Probably the world’s most real Carbonara in the taste test – that’s it

Olivier Baroni

Emily Engkent

Maybe you already know, maybe not:

I’m quite a Carbonara fanatic.

No, the argument “The most important thing is that it tastes good – everyone should eat it the way they want” does NOT count.

What felt like 20 years ago (okay, more like 8) than me at the time this article here wrote, it was hardly known outside Italy that there is no cream in carbonara. Never mind that you should use Pecorino Romano instead of Parmesan cheese. And guanciale, the unsmoked bacon from Lazio made from the pork cheek (guancia in Italian), seasoned with pepper and pepperoncino and aged for 1-3 months – no one knew about it anyway. Fried bacon was used. Or even worse: boiled ham.

A lot has happened in the meantime. The viral videos of Italy Squisita did one thing, meme cannons love Italians are angry about food or the boys from Lion’s Field the other.

If you go to the Italian butcher in Zurich today to buy guanciale, he will proactively ask you if you need pecorino. Hey, recently guanciale is even available at Coop.
Yes, it is slowly starting to pay off. Everybody knows:

Spaghetti, guanciale, egg yolk, Pecorino Romano, black pepper – and it’s delicious.

This is how and in no other way, una vera e propria carbonara romana works.

I was even more amused when I discovered this at the Korean supermarket recently:

Take a closer look!

LOL.

Of course I would like to try something like that!

Preparation: Boil the pasta in water for a few minutes and then pour out enough water until there are about eight tablespoons left in the pan. Than Buldak Carbonara Powder and the Buldak sauce add…

… mix everything well and you’re done.

It looks like this:

No, it doesn’t look like carbonara… which isn’t surprising, after all, it contains virtually no ingredients that would even remotely remind you of carbonara. I assume the “powder” is similar to that of Kraft’s instant macaroni & cheese and is supposed to give the impression of something “cheesy-creamy”.

Or should it resemble the yolk of an egg?

There is no bacon or anything like that either, as the product is labeled ‘Halal’. And even though it says ‘hot chicken flavour’, according to the ingredients list it is completely vegetarian. And anyway, what on earth does “hot chicken flavor” have to do with carbonara?

And it tasted good… see for yourself:

It tastes like everything except carbonara.

It tastes mainly spicy. Yes, the Samyang brand is known for its ‘buldak ramen’ (‘buldak’ means ‘fire chicken’) and the internet is full of them Hot Noodle Challenges with the different levels of spiciness of the Samyang noodles. But if it says “Carbonara,” I expect it will at least be somewhat reminiscent of the Roman court, even if only vaguely.

Conclusion: I continue to cook my carbonara the right way and with the right ingredients. I still celebrate my instant ramen… just not this one flavor.