Tetrazzini is an Italian-American dish made with diced poultry or seafood and in a butter, cream or milk and cheese sauce flavored with sherry or white wine, and combined with linguine, spaghetti, egg noodles, or other types of pasta, sometimes topped with breadcrumbs or cheese, and garnished with parsley or basil.[1][2]
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Turkey_Tetrazzini.jpg/250px-Turkey_Tetrazzini.jpg)
The dish is named after the Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini.[3] The origins of tetrazzini are widely disputed. Some accounts ascribe tetrazzini as a creation of Auguste Escoffier.[2] Other sources claim tetrazzini to be invented in the early 1900s by Ernest Arbogast, the chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California, where Luisa Tetrazzini made her American debut at the Tivoli as Gilda in Rigoletto on January 11, 1905.[4] However, other sources attribute the origin to the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City.[5][6]
In 1950s through the 1980s, upscale New York City restaurants including Mamma Leone's and Sardi's featured tetrazzini on the menu.[7][8][9] The Sardi's tetrazzini recipe was featured in Vincent Price's cookbook A Treasury of Great Recipes, and mentioned in the Sue Kaufman novel Diary of a Mad Housewife.[10][11] Tetrazzini frozen dinners were popular in the 1960s, as noted by Joan Didion in The Saturday Evening Post article "The Big Rock Candy Figgy Pudding Pitfall".[12] Recipes for tetrazzini, both from-scratch and using convenience ingredients, were popular in the 1950s and 1960s, and the dish was featured in an episode of Mad Men.[13] The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook, a collection of vintage recipes featuring dishes featured in the run of the show. The cookbook included recipes drawn from various popular mid-century restaurants and cookbooks, including a recipe for tetrazzini originally published in Betty Crocker's Hostess Cookbook.[14][15] In the 1960s, southern restaurants and Junior League cookbooks began featuring versions of tetrazzini (often referred to as chicken spaghetti throughout the south).[16][17][18] In the 1960s, the famed Piccadilly Cafeteria in Baton Rouge introduced chicken tetrazzini to the menu, and it remains a customer favorite decades later.[19] Foster's Market in Durham, North Carolina, introduced chicken spaghetti to their in-house dining and catering menus in the 1980s, with their version based upon the chicken spaghetti recipe featured in the Baton Rouge Junior League cookbook River Road Recipes. In the 1990s, tetrazzini and chicken spaghetti emerged as soul food classics.[20][21]
In 21st century pop culture
editTetrazzini, specifically chicken tetrazzini, became an Internet meme after a woman on Maury accuses her friend of seducing her boyfriend by preparing his favorite meal, chicken tetrazzini.[22][23] Clips from the episode were featured on the E! channel show, The Soup, in 2007. In 2020, Vice magazine food editor Farideh Sadeghin prepared chicken tetrazzini for their Munchies series, referencing the Maury episode as her inspiration for the dish.[24]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Turkey Tetrazzini | Cook's Illustrated Recipe". www.americastestkitchen.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ a b "Turkey Tetrazzini". Saveur. March 18, 2019. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ Gold, Amanda (May 31, 2009). "Bay Area stars freshening up 5 classic dishes". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
- ^ Gattey, Charles Neilson (1995). Luisa Tetrazzini: The Florentine Nightingale. United Kingdom: Scolar Press. pp. 41–44. ISBN 1859280102.
- ^ Niosi, Andrea (December 2004). "Chicken Tetrazzini". Foodreference. Archived from the original on June 16, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ^ Peters, Erica J. (2013). San Francisco: A Food Biography. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 177. ISBN 978-0759121539. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
The 'restaurant on forty-second' may refer to the Knickerbocker Hotel, then located on 42nd Street and Broadway.
- ^ Radio, Southern California Public (October 1, 2015). "Vincent Price's very Off-Rampy cookbook, 'A Treasury of Great Recipes,' is back!". Southern California Public Radio. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ "Mama Leone's Chicken Tetrazzini". labellecuisine.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ "Sardis – Restaurant". Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ "Recipes". Vincent Price. Archived from the original on January 21, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ "Sue Kaufman". Jewish Women's Archive. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ McGowan, Bob; says, Jr (December 4, 2018). "The Big Rock Candy Figgy Pudding Pitfall". The Saturday Evening Post. Archived from the original on October 25, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ Webley, Kayla (July 22, 2010). "Casserole | Top 10 Things We Miss About the Mad Men Era". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on May 18, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ Bonacci, Jane (January 27, 2012). "Book Review and 5 Recipes from The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook for Festive Friday! • The Heritage Cook ®". The Heritage Cook ®. Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ Rama, Padmananda (March 25, 2012). "The Mad World Of 'Mad Men' Food". NPR. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ "Chicken a la Creole Spaghetti". Chicken a la Creole Spaghetti. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ Sifton, Sam (September 29, 2016). "Chicken Tetrazzini, the Casserole Even Snobs Love". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ Llado, Melissa (May 1, 2023). "This Tuna Tetrazzini recipe is a healthier version of a classic dish. Using fresh tuna, cheeses, and cream...the whole family will love this easy dinner recipe". Serendipity and Spice. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ "Piccadilly Cafeteria | Oral History". oralhistory.unt.edu. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ Necole, Shaunda (January 12, 2022). "Black Folks Southern Chicken Spaghetti". The Soul Food Pot. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ staysnatched (October 19, 2022). "Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti + {VIDEO}". Stay Snatched. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
- ^ "Chicken Tetrazzini". March 15, 2010.
- ^ "Video of the week: "Chicken TetraZZINI!"".
- ^ "Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe".