We Blind Test Which is The Best Carbonara with Erwan Heussaff 

I love the funk and saltiness of real Italian carbonara. But I also love hotdog slices and fake cheese in sweet spaghetti. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I think why we Filipinos gravitate to the American and local versions is because of the limited access to imported cheese. Those are very expensive and would prefer the usual budget variants. We have this notion that pasta dishes are never simple but strangely authentic Italian cooking is the complete opposite tho they use rich but fewer ingredients.

For all the Italian food police who will react to this, it has been made very clear. Only the italian one can be called carbonara. The others are different (because of preference, availability of ingredients). So don't go saying that the others are disgusting

Erwan: *made a disclaimer upfront Italians: "ok, that's fine" Erwan: *uses spoon to eat pasta Italians: "WTF dude!, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined"

I think it also has something to do with the order on what they ate…like if they ate the Italian carbonara first they’ll taste the saltiness of the guanciale and parmigiano cheese. Then if they’ll eat the Filipino or American version after the Italian, it’ll taste better to them because the creaminess cuts the saltiness of the Italian version. I think they should’ve had a palate cleanser just to neutralize the after taste or weird taste from the previous one…Just my honest opinion though…😊✌🏻

Food is subjective, I will happily eat them all! 😊

I'm used to Filipino style with cream of mushroom SOUP and broth cubes. I adore a lot of flavor.

What should we blind taste test next?

It’s also important to remember that our taste buds are influenced by the food that we’re used to eating growing up, so naturally the Italian version is going to taste better to Italians and the Filipino version is going to taste better to Filipinos

People doesn't mainly change recipes to fit their taste buds but more on the availability and affordability of the product. Authentic dishes are kinda expensive to replicate especially if the ingredients are not native to that specific location.

Lmao Erwan still hold that carbonara grudge 😭😭😭

In Brazil this is made just like the italian one but not with the guanchale but bacon. Probably because we don't have or is not easy to find that ingredient. But I'm from the south of Brazil that had Italian colonies and has a lot of italian and german descendents so is also because of that is so close to the italian one. It was very good seeing how other country makes this dish. Ps: sorry for my english

The Filipino version is what you call Alfredo sauce which is cream based, since carbonara sauce is egg based.

Same as our adobo. Not only with taste preference but also with ingridients availability.

They should drink water in between to rinse off because the taste of the previous one still remains (residual taste) some time after they've eaten it. But most probably, for those that have eaten the authentic Italian Carbonara, the Italian would win. Otherwise, either Filipino or American would win because of cheesiness or creaminess.

It’s just like Pinoy version of spaghetti we like it sweet and also in carbonara we like it creamy and savory. It’s not og and legit, but we love our version.

With the Italian carbonara, you should've used part of the fat rendered from the guanciale and added it to your sauce. Also, the product looked quite dry. Since you only used egg yolks instead of whole eggs, you should've added more yolk. Also, you should've added pasta water to thin it down and make it "creamy". Lastly, your choice of cheese should've been pecorino romano rather than parmigiano reggiano or grana padano. I agree that each of these pasta dishes will have its own market. If you're used to eating sweet dishes and the only cheese you've really had is processed and mozarella, it's highly likely you're going to prefer the Filipino pasta. If you like bacon and want things extra creamy, you're going to prefer the American pasta. And if you like natural, balanced and layered flavors and have sampled various real cheeses, then you'll want the authentic Italian carbonara.

well until a year ago, I've only knowned the "american" version. In most cases here, it's actually served with alfredo sauce... while I would still eat it, there's no way I would pay 20$ for it, since covid I had a lot of time to practice it and to be honest, it's much better the traditional way when you have the proper technique and ingrediants. from what I understand, each cook will have a different taste. the traditional/old fashined way is to use the full egg, but many with use egg yolk only and just that, will greatly change the taste/texture. even the way you cook the guanciale will change the taste. also... guanciale is super salty, so many chef use less salt in water since you need it as starchy water (not clear water) to emulsify the sauce. you're not supposed to remove the fat, the sauce is the emulsion of the fat, the cheese dans the starchy water. lastly, the original recipe use pecorino or at least 50% pecorino 50% parmesan if for you it taste too strong. it was nice seeing the blindfolded comparison though.

I really like carbonara , I made my first carbonara Pasta & I followed the Italian recipe , easy & less ingredients! It’s taste sooo good! Thank you I’ll try the Filipino , American recipe next time .

