[Pongi]

Guanciale is a cured pork meat made with a piece cut from the cheek and throat of the pork (the word Guanciale comes from Guancia=cheek). Like the Pancetta, the meat piece is seasoned with salt and pepper, pressed and dried in the open, but often it's also smoked, that makes it tastier and a little more like American bacon. It is typical od Central Italy (Tuscany, Lazio, marche) and Sardinia, and is the original ingredient of Carbonara and Amatriciana as well. Since it's something between Pancetta and Bacon, you can substitute it with both when making Carbonara, according to your taste. Personally, I agree with Pete and like more bacon in my Carbonara and amatriciana...

Pongi

[chiffonade]

There is absolutely no cream in the original, authentic recipe for Fettucini Alfredo. The reason we add cream is because we can't get the extremely rich butter used in Italy.

[Pongi]

Well...I gave a look to the link quoted by Marmalady, and found out it's something funny for an Italian
When we have no time for cooking or want to eat something quick and light, we often make "Pasta al Burro" (pasta with butter and parmesan) but we never think we are doing a recipe and, as I said, don't call it "Fettuccine Alfredo" that's an unknown name here! Maybe in Rome they know the restaurant, but I have checked many restaurant guides and haven't found it anywhere, so actually it must be a tourist trap as it's said in the link (this is not odd as 95% restaurants in Rome are tourist traps )
On the other side, I had sometimes Fettuccine Alfredo in US, but remember them as something different-pasta with alot of bechamel and other ingredients like mushrooms and so on...very bastardized versions, I suppose!

In any case, thanks for the info...there's always something to learn here!

Pongi

[Athenaeus]

Pongi.

I have been to Alfredo's restaurant in Rome.

There they give you a leaflet with the story.

Around 1914, Alfredo's ( the original) wife was pregnant and she couldn't eat, she has lost her appetite

So Alfredo, went in his kitchen and made for her fetucinni with butter and pecorino cheese.

It was so tastefull that she had them at once.

As they say in Alfredo's, the rest is myth...

Alfredo's grandson went to the States where he opened his first restaurant in NYC.

I think chiffonade is right. The reason that in the States you use cream is because you want to replace the rich Italian Cheese.

[mudbug]

Fettucini Alfredo Quick

3 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp. table salt for the pasta plus 1/4 tsp. for the sauce
1 lb. fettuccini, fresh preferred
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
cheese plus additional cheese for serving
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

Place a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Place the butter and cream in a skillet large enough to hold the sauce and cooked pasta over medium heat and bring to a simmer and then cook until thickened enough to heavily coat the back of a spoon. (At this point you may turn off the heat and hold the cream mixture to wait for the pasta if necessary.)

When the water is boiling, add the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and pasta and cook to within 2 minutes of package directions. Place the cream over low heat (or lower the heat if the cream has been continually cooking) and whisk in the egg yolk. Once incorporated, gently simmer until the sauce is thick, smooth and shiny, about 1 minute. Add the Parmesan and 1/4 teaspoon salt and whisk to combine until smooth, about 30 seconds. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt if necessary. Drain pasta (it should be toothsome, not flabby), add to skillet, and toss to combine. Serve immediately with additional freshly grated Parmesan cheese, freshly ground black pepper and a grating of fresh nutmeg, if desired.

Serves 4 to 6

Variations:

Add 2 teaspoons fresh sage to the heavy cream and butter before it thickens.

Substitute tortellini for the fettuccini.

[chrose]

Originally posted by cchiu

Place the cream over low heat (or lower the heat if the cream has been continually cooking) and whisk in the egg yolk. Once incorporated, gently simmer until the sauce is thick, smooth and shiny, about 1 minute. .

If you do this and your cream is a little too hot you're likely to scramble the eggs. Better perhaps to add a little extra cream to the eggs before heating (like a tablespoon) and then when the cream is hot add another tablespoon or two to the eggs to temper them before adding to the hot cream. This will help prevent curdling and or scrambling the eggs.

