ISO Help in Making an Olive Garden Garlic Alfredo Clone!

[Bacardi]

I hate to admit this, but my wife has benchmarked the OGs garlic alfredo sauce. We have been experiementing and can't seem to even come close.

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

If anyone has any ideas we love to hear 'em!

 

[jet]

I use fat-free cream cheese, low-fat mozzarella, white wine and a little bit of olive oil as the base for my "Alfredo".

The Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce uses milk and heavy cream for the base, with the cheese and egg yolks added later. I have never made it this way, so I am not sure if light whipping cream could be substituted.

 

[Bacardi]

Thanks for the post...Wow, I can't believe that's on the company website! I never fathomed that as an option...

 

[Andy M.]

Lots of restaurants post a selection of thier recipes. I have also had luck emailing restaurant HQ and asking for a recipe.

If you're looking for a recipe from a chain restaurant, that's always a good first stop.

 

[GB]

If I am not mistaken, heavy cream and whipping cream are the same thing.

 

[jet]

If I am not mistaken, heavy cream and whipping cream are the same thing.

Per Wikipedia:
Whipping or light whipping cream (30–36% fat)
Heavy whipping cream (36% or more)

Types of cream

 

[GB]

There are regional differences. Where I live heavy and whipping cream are the same and there is no such thing as heavy whipping cream.

 

[suziquzie]

all our cream says "heavy whipping cream"
I figure either way the recipe reads I'm somehow buying the right thing!

 

[Maverick2272]

Here we have light and heavy whipping cream. Anyone here ever substituted half and half when it calls for cream?

 

[suziquzie]

I use half and half when it calls for light cream, I've never seen any here. Just the heavy whipping or half and half.

 

[Bacardi]

I doubt the minimal fat difference will effect things. A note, I've been to an Olive Garden in Central Maine, one in South Florida and everywhere inbetween on the eastern seaboard. They are all heavy in garlic, yet company website doesn't list garlic. If you guys care to take a stab, how much garlic do you think I should add? Also what type, pressed fresh or powdered?

Thanks again.

 

[Andy M.]

Use 2-3 cloves fresh.

 

[pdswife]

If it was me.. those would be large cloves. Yummy!

 

[GotGarlic]

The recipe also says imported Parmesan and Romano cheeses - using domestic will make a difference in the taste.

 

[Jeekinz]

OMG! You guys live under rocks! LOL j/k

Heavy, Light, Heavy Whipping, Light Whipping, Half/Half are all readily available here.

Sometime a recipe calls for heavy cream and it is waaaay to rich, I'll sub half/half or light cream for that.

Try using roasted garlic.

 

[Bacardi]

GotGarlic...I did see the import. As you probably know, parmigiano reggiano (pr) parm is considered the very best. All pr is imported, but if you hear imported, it doesn't mean it's PR. The egg yolks sounds really weird to me.

Jeekinz, I joined the Air Force to see the world and am currently stationed in middle GA where there's no such thing as heavy cream. Go figure, lol.

 

[kitchenelf]

Is there whipping cream???? Use whipping cream and some half and half. Even if you just use half and half and let it reduce - it will still be good. You have to add some butter too.

They key is enough flavor i.e., salt, pepper, cheese.......

The eggs give it a richness that you won't get without them.

 

[Maverick2272]

Boy Howdy is there ever a difference in the cheeses! Even between quality domestic brands and the mass produced stuff. Imports just step up from there, and keep stepping up.
DW and I got the chance to to a taste test, and we selected Parmesan as the item to test. We purchased four different ones: ALDI's Wisconsin brick Parmesan which is supposed to be a step up from their regular brick, Whole Foods Wisconsin Brick (labeled as a high quality cheese, recommended by the fellow working that department, and the most expensive of the Wisconsin Parmesans), Whole Foods Imported European Brick, and Whole Foods Italian Brick.
Those are ordered according to price, cheapest to most expensive. And ALDI or Whole Foods are not their brand but where we bought them. All were small 1/2lb bricks as that is all we could afford... and barely at that! I liked the Imported European over the Imported Italian myself, ALDI wasn't even close.
Think of it like this: Eat a slice of quality brick cheese then eat some cheese food slices made with oil not milk. You get the picture...
On a day to day regular basis I would probably buy the Wisconsin Parmesan from Whole Foods at $4.45 for the 1/2lb, and the Imported European for special occasions at $9.87 for the 1/2lb.
I will of course look around for other places that may carry the same quality stuff at lower prices. I would be happy to hear from others on what they think of the prices.
We also got the chance to try Water Buffalo Mozzarella and WOW. We made the 'traditional' Italian Pizza using flatbread, tomato slices, the WB Mozzerella slices, and plenty of fresh green basil.
All this to basically say, yes use the best quality cheeses you can afford in your Alfredo sauce, and I also advocate the fresh garlic.

 

[Andy M.]

Mav, was the cheese from Italy Parmigiano Reggiano or another type of parm?

 

[Maverick2272]

The cheese was not PR... that is still all confusing me so I just tested out some I guess what you would call regular Parmesan cheese? I wish I had kept the labels, but I remember on the front it said "Imported Italian Parmesan Cheese', most everything else was in Italian LOL. The cheese counter guy helped us pick it out. I explained what I was trying to do, he recommended the cheeses.
This week, on our weekly outings we are planning on sifting thru what they have and picking up some good quality genuine PR cheese.
The fellows at the cheese counter are very knowledgeable and helpful. He was quick to point out the only cheese there that was actual water buffalo mozzarella, as the rest was from cows milk. Looked the same, so I was glad he pointed it out.