Alfredo Sauce

You need the fat from the heavy cream. Otherwise, the sauce does not come together properly. If you don’t want the fat, don’t make Alfredo.

I make fettuccine Alfredo often, but for the sauce I only use unsalted butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano. This is the way Sig. di Lelio (correct spelling of his name) made it for Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks when they came to Roma on their honeymoon. NO egg or heavy cream.

Word to the wise - don’t add all the parm at once, unless you want one sticky ball of cheese surrounded by a very loose sauce...take your time like the recipe says.

1. BUY A PASTA CLAW forget the cream, this is technique cooking 1 lb box of fettuccine. (DeCecco) Cooked al dente. SAVE THE WATER Add some hot pasta water (4 oz avg. ladle) to a warm (not hot) skillet. Add 2tbs butter (high butterfat content) Add 2tbs EVOO Swirl til melted Add pasta and mix gently, coating the pasta Add Pecorino and Parmesan (4oz and 4oz) Toss gently. Add water by the ounce until the sauce is creamy. bit by bit salt (maldon) and pepper (tellicherry) to taste SERVE IMMEDIATELY.

Oh, lord no. Corn starch has no place in Alfredo sauce.

We ate at Musso and Frank’s in Hollywood this past week, where they tell the tale of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks and the Alfredo recipe they brought back from Rome. Theirs was delicious, so when I got back home I felt compelled to research various Alfredo recipes. I stuck to the sauce recipe as written, but added freshly ground nutmeg and parsley at the end and served it over pasta, shrimp and veggies. I’ve made a number of Alfredo recipes in my time, but this was by far the best yet.

Has anyone tried to substitute the heavy cream with milk or low fat milk and use corn starch as thickener?

Chef Alfredo introduced this standby Italian weeknight dinner to American tourists and then named it after himself to imply provenance. Italians call it Pasta Bianca and have making it for their children for generations.

This recipe needs a tablespoon of salt. Or salt to taste at the table. It is very bland without.

I made with both ½ and ½ and with evaporated milk. I found both to work but felt the evaporated milk worked a bit better for me. I used just a bit of pasta water added to the evaporated milk to help thicken.

If one were to serve this over pasta, how many people would it serve?

When I made this, I allowed the sauce to thicken, it takes about 9 minutes. I added a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of salt, a pinch of crushed red pepper, a pinch of lemon zest, a tiny spritz of lemon juice. Then toss pasta into sauce, along with any protein you cooked separately.

Renzo and Jeff are absolutely correct. This recipe is not the original as cream is never used in it. Butter, parmigiano Reggiano (never Kraft grated cheese) and the salted water that the pasta was cooked in. Only. If you make your own fettuccine, which you do relatively easily with a food processor and a pasta Machine (well worth it from my opinion), the dish is actually impressively light and balanced. You can put cream in it if you want, it’s just not authentic and it’s heavier and denser.

Depending on how much sauce you use per serving but I’d estimate four bowls of pasta with decent coverage.

Made this recipe, increased the garlic by double, added generous lemon pepper and fondor, and served over shrimp and noodles. Rave reviews!!