Get a big pot of water on to boil for the pasta, use a kettle if you are really in a hurry. Add a good teaspoon or two of salt. Some people put a little oil in their pasta water which supposedly stops the pasta from sticking together but if you use a big enough pot which the pasta has enough room to move about in I find this completely unnecessary. Anyway, throw your pasta in when the water is properly boiling and give it a stir to get all the pasta underwater.

During the meanwhilst, get a medium saucepan onto a low to medium heat and put the oil in there and throw in your pancetta or streaky bacon.

While the pasta boils and the bacon sizzles prepare your eggy mix. Get a bowl and separate one egg using the half a shell to half a shell technique or just crack into your hand and let the white run through your fingers, Nigella advocates keeping whites for a meringue or suchlike but I really can’t be bothered with that and tend to let my whites wash away down the kitchen sink. Put the yolk into a bowl and crack the other whole egg in there with it. Grind in as much black pepper as you like and the nutmeg if you have it, (don’t use the dried powdered stuff here, you’re better off omitting the nutmeg entirely) add the grated cheese and give it a good whisk.

Check your pasta and get back to your bacon... when it starts to brown I add a minced or finely chopped clove of garlic and fry that for a minute then add the wine/vermouth/pasta water and give it a good stir, this ‘deglazes’ the pan which simply means you scrape all the lovely brown bits that stuck to the pan and amalgamates them back into your sauce. Lower the heat and let this reduce down and thicken up for a few minutes. Stir occasionally and with enough time it should reduce down to a thin syrupy kind of consistency. Add the butter and a little extra virgin olive oil at this stage and you are ready to add the pasta to the bacon

When the pasta is cooked to your liking drain it and add to the bacon, you can remove one or the other from the hob to wait if your timing is off, which mine usually is.

Stir the pasta through the oily buttery bacon and take off the heat.

Now wait a minute or two. This is the part where you can turn a delicious Italian classic into a mess of scrambled eggs. Go pour yourself a glass of wine or wash a dish or chop some parsley for garnish or whatever. When the pasta and bacon has stopped being steaming hot give it another stir and add the egg mixture and mix through the pasta. You will know immediately if it is still too hot as the egg will quickly split and scramble, I’d wager that this has happened to everyone who has ever made a carbonara so don’t despair, you won’t starve and you’ll get it right next time. You’ll know you got it right if the egg emulsifies (becomes a creamy silky sauce) and coats itself all over your pasta as you stir.

Serve immediately and enjoy the fruits of your labour.