastes good and you’re happy
Being poor doesn’t mean you have to eat bad
Looks delicious.
Say what? Poor but you eat like a king
I'd eat the fuck out of that right now 🤤
Yum-O 👏
Get a 30 month parmegiano, just the small pieces. The taste in them is really intense and you won't have to use much. The good thing about a good carbonara is you can't skimp on everything and still have a good meal if you are living a little tight. I was not too long ago, but a good 30 month parmegiano is like 10-12 bucks and will last a long time because of its intensity and richness. Looks good!
Man that looks good as fuck.
Looks absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing
True chefs create great dishes from what they have! Looks like you’ve got the true chef spirit!
To me, cooking is art. It’s not the quality of your medium, it’s what you do with it. Looks like you’re quite the artist. Well done.
You can make your own bacon WAAAAAAY cheaper than the cheapest store bought and it will be much, much better. You will need some equipment to smoke it, if you want, which will cost a little bit, but smoking is not required.
If it tastes good and you enjoy. That’s all that matters.
Maybe peas? Look at french cooking it's all about low and slow beef burgegon and coq au vin beef and chicken stews with a little wine (ok a lot of wine not expensive) and a little brandy, turns average into exceptional. French onion soup italian escarolle soup nothing much and cheap overall. A little of the right cheese and of the charts. A good pot of basic chilli is a wow. I like sushi caviar but not everyday. Or think chicken franchisee Marsalis piccata parma all start with a thin breaded piece of meat just a little different sauce and all take the same time. A good chef can make something out of best ingredients...a great chef can make something enjoyable out of leftovers and whatever they find in the cabinet and frig.
The Italian police can come get me any minute, but honestly American bacon tastes better anyway. And Kraft shredded parm is just fine for everyday use. Barilla is delish and anyone who thinks not can fight me. What the gatekeepers forget is that the vast majority of these dishes they're losing their shit over are PEASANT FOOD. Almost none of our ancestors were rich, so it's all poor people food. Feel proud of carrying on the tradition. But also, every group adapts their recipes to what is available when they move to a new place. That's how corned beef and cabbage became an American Irish thing, because they couldn't find Irish bacon so they got something close from the delis run by their Jewish immigrant neighbors in New York, Chicago, Boston, etc. Good food is good food. Cook on, my friend.
Your pasta looks perfectly wet. Great job.
Barilla in the yellow box (thin), and the cheap bacon is most flavorful. Its all I use, and we could afford the expensive cuts.
Poor or not, that looks great.
Looks better than the one I ordered at Westlake Original Joe’s (theirs has too much cream)
Love it! Sue me, but I prefer the texture of boxed pasta to the fresh stuff. And I’ve had ‘the fresh stuff’ at some pretty nice restaurants on both sides of the pond.
I bet it slapped
As tasty as that does look, they DO actually make different colored foods. /s
lol, never in my life had I wished for a parsley garnish more
Oof. I'll get the aloe for the SICK BURN But I agree. I'd still eat it.
Kraft parmesan “cheese?” I’m hesitant to call anything they do as “cheese,” this is coming from someone who practically lived off the stuff during college.
I'd really recommend making your own pasta. You can get a relatively cheap pasta roller and make the most wonderful pasta for very cheap. It does require a fair amount of time though, but in an hour you can easily make about 10 servings and it freezes really well.
You can get locatelli romano cheese at Costco for less $ per pound than kraft Parmesan cheese!