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If you ask for pasta with
Alfredo sauce at 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 an Alfredo
“sauce” 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. Find the step-by-step illustrated
recipe at this URL: http://www.annamariavolpi.com/pasta_alfredo_recipe.html
Enjoy!
Anna Maria Volpi,
Copyright(C)2004
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About
The Author
Anna
Maria Volpi is a cooking instructor and
personal chef in Los Angeles. Visit Anna
Maria’s website www.annamariavolpi.com/page28.html
for step-by-step illustrated Italian
recipes, articles, pictures, and to enroll
in her free newsletter.
Permission
is granted for this article to reprint,
distribute, use for ezine, newsletter,
website, as long as no changes are made
and the copyright, resource box, and
active link to her website are included.
Please
inform Anna Maria if you use this article:
anna@annamariavolpi.com |
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