Italian: Salty and flavourful American: Creamy and Bacony Filipino: Creamy and Sweet

I love your version of Filipino Fusion Carbonara. My mom makes it like that but also tries to (what she thinks is an American thing to do) to up the amount of meat, adding chicken as well. Our Filipino American version is ridiculously meaty which is good for some specific tastes

I always have a pet peeve when it comes to blind folded taste test like this. Like, where is the palate cleanser, did they even drink water in between tasting the 3 dishes???

🤗🥰Good job Erwan , now we know the difference... 😍😋 We've tried almost all your recipes. All are delicious and healthy. My family Love eating those foods we learned from you.🥰😋 Each individual has different taste and preference.🥰🤗❤️ I Love pasta dishes, thanks for sharing your delicious recipes.🥰❤️ We're your avid fans from Cebu City. Best Regards to your beautiful , kind and Lovely girls🥰 Anne and Dahlia..🥰

Nicely done --cooking wise as well as your explanation 👍

I cook it using a mix of all three, rendered fat from bacon, toasted sweet ham, button mushrooms, and pecorino romano for the cheese. I've only realized I was applying three different influences when I watched this video. lol

I agree with your conclusion. I eat what looks appetizing but I will also be adventurous in trying others. Then I try to copy what is delicious in my own kitchen. Filipino food have different versions in every household. Like for my dinuguan, I add mustard leaves/ mustasa, while my kare kare has ground glutinous rice and also ground peanuts. I mean there is no one version of Filipino food in any household. There is always a secret heirloom recipe that is passed on to one daughter to the next. Regarding an adventurous palate, since I travel locally with my work before pandemic, i put my foot down on several meat offfered to me 😅 first was in Tanjay which was Tamilok. It is a long worm from a mangrove tree. Saw it harvested and it filled a timba. Then it was prepped as kinilaw. Became brown to white. Lasang oyster daw sabi ko pass haha. Monkey somewhere in Mindanao (felt like hannibal the cannibal), sea turtle in mindoro - 😭😭. My list is long specially for endangered species. Btw before trolls comment. I teach communities livelihood para hindi mag poach sa gubat, sa dagat etc.

I have tasted the best pasta in my whole life in Italy, Fiumicino area far from tourist spots, a home cooked Carbonara. It was very tasty 😋 then had some Calamari Fritti too, melt in my mouth.. uggghhh to die for 🥰😻💫

Just cooked this two days ago, second time trying “Italian” way which luckily taste good. I cant say authentic as I am not sure how Italian carbonara really taste like. This second time though I added mushrooms as my husband try to avoid meat although I cooked it using my homemade bacon :D the meat looks exactly like in the video with thick skin which I also removed and I cooked it well too. Surprisingly it taste good! So I sauteed it also with garlic and mushrooms. Turned of heat added the cooked pasta with some pasta water in it then added the whole eggs and parmesan mixture to it. It looked runny so I turned on the heat very low and kept mixing using tongs until the consistency became creamy and not runny eggs. In fairness it worked for me and my husband love it. Though it is rich and not something we will eat every week or month. But its easy to make so maybe once a month :D try it guys

for traditional carbonara, pecorino is not only acceptable, you need to use it! Parmigiano on the other hand is sometimes accepted if you want a more delicate taste but the real recipe calls for pecorino

I'm a Filipino. When cooking carbonara, I use sweet bacon instead of ham. I don't put onions and I cook garlic on margarine.

I live for these kinds of content.

would be nice to see the histories of them like why they're made that way

The egg and cheese slurry becomes like a scrambled egg because those who cook the carbonara forgets to turn off the stove and allow the residual heat from the meat and the cooked pasta to cook the slurry gently into a sort of a creamy consistency while adding some pasta water until there is enough egg cream to coat all of the pasta. Incorporating the egg slurry while the stove is turned on creates more heat necessary that turns the slurry into like scrammbled eggs.

Filipino heritage, but was shown how to make Pasta Carbonara some what close to the Italian way. I was taught to cook "carbonara" by rendering chopped smoked pork belly. If not available, just pork belly, salt it, rendering the fat. The excess fat is then removed. Do not salt the pasta. The pork and the cheese will be carrying the salt flavour. Cooked the same way as the 1st one. No cream. But as soon as pasta is done, it will be dropped in the pan with the cooked pork, add lots of grated parmesan cheese. Add about 3 table spoon water from the pasta (or eye ball it. Lol) Just enough for it to be smooth. Put the egg yolks, pierce so it flows on the pasta, then toss / mix.

I’ve tried this experiment myself and i ate carbonara for almost a week straight.. they are all very different in tastes and distinct. If you grew up eating the Pinoy version, the Italian one will take a while to get used too and one would definitely think it isn’t ‘cooked’..

