PANDEMIC
NOODLES
Elyse Toder
Computer Science Major
Elyse is a rising junior at Emory University majoring in computer science with a minor in art history. She has always enjoyed cooking. During the shelter-in-place, Elyse’s mother and her aunt have been teaching her how to cook Chinese and Western food, and she recently perfected her recipes for lemon squares and wonton noodle soup. After this project, Elyse is planning to build on her new pasta-making skills.
Reflection on Making
Fettuccine with Mushroom Alfredo Sauce
I chose to make Fettuccine with Mushroom Alfredo Sauce because it is one of my family’s favorite dishes and we often serve it on birthdays and other holidays. Since we were not able to make it for Mother’s Day this year, I took this opportunity to surprise my Mom. When I was small, I made pasta from scratch with my Grandmother. I have not done it for many years, and I thought making homemade fettuccine noodles would make the dish extra special.
Although fettuccine, which means “little ribbons” in Italian, is an old pasta shape, Alfredo sauce is a relatively new invention created by Alfredo di Lelio in Rome in 1908. After giving birth to their son Armando, Chef di Lelio’s wife, Ines, was unable to keep down food, so he made pasta for her and created a triplo burro or triple butter sauce with parmesan cheesei. She loved the pasta and he added the dish, Fettuccine al burro, to his restaurant’s menu at her urging.ii In 1927, American silent screen actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were honeymooning in Rome, and they dined at Chef di Lelio’s restaurant on Via della Scrofa.2 They loved his Fettuccine al burro and brought the recipe back to the U.S. to serve their friends.2 As a token of their gratitude, the actors sent Chef di Lelio a solid gold fork and spoon engraved with the words, “to Alfredo the King of noodles,'' and a picture of them dining at his restaurant.2 The press wrote about “Alfredo’s fettuccine” and it became popular among the Hollywood elite.2 In America, Fettuccine Alfredo is made with heavy cream instead of the butter that is used in the Italian dish.1
The cream and parmesan cheese give the Alfredo sauce its rich, distinctive taste, but these ingredients are high in calories and fat. Fettuccine Alfredo has around 470 calories per 7 oz (200 grams) serving.iii Each serving contains 36.5 grams of fat, nearly 60% of which is saturated, 119 milligrams of cholesterol, 700 milligrams of sodium, which is mostly from the cheese, 13.4 grams of protein, and 23 grams of carbohydrates.3 The carbohydrates contain 0.6 grams of dietary fiber and 3.6 grams of sugars.3 Total fat, sodium, and protein are 118%, 29%, and 27%, respectively, of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recommended daily allowance.3
Although cooking the Alfredo sauce was fairly straightforward, it took a lot of trial and error to make the fettuccine noodles. My sister and I have always enjoyed cooking together, and she kindly agreed to help me with this project. I have incorporated the lessons we learned into the recipe so it should be a smooth process, even for novice pasta chefs. The discussion below gives the details of our troubleshooting process. Semolina flour makes excellent pasta. However, semolina has more gluten than regular bread or cake flour, and we were surprised that the dough was dry and flaky when we first mixed it with the eggs. To solve this problem, we improvised and added a little olive oil and water, kneaded the dough, and repeated the process until we achieved the desired playdough-like texture. We discovered that adding a little oil helps make the dough stickier, but too much oil makes it rock-hard. It took us about an hour to get the dough just right, and our arms were tired from all of the kneading. The next challenge involved putting the dough through our old fashion hand cranked pasta machine. We first tried to put an entire piece of dough through the rollers, but it broke apart. We thought that the dough was too dry, but adding water did not help. We solved the problem by rolling the dough out into a quarter inch thick sheet before putting it through the pasta machine. We tried to use the pasta machine to cut the rolled dough into fettuccine noodles, but it stuck to the rollers. In hindsight, we should have tried adding flour to keep the dough from sticking, but rather than spending time trying to solve the problem, we decided to cut the noodles by hand. The sheets of dough were about a yard long and it was difficult to cut them in a straight line, so we folded them in half and used a ruler as a guide. Thinking back, since our long, metal ruler has fairly sharp edges, we could have used it to cut the noodles instead of a knife.
To complement the Homemade Fettuccine with Mushroom Alfredo Sauce, we decided to make a full Italian dinner with zucchini and potato soup, romaine lettuce salad with cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette, and lemon squares with ice cream for dessert. It took us about five hours to prepare all of the food. As we discussed in class, we opened a bottle of Chianti while we were cooking to make it a more authentic Italian experience.
"Mom's Pasta Sauce"
By: Elyse Toder
My love of pasta started when I was a baby. My mom told me that she started feeding me penne when I first learned to chew because the hole in the middle reduces the risk of choking, and she often recalls that I wolfed down a mountain of pasta that was bigger than my head when I was a toddler.
I grew up watching my mom cook. She always knows what food I am craving and adeptly whips up Western and Chinese delicacies at a moment’s notice. My favorite dish has always been pasta with her homemade tomato sauce. The tangy chunks of stewed tomatoes, sautéed slices of trumpet mushrooms, sweet onions, basil, and earthy rosemary are all tied together with a healthy dose of aromatic garlic and a hint of spice from fresh chili peppers to create a heavenly combination. She told me she learned how to make the sauce from an Italian friend when she was in college. It is the one dish I have always wanted to learn how to make, and I finally got the opportunity during the summer after I graduated from high school.
My mom has a sixth sense when it comes to cooking and asking her how she makes a dish is like speaking to her in a foreign language. When I asked her how much of each ingredient to add, she would give me vague answers like “a pinch,” “a handful,” “a bit.” What was I supposed to do with that information? What if my pinch is bigger than hers? I would then ask her, “so...is it like a teaspoon?” And she would reply with a hesitant, “uh...yeah”.
When I was growing up, my schedule was packed. I always had homework, or a test to study for, or some after school activity. I did not have much time to just sit down, relax, and think about life. But I always tried to find time to cook dinner with my mom. It was my break time, and our bonding time. Although the kitchen was filled with the noise of clattering pans and the nightly news on the television, we always found a way to talk about anything that came to our heads.
If I was having a tough day at school, my mom would remind me to do my best so that I would have no regrets. If I fail, I should learn from my mistakes and find a better way the next time. She told me stories about her childhood and how through determination and hard work, I would be able to achieve anything I put my mind to. She always gave me guidance, even when I didn’t think I needed it, and, most importantly, she reminded me to be happy and grateful for what I have. These small life lessons which my mom wove into our conversations as we argued about ingredients and cooking methods have stuck with me.
When I am away from my family and I am facing a difficult decision, I often make pasta with my mom’s famous tomato sauce to help me remember the lessons she taught me. The aroma brings back the memories of our conversations and how we squabbled over the details of the recipe. It brings me back home.