| If you ask for pasta with Alfredo sauce | | | | this was his full name, was an inspired |
| at a restaurant in Italy all you get | | | | cook who proposed this new exciting dish |
| from your waiter is a stare. Why is one | | | | in the restaurant he opened in Rome in |
| of the most famous "Italian sauces" for | | | | 1914. It was a high gourmet preparation |
| pasta unknown in its country of origin? | | | | in the Roman tradition of simplicity. |
| The answer is simple: because in Italy | | | | Apparently he created his Fettuccine |
| an Alfredo "sauce" doesn't exist. | | | | all'Alfredo when his wife lost her |
| Yes, Italians make a dish of pasta, | | | | appetite during her pregnancy. To bring |
| fettuccine dressed with nothing else | | | | back her appetite he prepared for her a |
| than good aged parmigiano cheese and a | | | | nutritious dish of egg fettuccine with |
| lot of butter, but is such a simple | | | | parmigiano cheese and butter. That |
| preparation that Italians don't even | | | | probably gave him the idea for his |
| consider it a "recipe". | | | | "triple butter" fettuccine. |
| Waverly Root in his famous book "The | | | | He was an extravagant character who used |
| Food of Italy" (New York, 1971) wrote: | | | | to personally serve his paper-thin |
| "FETTUCCINE AL BURRO is associated in | | | | fettuccine with golden forks, apparently |
| every tourist's mind with Rome, possibly | | | | donated to him by Mary Pickford and |
| because the original Alfredo succeeded | | | | Douglas Fairbanks, the famous silent |
| in making its serving a spectacle | | | | movie stars. In the fifties and sixties, |
| reminiscent of grand opera. It is the | | | | Hollywood discovered Rome. Paparazzi |
| same ribbon shaped egg pasta tat is | | | | photographers took photos of actors such |
| called tagliatelle in Bologna; but the | | | | as Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Richard |
| al burro preparation is very Roman | | | | Burton, Liz Taylor, or Sophia Loren in |
| indeed in its rich simplicity. Nothing | | | | front of a plate of Fettuccine |
| is added to the pasta except grated | | | | all'Alfredo, making his restaurant |
| cheese and butter - lots of butter. The | | | | famous all around the world. The |
| recipe calls for doppio burro, double | | | | restaurant is now run buy his grandson, |
| butter, which gives it a golden color." | | | | and the golden forks are still used to |
| Who was Alfredo then? Alfredo di Lelio, | | | | serve this dish for special occasions. |