The Italian recipe is very delicate. You can either make it bad/average or you can make it to perfection, let the ingredients merge and shine. Also it's better served hot otherwise the texture and taste when it gets colder.

fair! really depends on the preference

Ate Pasta ala Carbonara in a sidewalk cafe in Rome run by Syrian immigrants, the pasta was unbelievable. Simple but very tasty. Cheap too. Better than what you eat in a 5 star restaurant.

I live here in Rome the real Italian carbonara does not throw the oil of guanciale because the oil makes the carbonara creamier..

"it's Filipino? really, I don't have a taste at all." HAHA arti, di tanggap na taste buds nya gusto pinoy version, like duuuh

This is Mr.Erwan version of Flilipino carbonara. I have my own version too.😄 My family and friends love it.

I tried the italian recipe last new year because I need to try the original one. It was hard to find (for me) the guanciale and the specific type cheese, gladly I found it on landmark. :)

Filipino carbonara is using the Bechamel sauce generally to make the flavors complex, using just cream, cheese, ham and salt is just fine.

Lovin teh conclusion of this vid aaaaa

*they're all good in their own categories* man of words

Chef, is there justice if I add brown sugar to reduce to saltiness of parmesan Cheese? I do not like to reduce the content of parmesan cheese because I like the creamy pasta. Howevever, the more cheese the more salty taste so I add one tablespooon of sugar to reduce the saltiness of my carbonara pasta.

I'm biased I really love Filipino carbonara and it's literally my fav food ever.

Any Italian could nitpick your traditional carbonara but I genuinely believe these would all be delicious

you did not add any starchy pasta water to your Italian carbonara. After putting the pasta on the pan, add some pasta water, the starch from the pasta is important.

I combine all the selective ingredients from all three. We all just have preferences.

I'm Filipino and i use bacon to my carbonara and cream. i think there's a lot of versions of carbonara when to us Filipino. even my mom have a different version to it and a lot of spice that i will not remember. 😅i think she put a little bit of parsley and stuff to her version me i like my simple one

If you cooked with all your heart and with Love..then, your a Great Cook...

Ang galing nyo po and thank you for saying it at last. Dami pinoy chef na khit creamy pasta eh tinatawag na carbonara kahit hindi naman.

Thank you for this video. I liked the Italian. I've tried to cook it once. But not with the Italian meat and cheese. I can't afford it the meat (i used cornbeef) & quickmelt cheese (the only available cheese at that time) & egg yolk + spaghetti. My shobe liked it. I think most prefer using cream to avoid food waste. But since you shared a technique I'm willing to try my luck again to cook the Italian way but I'm going to use bagnet bacon this (I still can't afford the Italian meat 😅).

Surprised that Erwan actually used spoon to taste the Carbonaras himself anyway, I bet all of 'em are delicious on their own unique ways and flavor profiles.

I learned a lot on ds 3 carbonaras..Thanks Erwan...

All time favorite❤️

Now lets wait for Vincencos reaction 🥰

My mom also use Ideal Gourmet when she cooks Carbonara. It's the best 🥺

Italian carbonara is top tier, we started not using white sauce / cream for years as egg yolks are enough!

Fun video! Especially when it was the turn of the Filipino style carbonara. Lol!

I recommend my mom to add tuna to the carbonara and we've been eating it with tuna (Century tuna) until now

love it. im a filipino who is now living in Italy

Well, in different places around the world, we only use what ingredients are within our reach. So no nation/race should be offended by that. If you're an Italian here in ph and want to cook carbonara but you can't get the authentic ingredients, you might probably use other substitutes too. And also cooking is not limited to a single way of preparing a dish. Every household in every nation will have a different way to cook it. 😊😊😊 Or you can just say that it is an inspired dish.

hahahaha i love all the pa-disclaimer Erwan!

Yeah you know, people from different places in the world and different upbringing have different palates, so although I'm guilty of getting mad when people call change traditional dishes claiming they're still traditional, it didn't happen here, and he gave MANY disclaimers and after that everyone eats what they want

I use linguine because it seems to make carbonara "meatier" for me. Another reason is I only use an extremely small amount of guanciale because it's a bit hard to find and pretty expensive and I save it for my caesar salads.

Erwan, when I first tried the Filipino carbonara, It was definitely creamy with lack of flavor. Compared to what I was use to with the Italian carbonara.

