This Is The Best Type Of Sauce To Pair With Fettuccine

When you hear "fettuccine pasta" the first thing to come to mind is fettuccine Alfredo most likely. There's a reason for this. According to the Food Network, flat ribbon-shaped pasta, such as fettuccine or linguine, is best enjoyed when served with Alfredo sauce, or a similar cream-based sauce. The cooking channel stressed that the sauce should be simple and very creamy sans any red meats — save that for spaghetti.

However, the same cannot be said for other flat ribbon-shaped noodles like pappardelle, which is a wider noodle and pairs nicely with those richer, meat-based sauces like bolognese or beef ragu. Fettuccine noodles are thinner and won't hold up against the heaviness of the other sauces. All of this to say, fettuccine and linguine are interchangeable but fettuccine and pappardelle are not. If you are craving protein, Food Network recommends topping the fettuccine Alfredo with "delicate seafood," like shrimp or scallops, for example.

Alfredo isn't the easiest sauce in the book. It requires a lot of patience, attention, and cheese. One delicious Alfredo sauce recipe calls for salted butter, heavy cream, nutmeg, pepper, Parmesan cheese, an egg, and red wine vinegar — and of course, you'll need cooked fettuccine noodles. Insider tip: the vinegar adds a splash of acidity that many Alfredo sauces don't have.

To get started, melt the butter into the cream in a large saucepan over low heat — it's a slow process and you want it to gradually thicken so all the flavors blend wonderfully. Once it's one mixture, add all seasonings, stir, and add cheese, but bring the heat up to medium. Using a spoon, slowly stir so the cheese and cream mix blend together. Continue this method until you've reached the desired thickness.

Eat Delights recommends refrigerating leftover Alfredo sauce in an airtight container, which will stay fresh for four to seven days. However, the outlet warns that it must be stored and put away within the first four hours because room-temperature Alfredo can start to grow bacteria as it uses cream and cheese-based ingredients.