Cooking Article

If you ask for Pasta Alfredo in a restaurant in Italy all you get from your waiter is a stare. Why is one of the most famous “Italian sauces” for pasta unknown in its country of origin? The answer is simple: because in Italy Pasta Alfredo doesn’t exist.

Yes
Italians make a dish of pasta
fettuccine dressed with nothing else than good aged parmigiano cheese and a lot of butter
but is such a simple preparation that Italians don’t even consider it a “recipe”.

Waverly Root in his famous book “The Food of Italy” (New York
1971
wrote: “FETTUCCINE AL BURRO is associated in every tourist’s mind with Rome
possibly because the original Alfredo succeeded in making its serving a spectacle reminiscent of grand opera. It is the same ribbon shaped egg pasta tat is called tagliatelle in Bologna; but the al burro preparation is very Roman indeed in its rich simplicity. Nothing is added to the pasta except grated cheese and butter - lots of butter. The recipe calls for doppio burro
double butter
which gives it a golden color.”

Who was Alfredo then? Alfredo di Lelio
this was his full name
was an inspired cook who proposed this new exciting dish in the restaurant he opened in Rome in 1914. It was a high gourmet preparation in the Roman tradition of simplicity. Apparently he created his Fettuccine all’Alfredo when his wife lost her appetite during her pregnancy. To bring back her appetite he prepared for her a nutritious dish of egg fettuccine with parmigiano cheese and butter. That probably gave him the idea for his “triple butter” fettuccine.

He was an extravagant character who used to personally serve his paper-thin fettuccine with golden forks
apparently donated to him by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks
the famous silent movie stars. In the fifties and sixties
Hollywood discovered Rome. Paparazzi photographers took photos of actors such as Tyrone Power
Ava Gardner
Richard Burton
Liz Taylor
or Sophia Loren in front of a plate of Fettuccine all’Alfredo
making his restaurant famous all around the world. The restaurant is now run buy his grandson
and the golden forks are still used to serve this dish for special occasions.

Samuel Chamberlain
journalist and food writer
met Alfredo in the late fifties and wrote in his book “Italian Bouquet – An Epicurean Tour of Italy” (New York
1958
“Finally there is the great Alfredo
showman par excellence
who draws an endless file of amazed and hungry tourists to watch his calisthenics over a dish of hot noodles. The King of Noodles has come out of retirement
and now wields his golden fork and spoon at ALFREDO ALL’AUGUSTEO
at number 31 on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore. His Maestosissime Fettuccine all’Alfredo are most majestic
without a doubt. […] You have to visit this place at least once
we suppose
just to say you have seen this elderly
melodramatic good-hearted clown in action.”

So
forget the heavy cream
the parsley
the garlic
and all the other stuff suggested in the hundreds of Alfredo recipes that circulate around. Take down from the shelf that pasta machine
prepare your fresh fettuccine (you can substitute fresh fettuccine with excellent dry egg noodles)
and enjoy the simple Maestosissime Fettuccine al Triplo Burro the way Alfredo himself would do them.