Spaghetti alla carbonara

Step 1: Bring 4 litres of water to the boil in a large pot and add 1 tbsp salt. Use a little less than usual: pecorino and guanciale are both salty.

Step 2: Put 5 ½ oz guanciale in a cold, wide frying pan and set it over a medium-low heat. Let the fat melt out slowly, stirring now and then, until the strips are golden at the edges but still a little chewy in the middle and the fat is clear.

Step 3: Turn off the heat under the guanciale, add half of 1 tsp black peppercorns and let it sizzle in the warm fat for 30 seconds to wake it up.

Step 4: In a bowl, whisk 4 egg yolks, 2 eggs, 2 ¼ oz pecorino romano and the rest of 1 tsp black peppercorns into a thick yellow paste.

Step 5: Drop 14 oz spaghetti into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the packet says, so it is still firm in the centre. Before draining, scoop out a mugful of the cooking water.

Step 6: Lift the spaghetti straight into the guanciale pan with tongs, add a small ladle of pasta water and toss over a low heat for 1 minute so every strand is coated in fat.

Step 7: Take the pan off the heat and wait about a minute, until it has stopped sizzling. Whisk 2 tablespoons of hot pasta water into the egg paste to loosen it. Don't add the egg over the flame: that is the most common way carbonara turns into scrambled egg.

Step 8: Pour the egg mixture over the pasta and toss hard and fast with tongs for 1–2 minutes, adding splashes of pasta water. The sauce thickens as it reaches about 158°F; it is ready when it is glossy and clings like thin custard. If it stays runny, set the pan over the lowest heat for a few seconds at a time, tossing all the while.

Step 9: Serve at once in warm bowls, with the rest of 0.6 oz pecorino romano sprinkled over and a final grind of pepper.