Alfredo Sauce?

Good morning. Alfredo sauce has long been one of my favorie sauces. it was invented by Alfredo di Lelio in the early 1900s as a simple butter and cheese dressing for fettucine.

It’s a dish certain to delight any dinner guest using Alfredo’s table-side method of preparation. The eyes are always the first to feast when dinner is served, after all. But sometimes the tastebuds desire a little bit more.

When I first learned to make an Alfredo, the ingredients given to me were butter, milk, salt, pepper, and of course parmesan cheese. Flavor-wise, it was everything one would expect from an Alfredo. Nutty and salty, with a velvety emulsification that drapes the tongue in its creaminess. June however, needed more.

The golden rule of home cooking – as far as June sees it: If you only like what you cooked, fix it up until you love it! How else do you think we get secret recipes?

One think that is no secret, is the power of the aromat in elevating or transforming a dish. It’s the type of playing with your food that is highly encouraged. Take a piece of Rome, let it visit the eastern shores of where the Peach grows best. Conversely, you could take that low country and perch her right on top of one of those seven hills. But that’s a topic for a whole ‘nuther day.

Shallots. Garlic. Red pepper. A pungency that warms the luscious milquetoast, imparting a bold vibrancy and heartiness perfectly suited for a heavier pairing. A pasta stuffed with intense mushrooms. An a là with aggressively seasoned meats, such as Italian sausage or blackened chicken.

Let’s not forget that roux thrown in for good measure. That provides a full-bodied texture to match those flavors. You can certainly call it strikingly ambrosial.

But, can you really call it an Alfredo?