After reading through the reviews I decided to give this one a shot, and it came out wonderful. I made the following changes:
*added 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 2 cloves minced garlic and 2 tablespoons regular cream cheese
*used a full cup of fresh grated parmesan, no romano
*I whipped the egg with a little half-n-half and then added it a little at a time
Be sure to let the butter and cream simmer until it's a little thick, before proceeding. Also, simmver over low heat at the end and keep stirring it. I ended up with a highly delicious HEAVY alfredo sauce.
You can subtitute 2% milk for heavy cream, if you start with a roux of 1tbsp butter, 1tbsp flour. Good for reducing fat a bit, or if you realize at the last minute you don't have enough cream!
I liked this sauce, it had a nice, mild flavor. My guests felt it lacked something, even though I minced and sauteed garlic and added it in. Perhaps I would add a touch of garlic salt or garlic powder the next time. Salt & pepper are definitely in order for this recipe. Remember that anytime you are incorporating egg into a hot liquid, you need to take care that it doesn't immediately cook the egg so that you end up with tiny egg bits. Take a small amount of the hot cheese/cream sauce (1/4 cup or so) and put it in a bowl. Slowly add the egg yolk, stirring constantly. Once you've mixed the egg with that small bit of hot cream sauce, you can add it all back into the pan.
*** Update. Recently, I made this recipe and I used all parmesan cheese because that's what I had in the house. What I used was shredded parmesan, rather than the container of grated parmesan (you know it, we all have it in the house). What an amazing difference this made, the sauce was thick, rich, and amazing. I went right out and bought the ingredients to make it a few more times!
People need to remember that restaurant style Alfredo Sauce is NOT LIKE the bottled stuff! I had tried some homemade Alfredo Sauce recipes before this one, but none turned out as close to what I expected as this recipe did. First, the taste was absolutely scrumptious! I only used fresh grated parmesan cheese with no romano, as I did not have that on hand. I also grated about 2 cloves of garlic in, which made the sauce, in addition to a little dried parsley flakes for color and texture. I used half and half instead of cream, so I'm not sure how thick this would have turned out if I had used heavy cream. Because I like my Alfredo Sauce just a little thicker than standard restaurant style sauce, I don't know if this sauce was just a bit thinner than I'd like because I used half-n-half or if maybe I could do something else besides adding more parmesan, which is what I did this time to thicken it up a bit. Next time I'll use the parmesan and romano, real cream and I think I'll follow the advice given by several other reviewers by adding a tablespoon or two of whipped cream cheese - just to get the texture and thickness closer to what I want. Hands down, this is the best homemade Alfredo Sauce recipe I found.
I wish there were more than 5 stars! This is THE BEST alfredo I have EVER made. It is SO easy and SO SO rich. Every person I have served it to has begged me for the recipe. I do not use any romano. It is too strong. Instead I doubled the parmesan and even added a 1/4 cup more! Break up the egg and add it in a slow steady stream. I had no problems with the sauce being too thin. Boil the cream mixture for a few minutes stiring constantly until it thickens up before you add the cheese. Try try try!
I made this sauce one night for a dinner party. The next day I had to promise to send it out in emails to all that had it. It was a hit 7 times over. Very simple - Quick and easy to make.
Thanks for helping make my dinner something my friends are still raving about. :)
This is so darned easy to make its unbelievable. I'm a 19 year old male college student. If I can make it - you can. It works well if you use parmesan instead of the romano as well (just double the parmesan). Tastes good too!
How pleased I am to see this recipe online, for it is the 'EGG YOLK' that gives 'Alfredo Sauce' that 'something' that is always missing from other Alfredo Sauce recipes that do not incorporate them. In short, it is the 'EGG YOLK' that gives that 'restaurant' taste one is always looking for. I cook my Sauce a little differently, but in method only. I whip my egg yolks for a minute first, ('plural' becasue I always make a double or triple Alfredo recipe), then, once the cream and butter are hot enough, I pour that mixture into the egg yolks to temper them. Back onto the stove at the lowest heat possible, I immediately add the cheeses just to melt, and then pour the Sauce right over whatever noodles I'm using. Every single 'Alfredo Sacue' online that doesn't incorporate 'EGG YOLKS' cannot call itself a 'true' Alfredo and should, in my opinion, be thrown off the web! *lol* Because 'Alfredo' is such a basic egg/cream sauce, you can tweek it to your heart's content... a little garlic, a little tarragon, a little basil, rosemary, or thyme... whatever is floating your boat at the moment.
This sauce smells so good, I knew this recipe was a winner before I even tasted it! I added some cracked pepper, minced garlic and chopped Italian parsley and I was completely impressed with the flavor! My second time around, I added steamed broccoli and carrots - YUM. Thanks for sharing this one!!
I like the flavor. I followed the recipe to a T. Ive never understood how you can rate a recipe you changed before trying as written. Anyway, this one was good. No better or worse than any other I've had. The all taste about the same to me.
