Usually in a recipe, I write the main ingredient at the top, but in this case, it is placed on the last line. Black pepper. It plays an important part in this dish, so before you grind it, take just a couple of minutes and dry the pepper on a very hot frying pan until it changes colour and you feel an intense peppery aroma with light notes of smoke. Such a trick will make your carbonara special with the "secret" that hardly anyone can guess.