Fettuccine Alfredo

Fettuccine Alfredo is properly an à la minute service. All the tricks for stabilizing the sauce ( box mix from Colloids 'R' Us, flour, Parmigen flakes in a bag ) yield a fragrant wallpaper paste, but don't do justice to the real thing. As is the norm for simple recipes, buy the good stuff and work quickly. You can't hide behind a long list of ingredients. Since Fettuccine Alfredo is very rich, and sets rather quickly, its best position is as a quick lunch, appetizer, or as a primi piatti. Have your mise en place ready. If you have to hunt for the nutmeg, the dish will go south and you'll get sent back to the dishroom.

• Prep: Bring your pasta water up to heat and salt it. Grate or shave 1½ oz Parmigiano-Reggiano per four servings.(¾ cup) Reduce 1 cup heavy cream or manufacturing cream ( again per 4 servings ) to 2/3 cup.
• Service: Put a ladle's worth of boiling water into the serving bowls. Drop 9 oz fresh fettuccine. Put 2/3 cup reduced cream, 1/2 cup fresh cream, two twists black pepper, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, a pinch of kosher, and bring to heat. When the fettuccine floats, add it to the pan along with the ¾ cup cheese and 1/8 t of nutmeg (notes). Simmer and toss until cheese incorporates, thin with ¼ cup pasta water, toss some more. Empty water from bowls (should be hot) divide pasta, and get it over the rail.
• Notes: Nutmeg should be fresh. Use a nutmeg nut and grater. More is not better. Nutmeg is a strong spice, so balanced is better. On cream; reduced cream has a velvet mouthfeel, but tastes rather blah. The addition of the fresh cream remedies this. Adding the pasta water yields an initially thin sauce, but the starch in it will thicken by the time you get it to the table. It adds a bit of flavor, and gives you a bit more time to work with. The same thing goes for preheating the bowls with boiling water. Don't monkey around with measuring cups or one size fits all, get the correct size ladle, get the correct amount to the pan, and get on with it.