Rome's egg ribbon, Bologna's tagliatelle by another name.
- Italian
- Fettuccine
- Category
- Long ribbon
- Region
- Rome & Lazio
- Products
- 0 catalogued
The story
Fettuccine is the egg-ribbon pasta of Rome, the Lazio counterpart to Emilia-Romagna's tagliatelle, and its name is a plain description: fettuccia means "little ribbon," and fettuccine are the little ribbons cut from a rolled sheet of egg dough. For most of its life it was simply the everyday fresh pasta of Roman home kitchens, dressed with butter and cheese or a meat sugo. Then a Roman restaurateur named Alfredo Di Lelio turned a plate of it into a global legend in the early twentieth century, tossing the ribbons with a heavy hand of butter and Parmigiano to coax his wife's appetite back after childbirth and wrapping a tableside spectacle around the serving. The "fettuccine Alfredo" that went on to conquer American menus is, back home, still just ribbons, butter, and cheese, called plainly fettuccine al burro.
Shape & purpose
Flat ribbons of fresh egg dough, cut a little wider and heavier than most Roman strands, usually around six to eight millimeters. Fettuccine sits among close cousins: narrower and sturdier than wide Tuscan pappardelle, a touch broader and more robust than Ligurian linguine, and very near Emilia-Romagna's tagliatelle, from which it differs mostly by region, by a slightly heavier cut, and by tradition rather than by any bright line. The dough is egg-rich and rolled with a faint tooth, so sauce grips rather than slides.
The ribbon's width and body are built for coating. Fettuccine is at its best under sauces heavy in fat, where butter and cheese emulsify into a glossy cloak, or under a Roman meat sauce the broad strand can carry without being overwhelmed. It rewards a generous, clinging dressing; a thin oil-and-garlic sauce would slide off a ribbon this substantial.
Sauce pairings
- 01Al burro (Alfredo)Butter and Parmigiano emulsified with pasta water; the cream-free original.
- 02Al ragùA rich Roman or Bolognese-style meat sauce the broad ribbon carries in equal measure.
- 03Ai funghi porciniPorcini and butter, an autumn standard.
- 04Alla papalinaRome's "pope's" dish: egg, butter, prosciutto, and peas, a gentler carbonara cousin.
Cooking technique
Fresh fettuccine cooks in two to four minutes in well-salted water, so have the sauce hot and waiting. For a butter dressing, pull the ribbons straight into a wide pan with a ladle of starchy pasta water and a generous knob of butter, then toss hard off direct heat until the cheese melts into a smooth, glossy sauce rather than clumping. Dried fettuccine works and wants a few minutes more. As in Bologna, skip the cream for the classic version; the emulsion of butter, cheese, and pasta water is what makes it.