Fettuccine Alfredo (Italian: [fettut'tʃiːne alˈfreːdo]) is a pasta dish consisting of fettuccine tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese which is melted and emulsified to form a rich cheese sauce coating the pasta. Originating in Rome in the early 20th century, the recipe is now known primarily in the United States and other countries.
The dish is named after Alfredo Di Lelio, a Roman restaurateur who created and popularized it. Di Lelio's tableside service was an integral part of the recipe's early success. Fettuccine Alfredo is a variant of standard Italian preparations fettuccine al burro ('fettuccine with butter'), pasta burro e parmigiano ('pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese'), and pasta in bianco ('plain pasta').
Outside of Italy, cream is sometimes used to thicken the sauce, and ingredients such as chicken, shrimp, or broccoli may be added when Fettuccine Alfredo is served as a main course. Neither cream nor other additional ingredients are used in Italy, where the dish is rarely called "Alfredo" outside of Rome.
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History
Italian origins
In Italy, the combination of pasta with butter and cheese dates to at least the 15th century, when it was mentioned by Martino da Como, a northern Italian cook active in Rome; this recipe for "Roman macaroni" (Italian: maccaroni romaneschi) calls for cooking pasta in broth or water and adding butter, "good cheese" (the variety is not specified) and "sweet spices".
Roman creation
Modern Fettuccine Alfredo was created by Alfredo Di Lelio in Rome in the early 20th century. According to family lore, in 1892 Alfredo began to work in a restaurant located in Piazza Rosa that was run by his mother, Angelina. He cooked his first fettuccine al triplo burro ('fettuccine with triple butter' – later called fettuccine all'Alfredo, and eventually "Fettuccine Alfredo") in 1907 or 1908, in what is said to have been an effort to entice his convalescent wife, Ines, to eat after giving birth to their first child, Armando. Recipes attributed to Di Lelio include only three ingredients: fettuccine, "young" Parmesan cheese and butter. Yet there are various legends about the "secret" of the original Alfredo recipe: some say oil is added to the pasta dough; others that the pasta is cooked in milk.
Piazza Rosa was condemned to make way for the construction of the Galleria Colonna (c. 1910) and his mother's restaurant was forced to close. Di Lelio subsequently opened his own restaurant on the via della Scrofa (c. 1914). Following a visit to Ristorante Alfredo by the American actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks – who, at the time of his visit in the early 1920s was known as "The King of Hollywood", Alfredo began to serve his signature dish using a golden fork and spoon bearing the inscription "To Alfredo the King of the noodles" (said to have been a gift from the famous Hollywood couple in gratitude for Alfredo's hospitality). Di Lelio's fame and success grew (he was knighted by the King of Italy, making him a Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia) until war rationing made it increasingly difficult to obtain flour, eggs, and butter. He sold the restaurant to two of his waiters for the war, in 1943.
After the war, in 1950, Di Lelio opened a new restaurant in Piazza Augusto Imperatore with his son Armando. He vigorously promoted the restaurant by creating a celebrity wall of fettuccine themed photographs showing himself (in humorous poses, with his pasta and gold cutlery) serving dignitaries, politicians, famous musicians and film stars such as James Stewart, Bob Hope, Anthony Quinn, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, Jack Lemmon, Ava Gardner, Tyrone Power, Ronald Reagan, Sophia Loren, Cantinflas, and many others. The dish was so well known that Di Lelio was invited to demonstrate it both in Italy and abroad. The fame of the dish, by this time called maestosissime fettuccine all'Alfredo ('most majestic Alfredo-style fettuccine') on Alfredo's menus, was heightened by the tableside "spectacle reminiscent of grand opera" during its preparation, "in a ritual of extraordinary theatricality".
American popularization
The dish has long been popular with Americans, who, when in Rome, have often sought out its historical origins.
Alfredo's noodles have been extolled in US newspapers, magazines, cookbooks, and guidebooks since as early as the 1920s. In one of her popular travel guides, So You're Going to Rome!, Clara Laughlin writes, "Most travellers would blush to admit they had been in Rome and had not eaten Alfredo's fettuccine al burro." Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt makes reference to "a little trattoria on the Via della Scrofa where you get the best fettuccine in the world".
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the American food writer and restaurateur George Rector wrote about "Alfredo's noodles", describing in detail the restaurateur's elaborate tableside preparation ceremony; he did not give the dish a specific name. In a later account, Rector mentions the addition of accompanying violin music and golden tableware. By the 1920s Alfredo was billing himself as Il Re delle Fettuccine 'The King of Fettuccine' (printed on his menus in both Italian and English), although when exactly the "fettuccine Alfredo" appellation came about is unclear. A 1925 Italian guidebook and its English translation uses "fettuccine al burro"; however, a 1927 article by Alice Rohe mentions "noodles Alfredo". Throughout this period and beyond, restaurant reviews, advertisements, and recipes for "noodles Alfredo" (1927 and 1929), "Alfredo's spaghetti" (1939), "fettuccine all'Alfredo" (1956), and eventually "fettuccine Alfredo" (1957 and 1964) began to crop up in various publications.
In 1966, the Pennsylvania Dutch Noodle Company started selling their dried "fettuccine egg noodles" with an "Alfredo" recipe on the package. In addition to the traditional Parmesan cheese and butter, this version also included Swiss cheese and cream.
In 1977, Armando Di Lelio (Alfredo's son) and a partner opened a restaurant called "Alfredo's" near Rockefeller Center in New York, and several years later, another in Epcot at Disney World –both of which have since closed. More recently, Ines Di Lelio (Alfredo's granddaughter) has operated or licensed the "Il Vero Alfredo" name to restaurants in Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
The two largest full-service Italian-American restaurant chains, Olive Garden and Carrabba's Italian Grill, both serve and advertise the dish widely. A smaller chain, Il Fornaio, which says that its goal is, to "provide our guests with the most authentic Italian experience outside of Italy", does not serve fettuccine Alfredo.
Alfredo sauce
In the United States, shelf-stable Alfredo sauce is sold by brands such as Ragú, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market, Bertolli, Kroger, Classico, Prego, Rao's, Newman's Own, Signature Select, and Saclà in glass jars for home cooks. Giovanni Rana and Buitoni sell fresh Alfredo sauces in plastic tubs that must be refrigerated. The Alaska Seasoning Company makes "Alfredo sauce powder", a spice mix to which, according to the company, one "simply [adds] cream [to] make a restaurant style Alfredo Sauce". These sauces are marketed at various price points and quality levels, and are often reviewed in food related publications.
The British retailer ASDA sells a version called "New York creamy chicken Alfredo sauce".
Other Alfredo variants and formats such as pre-packaged fresh, boil-in-bag, or ready to eat frozen meals are also widely available in the United States. In the late 1970s, McDonald's experimented with a dinner menu that included fettuccine Alfredo, pizza, lasagna, and McSpaghetti. These options are no longer available in the US.
In Italy, Alfredo alla Scrofa began offering its own version of salsa Alfredo in 2020. Sold in glass jars and promoted as using only the highest quality ingredients, the sauce contains Parmesan (43%), water, butter, rice flour, and sunflower seed oil – but no cream.