Jamie Oliver’s recipe for ‘genuine’ carbonara leaves Italians horrified as they fume over chef’s determination so as to add an additional ingredient
Jamie Oliver has caused a stir after a video of the celebrity chef recreating a classic pasta dish resurfaced online.
The clip from 2017 showed the 49-year-old TV chef preparing his version of a carbonara, with Oliver describing his variation as a ‘truly authentic’ and ‘traditional’.
According to La Cucina Italiana, an Italian magazine focused on gastronomy and food culture, a conventional carbonara is prepared using only four ingredients.
These include spaghetti, guanciale or rindless bacon, pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano cheese, and egg yolks – with a pinch salt and pepper to taste.
While it initially appeared that Jaime was going to follow the traditional recipe, such as using guanciale for the meat and pecorino romano for the cheese, he later added a clove of garlic to the pan – much to the chagrin of his Italian followers.
Explaining his decision to include what many felt was an unnecessary ingredient, Jamie said: ‘Give the garlic a crack, and then put it in the pan.
‘As this starts to sizzle, the fat will pull out some of that perfume from the garlic.’
However, several Italians were quick to point out that Jaime’s dish was ‘not a classic carbonara’ in angry social media posts.
Jamie Oliver has caused a stir after a video of the celebrity chef recreating a classic pasta dish resurfaced online
The clip from 2017 showed the 49-year-old TV chef preparing his version of a carbonara, with Oliver describing his variation as a ‘truly authentic’ and ‘traditional’
‘Carbonara is made is with guanciale, pecorino romano, black pepper and egg yolks only – and, please, no garlic at all,’ one person wrote.
Another user agreed, saying: ‘There’s no garlic in carbonara.’
Meanwhile, a third accused Jaime of ‘ruining’ the dish entirely by adding the pungent ingredient.
A fourth comment posted on Facebook read: ‘Jamie it’s called Spaghetti Alla Carbonara, and to be fair with the original recipe you should only use the egg yolk.’
Another added: ‘Sorry, lost me at “optional” garlic. It’s never optional, it just isn’t in the recipe.’
Last October, Gordon Ramsay sparked similar criticism with his iteration of a carbonara, when he added garden peas in the dish.
The celebrity chef’s bold move comes as Jamie Oliver fans have criticised his new Channel 4 cooking series where he aims to rustle up dishes at just £1 per portion.
Jamie has returned to TV screens for the new year with Jamie’s £1 Wonders And Money Saving Meals – a new budget meal series to combat the cost of living crisis in the UK.
Jamie later added a clove of garlic to the pan – much to the chagrin of his Italian followers
Italians were quick to point out that Jaime’s dish was ‘not a classic carbonara’ in angry social media posts
In last night’s episode, Jamie cooked up a spaghetti frittata, piccalilli pork and apple pies, butternut squash dal with paneer, a chicken kebab ‘fakeaway’, laksa and mint choc chip ‘whoopie pies’ for dessert.
But despite Jamie providing a full cost breakdown for each meal, some viewers were not convinced that the meals actually cost as little as he claimed.
Moreover, others pointed out that the type of ingredients he was using were not items the average household would have in their food cupboards.
And while Jamie claimed in his show that each meal would work out at £1 a portion or even less, around half the meals shown cost more – for example with the pork pies at £1.31 a portion, the kebab ‘fakeaway’ at £1.71 and laksa at £1.33.
Viewers were particularly confused by Jamie’s crispy chicken shown in the first episode – for which he used plain flour ‘costing 2p’.
However, Jamie made clear in his cost breakdown that the average price had been calculated for each ingredient and quantity from the three biggest supermarkets, as of October 2024.
