Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro & Eduard Xatruch’s Macaroni Carbonara

Serves 4

For the Iberian Ham Broth

Ingredients:

• 3L water
• 1kg Iberian ham bones

Method:

1. Wash and clean the bones.
2. Cover ham bones with water and leave to whiten.
3. Drain and place the drained, bleached bones in a pot with the 3L of water and simmer for 5 hours, defoaming and degreasing continually.
4. Strain through cheesecloth and store the liquid in the fridge.

For the Gelatin Macaroni

Ingredients:

• 1L of Iberian ham broth (from above)
• 25g of kappa
• 3 sheets of gelatin (from 2gr previously rehydrated in cold water)
• Salt

Method:

1. Warm the ham broth and add a pinch of salt if necessary.
2. Add the kappa and bring to a boil while stirring continuously with a hand beater.
3. Once the liquid begins to boil and froth, remove from the heat and add the gelatin leaves. Allow them to dissolve in the warm liquid.
4. Submerge the macaroni iron in an abundance of water with ice, drain and dip in the liquid gelatin mixture for 7 seconds.
5. Remove the iron from the bath, rest 1 minute and extract the formed gelatine tube that with care – do not break them.
6. Cut the tubes in the shape of macaroni that are 4 cm long. You will need 2o Macaroni per person.
7. Store it in the fridge.

For the Hot Foam of Carbonara

Ingredients:

• 75g of smoked bacon
• 25g of butter
• 200g of cream
• 20g of egg yolk
• 0.8g of xanthan
• Salt and pepper
• 2 loads of N2O

Method:

1. Chop the bacon and fry it in the butter.
2. When the bacon is golden, remove from heat and add the cream.
3. Bring the mixture to the boil over the heat, and then remove from heat and allow to infuse for 30 minutes.
4. Strain the cream and add the egg yolk.
5. Add the xanthan and crush with a whisk hand until there are no lumps, obtaining a fine cream.
6. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, then strain and place it in a siphon.
7. Close and load with gas. Keep the foam in the water bath at 64ºC.

For the Bacon Butter

Ingredients:

• 50g of smoked bacon
• 50g of butter

Method:

1. Place the butter with the bacon and cook on a low heat for 30 minutes to infuse the butter with a powerful taste of bacon.
2. Strain and save.

To Serve

• 1 piece of 100g Parmesan Reggiano
• 40 cubes of Parmesan Reggiano of 0.5cm in size
• 80 cubes of smoked bacon of 0.3cm in size
• Yolk
• Salt and pepper

1. Cook the bacon cubes in the bacon butter until the bacon is cooked
2. Heat the gelatin macaroni in the salamander and arrange them in a heated pan to serve.
3. Dress the macaroni with the cooked bacon, two tablespoons of hot bacon butter, a string of egg yolk, the parmesan dice, salt and pepper.
4. Place the hot skillet with the macaroni in front of the guest(s)and then use the siphon to add the hot carbonara foam on top of the macaroni and mix with two spoons to sauté the macaroni with the foam-sauce.
5. Finish off the dish by grating some of the parmesan over the top.

Recipe Courtesy of Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro & Eduard Xatruch at 2 Michelin-starred Disfrutar in Barcelona.
Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro & Eduard Xatruch Chef Feature

Image © Francesc Guillamet.