Pasta quickie

Cook 250g of fettucine. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of pasta water, then return the drained pasta to the pan with 4tbsp butter. When the butter melts, add some pasta water and a few big handfuls of grated parmigiano reggiano or grana padano (NOT domestic American parmesan—it doesn’t melt right). Toss until the cheese is melted and the fettucine is coated, seasoning to taste with pepper and nutmeg. Presto: fettucine alfredo, classical style.

Where's the cream, you ask? Well, fettucine Alfredo wasn't originally thought of as being sauced per se, just dressed up with butter and cheese. I don't know the whole story, but from what I understand, when people started making it with American ingredients, the domestic parmesan just wasn't up to it (as I said in the note above), and the cream managed to bring something to the party that the cheese simply couldn't provide, and probably helped it melt better besides (don't forget, butter can be used as an emulsifier because of certain milk proteins). That was the birth of what we now think of Alfredo sauce. It's pretty good stuff, but it's not quite authentic.

But this is closer to Alfredo Di Lelio's original. I originally learned the basics from John and Galina Mariani's The Italian-American Cookbook (which by the way is one of the better books I've seen for historical background of Italian-American food). The Marianis provide both versions for comparison. The key here, as is often the case with pasta dishes, is the pasta water; the cast-off starch can also act as an emulsifier (much like the roux in Mornay sauce or mac and cheese) and manages to not only help the cheese melt without clumping but also keeps the butter from separating and making the finished pasta greasy.

You can try it both ways; the classical version is definitely faster and easier, though its sharp flavor is not what most people in the US are used to, and there isn't a puddle of sauce at the bottom to sop up. But it's definitely worth it.