Apparently Americans Make Fettuccine Alfredo Wrong, So I Made It The Right Way
You only need three key ingredients, and none of them are heavy cream!
Hi everyone, I'm Farrah. You can say that I've been on a bit of a food journey in quarantine. After discovering @jeremyscheck on TikTok, I've decided to venture into the world of making my own pasta sauces from scratch. I fell in love with the vodka sauce I recreated, and today I've decided to tackle fettuccine Alfredo sauce.
Jeremy is studying Italian at Cornell and teaches TikTokers incredible Italian recipes through his videos. The one thing that shocked me about this fettuccine Alfredo recipe is that it requires absolutely NO milk. No heavy cream — nothing! Apparently, this is the way of the original recipe.
When I spoke to Jeremy, he explained that the recipe for fettuccine Alfredo was created in a restaurant called Alfredo alla Scrofa. As you probably guessed, that is in Italy. The recipe was created about a century ago by Alfredo di Lelio, and it calls for only three ingredients in the sauce: butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and pasta water.
When I asked Jeremy how Americans mess this up, he clarified, "When I say Americans 'mess it up,' I mean that only in relation to the original recipe — not that it can’t be delicious with cream!"
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OLIVE GARDEN IS SHAKING RIGHT NOW.
Now, for the recipe! For the ratio of ingredients, refer to Jeremy's original video. I started off with the three things I knew I needed, which were pasta*, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and unsalted butter.
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*Due to food storages at some grocery stores in Los Angeles, I could not find fettuccine noodles. I also wasn't about to go to a million different stores in the middle of a pandemic to try and find them, so linguine will have to suffice.
Once I cooked my pasta, I drained and transferred it to a cold pan. Then I got to work mixing in the ingredients for the sauce.
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To be honest, I was skeptical at first. I wasn't sure how these ingredients would thicken into a sauce. You're supposed to mix everything together for two minutes, nonstop. Once I did, I could see how it was all coming together. I was shocked that it looked like actual cream without using heavy cream!
Here's how it turned out! I'm no food photographer, but it did look incredibly delicious.
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Now, for the moment of truth: the taste test. In short, it was outstanding. The sauce was thick and creamy, and the saltiness from the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese was the perfect complement to the smooth texture of the sauce. It also didn't give me that heavy, bloated feeling that usually comes with eating a ton of dairy. I'm still in shock that this recipe doesn't require milk! It's so easy!
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