I need some help with my spaghetti Carbonara

[Pam Gould]

I made spaghetti carbonara for supper, way to salty and I didn't add any salt... blaming it on the Parmesan cheese and bacon. Is there a way to change this?   It would have been fantastic without all the salt. Would pancetta be less salty? I used real parmesan cheese not the stuff in the green can. 
Thanks in advance.
Pam 
 .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[Big Dawg]

Good News: I grew up in an Italian household, both of my grandparents came off the boat.

Bad News: Grandmom never made Carbonara.  So my dad never asked for it as we growing up either.  Spaghetti (all pasta for that matter - except for elbows) always, always, always had some sort of marinara on it.

That being said, pancetta is salt cured so I don't know that switching to it would bring any relief from the saltiness of the dish.  If you salted your pasta water, cutting back on that may help.





BD

[ACW3]

When I was learning to cook at home, the first meal I made was hamburger and gravy.  I added way TOO MUCH SALT!!  Added a couple of peeled potatoes to the hamburger/gravy mix and simmered for a while.  As I recall, this made the meal edible.  The potatoes "pulled" the salt out of the gravy.

Art

P.S.  I didn't make that mistake again!!

[stalag]

When it comes to using bacon, do NOT add any salt anywhere in the dish.  That would also go for ham or other cured meats.  Cured meat has very high salt content.  That includes the pasta as well.

[akruckus]

I don't salt the water when I make it.  Bacon/pancetta is a big factor. 

My process:
1. Cook meat while water is heating up.
2. Mix whole eggs, fresh grated parm and black pepper in a mixing bowl, while pasta cooks
3. Cooked pasta straight into pan with bacon/pancetta and mix to get fat covering the noodles,
4. Add pasta/bacon to mixing bowl and stir in pasta water

Matching bowls for my daughter and I

[Big Dawg]

When I was learning to cook at home, the first meal I made was hamburger and gravy.  I added way TOO MUCH SALT!!  Added a couple of peeled potatoes to the hamburger/gravy mix and simmered for a while.  As I recall, this made the meal edible.  The potatoes "pulled" the salt out of the gravy.

Art

P.S.  I didn't make that mistake again!!

I forgot, my mom showed me that trick.





BD

[Pam Gould]

I don't salt the water when I make it.  Bacon/pancetta is a big factor. 

My process:
1. Cook meat while water is heating up.
2. Mix whole eggs, fresh grated parm and black pepper in a mixing bowl, while pasta cooks
3. Cooked pasta straight into pan with bacon/pancetta and mix to get fat covering the noodles,
4. Add pasta/bacon to mixing bowl and stir in pasta water

Matching bowls for my daughter and I

That's exactly how I did it only I salted the water...will not do that again.  Thanks for all your help.

[madhatter]

I make a killer carbonara that I got from a friend from Switzerland, have made it well over 100 times.  Now, there was this ONE TIME when it was way too salty, inedible.  I figure out that what I did wrong was that I salted the water after the pasta was in the pot boiling.  The salt didn't fully dissolve and collected on some of the pasta.  I doubt that either the bacon and/or parmesan would make it too salty.  Now with that said, I make a cream sauce with half and half and swiss gruyere cheese (must be swiss gruyere, the other stuff tastes horrible) and add 1 TBSP of parmesan into the sauce at the end.  Topped with crunchy bacon cut into 1" pieces and cooked until crisp.