How to make Rigatoni all'Amatriciana properly

 

There are four classic pasta dishes of Roma are Cacio en Pepe, Carbonara, Pasta alla Gricia, and Amatriciana, all on the face of it, are easy, featuring just a few ingredients. These were the dishes of the poor. The rich ate the cuts of pork beyond the means of the residents of Trastevere and pretty much threw away the Guanciale: the pigs cheeks.

And we've not been cooking these dishes correctly - what we are served in most restaurants or we see English chefs make are versions and far from authentic. 

In Roman dishes there is onion or garlic but not both.

The sauce in all these dishes is thickened with the water the pasta is cooked in.

For this dish to be authentic the tomato sauce must be reduced, see pic, then thickened.

Guanciale, Italian salt-cured pork jowl isn't available in local butchers but they sell a very similar cut (smoked cured belly pork) at Polish supermarkets. Otherwise I use the fattier parts of thick smoked bacon. The method is to fry small pieces in a pan till it browns - on it's own - no oil, then the heat is turned down. Remove the bacon, which should be browned on the outside yet soft in the middle.

Then perhaps drain off a little fat and then add crushed garlic, chilli flakes, pepper then add tomatoes, simmer and reduce. When your pasta is a couple of minutes away from being cooked, (it should be bucatini but I've never seen it). Add it and a little of it's water to the sauce, add the meat back then add grated Pecorino - only Pecorino is to be used, not Parmesan, not Gran Pardano, grate lots of black pepper, tear some parsley and basil leaves, sprinkle a little more cheese on top and serve.

Cook as above and you are now Roman, I salute you.