Corn Is The Secret Addition For Sweeter Carbonara

Corn is often overlooked for anything other than charring whole and eating straight off of the cob during grilling season. With origins in central Mexico over 7,000 years ago, corn has a plethora of uses all over the world, from feeding animals to fueling cars to sweetening our food – not to mention the process of nixtamalization as the beginning of corn-based foods all over Central and South America. Those uses require intense processing, but we like to keep it simple and enjoy corn kernels in their whole, crisp, and delightful state. While pasta may not be your first thought when it comes to consuming corn, it can make a surprisingly sweet secret addition to pasta dishes, especially pasta carbonara. 

We've already preached about the delicious combination of corn and salty cheese in this sweet corn cacio e pepe recipe, so why not take it a step further and add corn to another Roman classic: pasta carbonara? The traditional ingredients are straightforward, with only guanciale, eggs, Pecorino Romano, black pepper, and pasta water combined to make a glossy, luxurious sauce to coat spaghetti cooked al dente. Adding corn to this modest, centuries-old dish gives a subtle sweetness that pairs incredibly well with salty pork, creamy cheese, and punchy black pepper, as well as adding a bit of exciting texture.

When incorporating corn into simple spaghetti carbonara, it's important to build layers of flavor as you're working with few ingredients. After cutting the kernels off the cobs, don't throw them away as there are still valuable uses for those cobs. One trick is to scrape the trimmed cobs with the side of a spoon to extract as much milky, starchy, corn-flavored goodness out of the cobs as possible. Save this liquid gold and add it to the pan when you add the reserved pasta water. You can then use those scraped cobs to make corn stock, but if you don't have time, you can always add the cobs to your pasta water before boiling for an extra hint of corn. 

For the kernels, add them into the pan when you add the guanciale (or pancetta, as guanciale is difficult to find), allowing them to cook in the pork fat for more depth of flavor. Once the pasta is cooked, add it to the pan with a bit of the corn pasta water, as well as the eggs and cheese that have been whisked together, stirring so everything incorporates into a silky sauce. Add another splash of pasta water if the sauce is dry, and don't forget to add an extra dose of grated cheese after serving. You could always use canned corn in a carbonara, but we recommend trying this in the summer when corn is at its peak.