Fettuccine Alfredo (Italian pronunciation: [fettut't?i:ne al'fre:do]) or fettuccine al burro is a pasta dish made from fettuccine tossed with Parmesan cheese and butter. As the cheese melts, it emulsifies the liquids to form a smooth and rich sauce coating the pasta. In other words, it is pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese (Italian: pasta al burro e parmigiano), one of the oldest and simplest ways to prepare pasta. Alfredo di Lelio gave it this name at his restaurants in Rome, in the early to mid 20th century.
The dish became popularized and spread to the United States. The recipe has evolved and its commercialized version is now ubiquitous with heavy cream and other ingredients. In Italy, fettuccine al burro is generally considered home cooking; fettuccine Alfredo is just an extremely rich version.
Video Fettuccine Alfredo
History
Serving fettuccine with butter and cheese was first mentioned in a 15th-century recipe for maccaroni romaneschi 'Roman pasta' by Martino da Como, a northern Italian cook active in Rome; the recipe cooks the noodles in broth or water and adds butter, "good cheese" (the variety is not specified), and "sweet spices".
Modern fettuccine alfredo was invented by Alfredo di Lelio in Rome. According to family accounts, in 1892, Alfredo di Lelio began to work in a restaurant that was located in piazza Rosa and run by his mother Angelina. Di Lelio invented "fettuccine al triplo burro" (later named "fettuccine all'Alfredo" or "fettuccine Alfredo") in 1908 in an effort to entice his wife, Ines, to eat after giving birth to their first child Armando. Alfredo added extra butter or "triplo burro" to the fettuccine when mixing it together for her and she ate. Piazza Rosa disappeared in 1910 following the construction of the Galleria Colonna/Sordi and the restaurant closed. Di Lelio later opened his own restaurant, "Alfredo", in 1914, on the via della Scrofa in central Rome.
The fame of "fettuccine all'Alfredo" spread, first in Rome and then to other countries. In 1943, during the war, di Lelio sold the restaurant to two of his waiters. In 1950, with his son Armando, Alfredo di Lelio opened a new restaurant in piazza Augusto Imperatore, Alfredo all'Augusteo, now managed by his niece Ines Di Lelio, bringing along the famous "gold cutlery" said to have been donated in 1927 by the American actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks (in gratitude for Alfredo's hospitality). The two restaurants compete vigorously, with escalating puffery: "the king of fettuccine", "the real king of fettuccine", "the magician of fettuccine", "the emperor of fettuccine", "the real Alfredo", etc.
The dish was so well known that di Lelio was invited to demonstrate it both in Italy and abroad. The fame of the dish, called on Alfredo's menus "maestosissime fettuccine all'Alfredo" 'most majestic fettuccine, Alfredo style', comes largely from the "spectacle reminiscent of grand opera" of its preparation at table, as described in 1967:
[The fettuccine] are seasoned with plenty of butter and fat parmesan, not aged, so that, in a ritual of extraordinary theatricality, the owner mixes the pasta and lifts it high to serve it, the white threads of cheese gilded with butter and the bright yellow of the ribbons of egg pasta offering an eyeful for the customer; at the end of the ceremony, the guest of honor is presented the golden cutlery and the serving dish, where the blond fettuccine roll around in the pale gold of the seasonings. It's worth seeing the whole ceremony. The owner, son of old Alfredo and looking exactly like him, ... bends over the great skein of fettuccine, fixes it intensely, his eyes half-closed, and dives into mixing it, waving the golden cutlery with grand gestures, like an orchestra conductor, with his sinister upwards-pointing twirled moustache dancing up and down, pinkies in the air, a rapt gaze, flailing elbows.
Recipes attributed to Alfredo only include three ingredients: fettuccine, young parmesan cheese, and butter. Yet there are various legends about the "secret" of the original Alfredo recipe: some say oil is added to the pasta dough, others that the noodles are cooked in milk. The secret may in fact be simply that the noodles, cheese, and butter are tossed constantly with some pasta water in a well-warmed platter to ensure that they melt together thoroughly.
Fettuccine Alfredo, minus the spectacle, has now become ubiquitous in Italian-style restaurants outside Italy, although in Italy this dish is usually called simply "fettuccine al burro".
Maps Fettuccine Alfredo
In the United States
Fettuccine Alfredo has long been popular with Americans. By 1922, it was already being reported on by American travelers. Multiple magazine articles and guidebooks in the 1920's extolled Alfredo's noodles. In 1927, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks supposedly dined at Alfredo's and given him the famous gold fork and spoon.
In 1966, the Pennsylvania Dutch Noodle Company started marketing their "Fettuccine Egg Noodles", which included a recipe on the package for an Alfredo sauce including cream and Swiss cheese as well as parmesan and butter.
The American restaurant casual dining chain Olive Garden has popularized its versions of fettuccine alfredo, which may be combined with chicken, shrimp, or other foods to make main courses called "chicken alfredo", "seafood alfredo", etc. Olive Garden's recipe includes cream and garlic.
Alfredo sauce
Alfredo sauce is often sold as a convenience food in grocery stores in many countries. Unlike the original preparation, which is thickened only by cheese, the prepared food and fast food versions may be thickened with eggs or starch. Alfredo sauce may also include cream.
See also
- List of foods named after people
- List of pasta dishes
References
Sources
- Carnacina, Luigi; Buonassisi, Vincenzo (1975). Roma in Cucina (in Italian). Milano: Giunti Martello.
External links
Source of article : Wikipedia
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