carbonara

[ kahr-buh-nahr-uh; Italian kahr-baw-nah-rah ]

noun

, Italian Cooking.

1. a sauce or dressing for spaghetti, usually containing minced prosciutto or pancetta, egg yolks, and grated cheese.

Word History and Origins

Origin of carbonara¹

1960–65; < dialectal Italian ( alla ) carbonara literally, in the manner of the charcoal pit (compare Late Latin carbonaria brazier; Carbonari ); perhaps in reference to the use of leftover grilled meat in the sauce

Example Sentences

The pasta itself is nowhere near the same quality as fresh, homemade carbonara.

From Salon

Typical dishes include tortellini in broth from the northern Emilia region, spaghetti alla carbonara from central regions around Rome, and pasta alla Norma in Sicily.

From Reuters

These things are not unrelated, because the person inferring this was a waiter advising me to just order the pasta carbonara already.

From Salon

There's an almost sensual pleasure found in separating egg yolks and whites by hand, something of which I was reminded recently when making a pan of late-night carbonara.

From Salon

It’s also usually sold rolled and then sliced, and is most famously used in pasta sauces like carbonara and amatriciana.

From Washington Times