Spaghetti alla carbonara has to be one of the most argued-about dishes in Italy, though the arguments are usually over the details: guanciale or pancetta, pecorino or parmesan, how many eggs, how much pepper. On one thing, though, every Italian agrees without exception: no cream, ever.
There’s something almost meditative about that ritual though; eggs, pancetta, cheese, a good grinding of pepper, and a bit of the pasta water to bring it all together. Simple ingredients, but no room for shortcuts.
This time, though, those very ingredients have been scrambled up. One by one, the pieces begin to fall into place. Little by little, the jumbled letters begin to make sense, until an Italian word appears.
Download the word scramble below and choose whether you’d like the easier version, with a few letters already in place, or the more challenging one with no hints at all. Each scrambled word comes with a clue to help you along, and if you get stuck, you can reveal the Italian solution and its English translation further down the page.
Divertiti! 😊
Only peek if you get stuck!
Each scrambled word comes with a clue to help you along. If you still need a little help, you can reveal the Italian solution and its English translation, one at a time.
What the hen contributes, and carbonara couldn't exist without.
Cured, salty, and doing most of the flavour work here.
Grated generously over the pasta, because a little is never enough.
Long, thin strands that are best twirled, not cut.
Just a drizzle is often all you need.
Fill it with water and you're ready to cook.
Watched or not, it will eventually boil.
Added to the water, not sprinkled on afterwards.
Holes everywhere, but somehow keeps the pasta in.
The only proper tool for twirling spaghetti.
Hopefully empty by the end of the meal.
"Buon ___!" You've probably heard this one before a meal in Italy.
Hungry for more? 🍝
I have strong opinions about carbonara. Not because I'm precious about food, but because I've seen it done such an injustice, served swimming in cream in restaurants that really should know better. There should never be so much sauce that it drowns the pasta. And while the traditional version uses guanciale, I make mine with pancetta, since guanciale isn't always easy to find outside Italy, and it's still good.
If you fancy actually cooking it, you can download my carbonara recipe here, along with two other family pasta sauces, my brother Ferruccio's tomato and anchovy version and my own dolcelatte and shallot one. I first shared these with my newsletter subscribers a while back.
And if you'd rather stay in Italian-learning mode a little longer, Tipi di pasta is a free online word match where you match each pasta shape to its correct name.
