6

There are many recipes for alfredo sauce, using ingredients from pesto and soy milk to low-fat milk and cream cheese. What is the gold standard for alfredo? What properties indicate a traditional Italian-style alfredo sauce? What type of pasta is it traditionally paired with?

KatieK
  • 7,930
  • 31
  • 78
  • 122
  • 6
    In this rather embarrassing (for me) [old question](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/211/41), it came to light that Alfredo either isn't well-known or doesn't exist at all in Italy; it's American cuisine. So there probably is no such thing as a traditional Italian style. ;) – Aaronut Mar 01 '12 at 00:14
  • 2
    @aaronut Oh dear - that's a little embarrassing for me too. – KatieK Mar 01 '12 at 00:19
  • In Italy you can find pasta covered with nearly anything and everything. If Alfredo can be simplified to just butter and Parmesan cheese, this it just a common quick topping, not a real sauce as such. Just like Olive oil and fried parsley etc. – TFD Mar 01 '12 at 02:16
  • Aaronut, really? I'm pretty sure I have sources which attribute it to restaurants in Rome (fairly recently, though). I'll research. – FuzzyChef Mar 01 '12 at 03:31
  • Alfredo sauce doesn't exist here in Italy, whatever you may say :) – napolux Oct 04 '12 at 13:55
  • Sorry @KatieK, Alfredo sauce does not exist in Italy. I've found the recipe in an american cookbook. If memory serves, It's pretty much a mix of butter, parmisan, cream and some spices. In italy it's quite common to make pasta with just, for instance, butter and cheese, but none of those mixes has a name. Besides, the "Alfredo mix" it's really strange and I have never seen it in my life. – loscuropresagio Dec 05 '13 at 16:37

3 Answers3

8

According to Cooking The Roman Way by David Downie, Fettucine Alfredo is a traditional Roman recipe called "pasta del cornuti" (cuckold's pasta). What either Alfredo Di Lelio III, or Mario Mozzetti, depending on whom you believe, invented in 1914, was the dramatic tableside preparation of Fettuccine Alfredo, which is what made the dish a hit with visiting Americans in the 20's and 30's.

The tableside preparation is really what makes Fettuccine Alfredo what it is: the hot pasta is tossed with the butter and cheese in front of the diner, and then served to them immediately.

Again, according to Downie, the only ingredients of Fettuccine Alfredo are egg fettuccine, lots of butter, lots of Parmegiano-Reggiano, and (if necessary) a little salt.

Recipes which add cream or milk are Americanized recipes designed to allow restaurants to hold orders of Alfredo for a long time under heat lamps (and turn it into a gooey pasty mess). Italians, from my experience visiting Italy, rarely put cream or milk on pasta (a real Italian could speak up here).

Downie has a fun 3-page digression about the ongoing lawsuits between the Roman families who claim to own the name. It's worth a read.

Alan Davidson, predictably, says nothing about Fettuccine Alfredo. The Glorious Pasta of Italy likewise does not cover the dish.

Wikipedia supports Downie's story, except only attributing Di Lelio, and adding the tidbit that Di Lelio apparently called it "Fettuccine al burro" (fettuccine with butter), and the Alfredo name was appended later when it was copied in the USA. Wikipedia also says butter and cheese only, on fettuccine pasta.

So, to answer your question and the questions asked in the comments:

  1. Fettuccine Alfredo is an Italian dish, if more popular in the USA than in Italy.
  2. It is a variation of a traditional Italian dish.
  3. In its traditional form, it has only egg pasta, butter, and cheese.
  4. The pasta for Alfredo is egg fettuccine.
FuzzyChef
  • 58,085
  • 18
  • 142
  • 218
  • 4
    No Italian would ever go to a restaurant and ask for pasta Alfredo (as they simply don't know what it is) nor they would ask for pasta with butter as it's something that you would do at home when you really don't have anything else in the fridge. Or when you're sick and you need something light to eat. It is definitely a dish invented for American tourists in Rome. And only in tourist restourants in Rome you will find it. – nico Mar 15 '12 at 19:21
2

In my training as a chef, I have learned that there is no Alfredo with cream in Italy. The closest approximation is just butter and cheese with some added pasta water to thin it out.

Preston
  • 3,825
  • 3
  • 30
  • 48
gina
  • 21
  • 1
  • Hi Gina. Welcome to Seasoned Advice! I've proposed an edit to your answer to help make it a little easier to read. – Preston Aug 05 '15 at 16:44
0

Now that we've established it's a modern American dish, I, an American, will tell you that authentic alfredo is cream, butter, parmesan, black pepper, and fettuccine.

It is made by melting butter in a pan, adding heavy cream and bringing to a simmer, adding cooked and drained fettuccine, tossing in grated parmesan and a few generous pinches of freshly ground black pepper, and serving immediately it's reduced to your desired saucy thickness.

Anyone who adds garlic or cream cheese is going to food purgatory! ;-) Or just enjoying a lovely variation of a creamy white sauce on noodles.

goblinbox
  • 1,156
  • 1
  • 7
  • 11