I also put egg in fettucine alfredo, but then I use soy cheese and soy milk, so obviously my approach is a *little* unconventional. The raw egg is whisked, a little of the melted cheese sauce is added slowly and whisked in so the eggs don't cook in the bowl (duh!) and then the egg/cheese mixture is added to the pot to cook slowly.

But...if you want to use raw egg, here's a tip. The bacteria you need to worry about are usually on the outside shell of the egg. Wash the raw egg in shell (I use Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Oil Liquid Soap...wouldn't hurt you if you swallowed a bit of it) and rinse it thoroughly before cracking it open. I made homemade mayonnaise from raw eggs this way for years and no one ever got sick from it!

[Pongi]

This is just what I meant saying (in the Tiramisù thread) that there's no need to be scared about raw eggs if they're fresh. The egg inside is perfectly sterile as far as you don't break it and most contaminations are due to the bacteria on the shell (mainly, I should say, if the egg is "homemade" and not industrial).
FunnyTummy advice sounds good!

Pongi

[ShawtyCat]

Ive always heard about the "porous" egg shell and never thought to wash with anything other than water. I thought the moisture would seep through and water was my safest bet. Im gonna try a bottle of this stuff.

Thanks FT, Pongi & everyone who replied. Your tips are helping.

Ummm...I forgot to mention something. Don't wash eggs unless you intend to break them open and use them right away. If there was a teensy bit of bacteria left on the shell then letting the whole egg sit (refrigerated or not) for a while might actually result in more bacteria than you started out with (assuming there was any bacteria on the shell to begin with).

I learned something interesting about poultry eggs during a visit to a recreated, historical village in Wisconsin. I asked an interpreter who was running a kitchen in one of the recreated pioneer homes why chicken eggs were sitting out, obviously unwashed, in a wooden tray filled with clean, dry straw. He explained that poultry eggs have a coating that naturally resists bacteria and that washing the egg removes that coating. So prior to the availability of refrigeration people would keep the eggs at room temperate, in a well ventilated place, but wouldn't wash them until just before they were ready to cook them. Of course the eggs we buy in stores have already been washed. Interesting, huh?

[riverrun]

about 1 in every 3000 eggs may contain salmanilla , don't worry about it

[Ruth]

PLACE A GOOD DOLLOP OF BUTTER IN THE HOT PAN,FOLLOWED BT HEAVY CREAM,ENOUGH TO REDUCE AND STILL HAVE PLENTY OF SAUCE,GARLIC IS NOT A COMPONET OF ALFREDO. PLACE AN EGG YOLK IN A SMALL CUP AND BEAT,YOU CAN OMIT IF YOU WISH BUT IT DOES COOK AND IT DOES TIGHTEN THAT SAUXCE AND GIVE IT A RICH TEXTURE AND TASTE .WHEN THIS MIXTURE LOOKS TIGHT DRAIN YOUR PASTA WELL AND PLACE IN THE PAN ADD A GOOD AMOUNT OF GOOD PARM TOSS AND SERVE,OH YEAH SALT AND PEPPER.IT IS SIMPLE AND VERY EASY. ITALIANS DO NOT USE ANYTHING ELSE.HONEST.GOOD LUCK

[Pongi]

I did a search on Italian sites about Fettuccine Alfredo, and this is what I found out:

Firstly, they're actually almost unknown here in Italy, so it doesn't make so much sense saying that "Italians use this or that" and so on. Italians DO NOT make Fettuccine Alfredo, or, at least, don't consider them a definite recipe-not more than a dish of pasta with tomato sauce! In some sites, they were just quoted as the classic example of "Italian" dish that's popular abroad and unknown in Italy.

I also localized the restaurant "Alfredo" di Via della Scrofa, a street that in Italy is famous- not exactly for this reason but because it's the place of the headquarters of the Italian Extreme Right Party, hated by most Italians as it's considered the heir of the Fascist Party (if you also think that the "scrofa" is the female pig, all this sounds quite funny to me... )

As for the recipe, those I have found are basically the same of Ruth's recipe: each 2 persons, 7 oz Fettuccine, 3 1/2 oz butter, 3 1/2 oz cream, 3 1/2 oz grated Parmesan, pepper, some grated nutmeg, no eggs, directions as Ruth said.

Pongi