ISO Help in Making an Olive Garden Garlic Alfredo Clone!

[Bacardi]

Wanted to add, I tried the OG's site recipe of no garlic and an egg and it was awful, lol. Randomly was at a bar and spoke to someone who claimed to be a cook at the OG. He told me how they make Alfredo sauce. Says it starts in a double boiler, butter goes in and once melted the garlic is added and not allowed to brown. Next comes the whipping cream and a package of powder, which is mostly corn starch with white pepper and salt. They then wait for it to reach 185f, then they vigorously whisk a package of pregrated cheese, he said he assumed it was 100% parm but didn't know for sure. Then it's done. He said everything except the cream and garlic is already segmented for he didn't know the exact measurements. For that reason, I have not yet tried it, but it does sound promising. Just need to find some correct measurements for two servings. :)

[kitchenelf]

Unless you have that package of "powder" it's not going to turn out. I would imagine there may be some powdered milk and other seasonings/preservatives in there too. That also may be where your garlic is hiding!!!!

Make it from scratch - too many recipes, so little time. With our without the eggs. All that is really needed is butter, some sort of cream, garlic, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Reduce, reduce, reduce. It will thicken a bit as it cools too and the amount of Parmesan can determine thickness also.


The end.

[babetoo]

went to companies site, wow how fun. may give this a try.

babe

[Bacardi]

So get this...We started making it the way I described in post #21, minus the "powder"...Also, learned to microplane the garlic vs pressing it for more consistent flavor vs random bursts of garlic flavor. Comes out awesome and pretty close to OG when using either 100% PR or 50/50 PR and imported Romano...One day the wife wanted to get PR but it was sold out. She remembered hearing an OG ad saying "our new aseigo alfredo" and picked up some aseigo. We first tried 50/50 Romano and aseigo and thought it was better than the PR. We then did 100% aseigo and wow, it's absolutely incredible! It's full of CHEESE flavor...It's significantly less, reserved or complex than the PR...We like the aseigo better which is nice as it's two thirds less than the PR...

[Constance]

Originally Posted by Bacardi

One potential problem, we live in GA, we can't seem to find heavy cream, yet whipping cream exists.

Whipping cream will be fine. That's what they call it around here. I'm not sure its not the same thing.

Google Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce or Olive Garden Recipes...maybe you'll find it there.

[LadyCook61]

The store I frequent sells Light cream, heavy cream and whipping cream.

[AllenOK]

Originally Posted by Bacardi

Wanted to add, I tried the OG's site recipe of no garlic and an egg and it was awful, lol. Randomly was at a bar and spoke to someone who claimed to be a cook at the OG. He told me how they make Alfredo sauce. Says it starts in a double boiler, butter goes in and once melted the garlic is added and not allowed to brown. Next comes the whipping cream and a package of powder, which is mostly corn starch with white pepper and salt. They then wait for it to reach 185f, then they vigorously whisk a package of pregrated cheese, he said he assumed it was 100% parm but didn't know for sure. Then it's done. He said everything except the cream and garlic is already segmented for he didn't know the exact measurements. For that reason, I have not yet tried it, but it does sound promising. Just need to find some correct measurements for two servings. :)

I mentioned in your other thread about "consistency". What you have described here is how a large multi-outlet restaurant chain maintains "consistency" between their individual outlets and even between individual cooks withing the same restaurant. This is to ensure that OG's alfredo tastes the same there in GA, as well as here in OK, and every other state they operate in.

I agree that there is probably more in that packet of "powder" than cornstarch, salt and pepper. Probably other powdered food stabilizers, like carageenan, xantham gum, etc., that help an unstable sauce like alfredo hold together when it's held hot in on a steam table (get it to hot, and it will break).

If you liked the asiago cheese, I say, go for it and use that instead! Asiago tastes a little stronger, and it melts easier, as Asiago is a softer cheese than PR. Where I work, we use Asiago with heavy cream for out Au Gratin potatoes. Yummy!

I would recommend looking at the cartons of cream. Get the one with the highest fat content. This will help emulsify the sauce and melt the cheese. I've made cheese sauces with half-and-half, as well as milk, where I had to use lots of roux in each one, and the cheese didn't melt smooth, but came out grainy. If I use heavy cream, I have to use very little, if any, roux to tighten/stabilize the sauce, and the cheese ALWAYS melts smooth.

[Bacardi]

Thanks Allen!

Originally Posted by Constance

Google Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce or Olive Garden Recipes...maybe you'll find it there.

Tried it...There were 1000s of recipes, most were either garlic-less basic alfredo, others had weird ingredients including yogurt, cream cheese or egg.

As I said in this and another thread, I found a recipe I'm truly happy with...Fresh, microplaned garlic and aesigo cheese make the bold sauce I'm looking for.