I've seen italians reacted negatively to italians cooking carbonara, at this point there is no need to feel guilty offending italians how to make carbonara.

for the american I do this I prepare the sauce Egg, cream, pepper, parmesean. leave to sit. I start the pasta, I use penne. I then brown the bacon in a pan. I then heat some peas, microwave or thaw by boiling (drain). I have it timed so all three are steaming hot all at the same time. I then drain some of the grease from the bacon (about half) into my bacon-grease jar. I then add all the ingredients usually sauce, bacon, peas in that order to the pasta. garnish as desired.

i used tuna flakes with mushroom cream when i cook my fil. carbonara.

For the italian the meat looks like a pancetta(pork belly) than guanciale(pork jowl). Guanciale tastes different because of juniper berries taste. For the cheese its ok to mix with grana padano but should be mixed two parts with pecorino romano dop. The pecorino romano dop makes a big difference. The pasta also would taste different if you would use high quality semolina like la molisana, de cecco, rummo. The flavor profile of real italian carbonara comes from guanciale, pecorino romano dop and pasta made from high quality semolina.

Filipino Carbonara using cream, evaporada, and beef stock/beef cube is **chef's kiss**

"Or some pecorino sometimes is acceptable"? They usually use pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano for authentic Italian carbonara

Must try carbonara sa aldongs 👏🏼💖

I tried the Italian version. It was easy to make and actually suit my taste better. But of course that’s just me. As with everyone else, depende on the preference.😊

Nice comparison, I always prefer carbonara beacuse of the flavor profile, robust flavor from guanciale, creamy taste of pecorino cheese and egg and a good aldente pasta. Pancheta and parmigiano also does the trick.

I hope Erwan regains his confidence. Literally almost all his videos have the disclaimer that he will be bashed / he was bashed / before you comment. Its sad. The content of the channel is really is good!

I freaking love your channel. And I prefer the American version lmaoo

It would be interesting to repeat the test using proper technique to make the Italian style. You need to get the emulsion with the cheese and egg right; it needs to be done by adding the cheese to the egg/yolks before cooking.

good video, my only questions is, why at the end are you using a spoon to eat noodles????

Since Pecorino and Guanciale is not available in stores here in the philippines I can only make sauce using egg,cheap parmesan and grilled pork chops instead. Maybe adding salt will have difference.

Yes, the right way is to cook the egg in carbonara, it's like making hollandaise sauce. I like that technique.

Challenge - how to combine all three. Food'splosion!

Oh, that looks more like a pancetta than guanciale tho? Pecorino romano dabest for Roman pasta 😋

It looks all 😋 for me.

technically you don't need to salt your pasta water as pecorino and guanciale are already very salty. I usually would use parmesan here to reduce the saltiness of the sauce. 60:40 pecorino to parmesan ratio works best for me. But kudos for trying to use Luciano Monosilio's technique(the king of carbonara). Obviously this is sponsored and I like Ideal too, but the best pasta for carbonara are bronze die pastas which are starchy and it's pasta water emulsifies very well with the sauce making it thick and creamy.

Food is subjective, but to Italians, it's either perfection or a personal attack

Now I know why other restaurant called it creamy pasta not carbonara

sana lagng i guest si Niko:) ang sarap naman nyan

where'd u get your shirt?

There is a reason - people who know the traditional taste of carbonara (Italians don't like garlic very much, they expect minimal ingredients and pasta is always "al dente" or not overcooked); all other are open minded, however, you find in Italy pasta alla boscaiola and funghi prosciutto e panna that probably taste like the Filipino and American carbonara versions. Today I shall eat carbonara alla salsiccia (pasta with sausage and onion carbonara) the name is different... the taste also. Buon appetito!

Erwan, Vincenzo is watching! expect another reaction video. 😂 😂 😂

I used to eat the carbonara at our school canteen and i used to eat that meal every lunch.

i would like to try authentic italian carbonara.

I have a hypothesis about the cream and that is the cream is a miss in translation when the carbonara dish was brought to non-Italian audiences who associate the creamy texture with cream and since a lot of these new audience came from the US where they can spend more on food compared to their Italian counterparts. That and cream is much easier to work with compared to egg yolks that can cook and lose their emulsifying properties much easier than cream does. I don't have any source to back this up tho :p

BRO, IF THE FOOD IS FIRE AND I LIKE IT I DONT CARE IF ITS AUTHENTIC OR NOT. GOOD FOOD IS GOOD FOOD

Can I ask where you got the guanchale?

kanya kanyang trip lang kasi talagaaaa

Hello Erwan I saw you earlier at san Pablo city palengke