Authentic Fettuccine Alfredo

Fettuccine Alfredo is a delicious and elegant dish. It is astoundingly simple to prepare.

Proper Fettuccine Alfredo has no relationship to the sloppy glop of overcooked pasta smothered in who-knows-what that you most often find at chain restaurants, potlucks, or too many online recipes.

Fettuccine Alfredo is a perfect way to come to an understanding of the Italian approach to pasta.

Pasta is the star. The sauce is the supporting cast - an unobtrusive supporting cast.

In Fettuccine Alfredo the sauce is melted butter, cream, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The finished dish may be seasoned with salt and black pepper - as you wish. That's all. You will even find purists who will convincingly argue that the cream is to be eliminated.

Fettuccine Alfredo is a young dish. It is said to have been created in the 1920s by the Roman restaurateur Alfredo De Lelio. It is said De Lelio first created the dish for Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Whether this story is true or not, the dish is a more lavish version of the Italian family favorite of pasta tossed with cheese.

The Recipe:

5 quarts of salted water in a large pot
1 pound of fettuccine
6 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 to 2 cups of fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Bring the pot of salted water to the boil. Drop in the pasta and return to the boil. Boil for 7 minutes, stirring often. You want the pasta slightly under-cooked, not soft and mushy.

As soon as the pasta goes into the water, melt the butter in a large, deep sauce-pan over medium heat.

Melt the butter, making sure it does not brown or change color. When the butter is melted remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

When the pasta is finished cooking drain it.

Reheat the butter over medium-high heat. Turn the pasta and the cream into butter in the sauce-pan. Toss the pasta to thoroughly coat the fettuccine.

Continue to toss the pasta so the cream can permeate the fettuccine. There should be very little cream in the bottom of the sauce-pan.

Toss in the cheese, starting with the 1 1/2 cups. Only add part or all of the remaining cheese according to your taste. Toss for 20 seconds.

Season the pasta with salt and pepper according to your taste.

Turn the pasta into a warm serving dish and serve immediately.

Simple, but delicious.