Secret ingredient for Alfredo sauce!

[LPBeier]

I made fettuccine alfredo for dinner last night. Butter, heavy cream, parm, salt pepper. So simple and so delicious.

Years ago a restaurant in Vancouver, aptly named "Alfredo's" made the best Alfredo sauce I have ever had before or since. I got to talk to the chef once and asked what made the sauce so special - he said that not trying to make it special was the key.

The ingredients you mentioned, GB are exactly what he used. Of course he didn't give me amounts and it took me awhile to get it right! Oh, he didn't even use pepper but the waiter would come around with this huge pepper grinder and offer some for the top. A perfect addition!

 

[GB]

I actually left the pepper out because my kids don't enjoy it, but added some freshly fround to my plate.

Actually I should correct myself. I did not cook this. My daughter did. It was her first time making dinner and she did a great job!

 

[Rocklobster]

I've got to add a bit of white wine to my Alfredo. But, then again, I add wine to lots of things. Especially myself...
Olive oil, or butter
garlic
white wine, reduce
cream
reduce and thicken
then finish with parmesan, fresh parsley and cracked black pepper....

 

[PattY1]

Nutmeg is the traditional addition but I hate it and cinnamon would be even worse, sorry.

I don't hate nutmeg and cinnamon but IMHO they belong in desserts not savory dishes!!

 

[Addie]

+6

 

[PattY1]

+6

What does +6 mean?

 

[Addie]

What does +6 mean?

I am the sixth person who agrees with a statement made by a previous poster.

The statement was "At some point it stops being Alfredo Sauce." Or something similar.

 

[Andy M.]

When a poster makes a post you agree with, you post +1 to show you agree with it. The next person posts +2, etc.

When you post a +1 etc, you should quote the post you are agreeing with so it's clear.

 

[DampCharcoal]

Well, whatever the heck it is, I like my non-Alfredo Sauce with a couple of sprinkles of nutmeg and a couple of dashes of Frank's Red Hot.

So there!

 

[taxlady]

I don't hate nutmeg and cinnamon but IMHO they belong in desserts not savory dishes!!

I call them "cookie spices": nutmeg, cinnamon, dry ginger, cloves, allspice, cardamom, vanilla. DH doesn't get it. I tell him to look with the cookie spices. The only one of those I haven't used in a savoury dish is dry ginger, but I do use fresh ginger with savoury.

 

[vitauta]

i don't understand the objection to adding a favorite seasoning, or several, to one's personal alfredo sauce recipe. the original alfredo sauce had no cream in it. when americans liked our alfredo sauce better with cream added, i suppose the case could have been made that it was no longer authentic. does meatloaf cease being meatloaf when hundreds of different variations (beginning with the meat mixture itself) are created? do we insist on renaming every recipe that most every good cook tweaks in order to give it her own special touch?

and i don't really care about the nomenclature all that much as it relates to this alfredo sauce question. i do believe staunch rules imposed on "sacred" recipes are misdirected when applied to family cooking, howver....

 

[DampCharcoal]

I agree, vituata.

Try assigning one and only one chili recipe as the only authentic chili recipe and you'll have a civil war on your hands.

It's kinda the same thing. Lighten up, folks.

 

[CraigC]

I don't hate nutmeg and cinnamon but IMHO they belong in desserts not savory dishes!!

No mole' for you? Maybe no "jerk"? Cinnamon can be your friend in savory!

 

[LPBeier]

I agree, vituata.

Try assigning one and only one chili recipe as the only authentic chili recipe and you'll have a civil war on your hands.

It's kinda the same thing. Lighten up, folks.

I can only speak for myself but by agreeing to the statement I am saying that personally I don't like to mess with a good thing when it comes to Alfredo Sauce. I am not saying I don't think anyone else should.

 

[DampCharcoal]

I can only speak for myself but by agreeing to the statement I am saying that personally I don't like to mess with a good thing when it comes to Alfredo Sauce. I am not saying I don't think anyone else should.

Well, let me put it this way. Recipes are by and large evolutionary.

There's a saying that if you want to insult the French, point out that they learned their techniques from Italians. If you want to insult the Italians, point out that they learned their techniques from the Greeks.

I'm just saying that there is no such thing as an absolute recipe.

Personal touches are just fine.

 

[PattY1]

No mole' for you? Maybe no "jerk"? Cinnamon can be your friend in savory!

No mole'. Chocolate in Food other than desserts sounds gross to me. I have had Jerk seasoning, it didn't have a pronounced cinnamon taste.

I can only speak for myself but by agreeing to the statement I am saying that personally I don't like to mess with a good thing. I am not saying I don't think anyone else should.

^That.

 

[LPBeier]

Well, let me put it this way. Recipes are by and large evolutionary.

There's a saying that if you want to insult the French, point out that they learned their techniques from Italians. If you want to insult the Italians, point out that they learned their techniques from the Greeks.

I'm just saying that there is no such thing as an absolute recipe.

Personal touches are just fine.

I don't want to get into a war of words here. You don't know much about my style but I do a lot of playing with flavours and styles of cooking. I think you may be taking this all a bit too serious. I have actually tried different versions of Alfredo sauce and have liked some of them. But personally I keep it plain and simple.

And I don't think anyone here has actually said there is no such thing as an absolute recipe - its more a matter of if it ain't broke don't fix it .

 

[GB]

I don't think anyone is saying not to enjoy how you made what you call Alfredo sauce. Some are just saying that at a certain point, after adding things, it is no longer Alfredo sauce. That does not mean what you have made is not delicious or in any way less that a true Alfredo. What if I added shrimp and seafood stock to my Alfredo sauce? Is it still Alfredo? What about if I don't like cheese so I substitute something else? Like Andy said, at some point it turns into something else and not Alfredo.

 

[DampCharcoal]

LPBeier, I wasn't trying to be contentious, I was just pointing out that there's nothing wrong with straying from the formula.

 

[LPBeier]

I don't think anyone is saying not to enjoy how you made what you call Alfredo sauce. Some are just saying that at a certain point, after adding things, it is no longer Alfredo sauce. That does not mean what you have made is not delicious or in any way less that a true Alfredo. What if I added shrimp and seafood stock to my Alfredo sauce? Is it still Alfredo? What about if I don't like cheese so I substitute something else? Like Andy said, at some point it turns into something else and not Alfredo.

LPBeier, I wasn't trying to be contentious, I was just pointing out that there's nothing wrong with straying from the formula.

You, and everyone else, are saying the same thing - Garlic Alfredo, Seafood Alfredo, Pesto Alfredo, Tomato Alfredo....and Alfredo Alfredo

And this is the last I will say in the matter - it is making me hungry.