Originally Posted by SkiAdcock

Ok, first time not the charm - although it wasn't the eggs turning into scrambled (they didn't) that turned out to be the problem.

I used gfunkdave's recipe above, although amended in technique a bit with an Ina Gartner method that I saw in a video.

While waiting for eggs (and other ingredients) to get to room temperature, I probably watched 6 pasta carbonara videos. I think I was video'd out at that point! All but Ina said no cream. She used cream (I did not).

Anyway:

* the amount made was way too much for one person, so in future I'd scale back on the recipe unless making it for multiple people.

* one chef I watched suggested doing full eggs (the traditional way) vs. 1/2 eggs & 1/2 egg whites. no idea if that made a difference. I did the full eggs Would have to do the 1/2 & 1/2 method next time to do a comparison.

* could have used more water that one ladles in to make it more creamy (the pasta absorbed too much, which made the dish dry; the various chefs used a lot more water)

* but the big screw-up was that I ended up burning the pancetta! I cook w/ pancetta a lot so surprised myself when it happened, so while the dish was eh, okay, it wasn't great because of that & being a bit too dry.

* I think what happened is that gfd's recipe said do the egg mix while the pancetta's cooking & i waited too long to get started on the egg mix, so the pancetta was further along & when I turned back just a minute or two later, the pancetta was crispy to burnt.

I ended up eating some of the dish, but as noted, too large a quantity, too dry, and the 'extra crispy' (aka, burnt) pancetta made it ok, a good try but move on to other dishes & maybe circle back some other time. Or get someone who knows how to make it well make it at my place so I can watch.

Cheers.