Alfredo Sauce, fettuccine Alfredo, and everything that follows or precedes the word Alfredo are all things that Italians don’t even know. So why is it such a huge deal here in the States?!
Well, let’s start with a bit of history: 1914 Rome, Alfredo Di Lelio used to make his typical “fettucine”, called by himself “bionde” – blondes, because of the color of the cooked and served meal. They were more butterish and cheesy (of course Parmesan cheesy) than the usual “fettuccine al burro” because, as my beloved queen Sonia says in her Giallo Zafferano, his wife lost appetite during labor so he had to come up with something that she would have eaten, and it worked. She, then, asked Alfredo to put this recipe on the menu and that made him so famous because few years later in 1920 a just married couple who were spending their honeymoon in Rome, decided to go to see what was that kind of pasta everybody was talking about. Mary Pickford e Douglas Fairbanks, the famous Hollywood actors, then, were so impressed by the “bionde” that gave Alfredo as present a pair of golden silverware. From that moment onward, once the couple was back in LA, everybody knew about this extraordinary recipe.
In Italy or better in Rome, Alfredo grew famous and famous creating also a real Alfredo’s Dynasty (Alfredo, Alfredo II and Alfredo III) but actually nowadays if you’re not from Rome, you probably never heard of “Bionde” or “Fettuccicne alla Alfredo”. Most of Alfredo’s clients are – not shocking at all – Americans. Over the years, the recipe’s been shaped into an Americanized version of what it was at the beginning.
[This is the real Alfredo restaurant in Rome. FYI there’s no such video in Italian.]
In the States, this meal became easily and quickly the best thing people could have dreamed of! But, of course, it had to be changed, or as I say, “it had to be messed up by Americans putting random ingredients into meals that do not deserve this brutality” – mostly because Alfredo sauce became a convenience food in many grocery stores: unlike the original preparation, which is thickened only by original Parmesan cheese, the prepared food and fast food versions are thickened with eggs, starch, and worst of all sour cream – not to talk about the way the pasta is cooked!
But don’t worry, Italians are here to save you! Thankfully, we have the perfect recipe both from the original Alfredo (which I do not recommend because of the Americanization mentioned above) and from our Savior and Queen Sonia who has the perfect recipe for everything – yeah it is in Italian but who hasn’t a friend that can at least translate a recipe, we all have!
Remember that the ingredients are (/must be) easy and genuine. You can, of course, use something to flavor them, but usually it is either pepper or nutmeg which gave them a “fancy” taste!
Be careful, though, that cuisine purists in Italy will tell you that:
