About Alfredo Sauce

Alfredo sauce is a type of white sauce that is commonly paired with fettuccine pasta. It consists of butter, Parmesan cheese and sometimes heavy cream. It has roots in Italy, but became famous in America, and is largely considered an Italian-American sauce.

History

Alfredo sauce is the creation of Rome restaurateur Alfredo di Lelio. He owned a restaurant in the early 1900s named Alfredo alla Scrofa, and he worked on perfecting an old Italian butter sauce that used two servings of butter. Instead of the two, Alfredo di Lelio added three servings of butter, making his sauce extremely creamy and rich. It was not until the 1920s, when Americans on honeymoon in Italy found the recipe, that Alfredo sauce became a world-renowned recipe. The couple brought the recipe back to California, and their friends loved it. The sauce was named Alfredo, in honor of di Lelio.

Types

Alfredo sauce can be broken into Italian or American types. The Italian Alfredo sauce is strictly lots of butter and Parmesan cheese. In American restaurants, more ingredients are added to the Italian combination, including heavy cream, and sometimes nutmeg, basil, or other seasonings. Alfredo sauce is popular with fettuccine pasta, but can also be served with chicken or vegetables.

Benefits

The greatest benefit of Alfredo sauce is that it's easy to make. It only contains three main ingredients, which are all fairly common items. Alfredo sauce is a satisfying accompaniment to most Italian dishes, and its popularity makes it a convenient choice when serving a large crowd. Alfredo sauce is also hard to mess up, because it only requires the cook to heat and stir.

Features

Alfredo sauce features lots of butter, and Parmesan cheese, making it a white sauce. It can include cream or flour also, adding to its color and thick texture. Once done, Alfredo sauce has the consistency of a creamy soup, it should not be too thin. It is also opaque and, depending on the addition of spices, may be speckled with the spice.

Considerations

Alfredo sauce goes well with a variety of wines, including Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and Sauvignon Blanc. Instead of making it from scratch, Alfredo sauce can also be purchased from the grocery store, in jars near the spaghetti sauce. Those who are lactose intolerant may not handle Alfredo sauce well.