Tetrazzini is an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

dish made with diced

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

in a

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

and

cheese sauce Cheese sauce is a sauce made with cheese or processed cheese as a primary ingredient. Sometimes dried cheese or cheese powder is used. Several varieties exist and it has many various culinary uses. Mass-produced commercial cheese sauces are als ...

flavored with

sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without undergoing the process of Maceration (wine), maceration, which involves prolonged contact between the juice with the grape skins, seeds, and pulp. The wine color, colou ...

. Some recipes use a bechamel sauce, mornay sauce or condensed cream soup. It is combined with or served over

linguine Linguine (, ; English: ; sometimes anglicized as linguini) is a type of Italian pasta similar to fettuccine and trenette, but elliptical in section rather than flat. It is about in width, which is wider than spaghetti, but not as wide as fettu ...

spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Una ...

egg noodles Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures and made into a variety of shapes. The most common noo ...

, or other types of

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...

, sometimes topped with

breadcrumbs Breadcrumbs are a culinary ingredient consisting of flour or crumbled bread of varying dryness, sometimes with seasonings added. They are used for a variety of purposes, including breading or crumbing foods before frying (such as breaded cutlet ...

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

, and garnished with

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalisation (biology), naturalized in Eur ...

basil Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...

History

The dish is named after the Italian

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

star

Luisa Tetrazzini Luisa Tetrazzini (29 June 1871 – 28 April 1940) was an Italian coloratura soprano of great international fame. Tetrazzini "had a scintillating voice with a brilliant timbre and a range and agility well beyond the norm...". She enjoyed a ...

. The origins of tetrazzini are widely disputed. Some accounts ascribe tetrazzini as a creation of

Auguste Escoffier Georges Auguste Escoffier (; 28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur, and culinary writer who popularised and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-A ...

. Other sources claim tetrazzini to be invented in the early 1900s by Ernest Arbogast, the chef at the Palace Hotel in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where Luisa Tetrazzini made her American debut at the Tivoli as Gilda in ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

'' on January 11, 1905. However, other sources attribute the origin to the Knickerbocker Hotel in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 1950s through the 1980s, upscale New York City restaurants including Mamma Leone's and

Sardi's Sardi's is a continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York City. Sardi's opened at its current location on March 5, 1927. It is known for the caric ...

featured tetrazzini on the menu. The Sardi's tetrazzini recipe was featured in

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor. He was known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price ...

's cookbook ''A Treasury of Great Recipes'', and mentioned in the Sue Kaufman novel ''Diary of a Mad Housewife''. Tetrazzini frozen dinners were popular in the 1960s, as noted by

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. Didio ...

in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'' article "The Big Rock Candy Figgy Pudding Pitfall". 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 the period TV drama ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'' that is mostly set in the 1960s. The ''Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook'', a collection of vintage recipes, featured dishes cited in the TV series. It included recipes drawn from various popular mid-century restaurants and cookbooks, including a tetrazzini recipe originally published in

Betty Crocker Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954, Gener ...

's ''Hostess Cookbook''. In the 1960s, southern restaurants and

Junior League The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

cookbooks began featuring versions of tetrazzini (referred to as chicken spaghetti in parts of the American South). In the 1960s, the famed Piccadilly Cafeteria in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

introduced chicken tetrazzini to the menu, and it remains a customer favorite decades later. Foster's Market in Durham,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, 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 Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the Southern United States, American South from the cuisines of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, sou ...

classics. Tetrazzini, 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. Clips from the episode were featured on the E! channel show ''

The Soup ''The Soup'' is an American television series that aired weekly on E! from July 1, 2004, until December 18, 2015, as a revamped version of ''Talk Soup'' that focused on recaps of various popular culture and television moments of the week. Th ...

'' 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.

References

{{reflist Casserole dishes Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area Cuisine of New York City Foods featuring butter American pasta dishes Cheese dishes Mushroom dishes American poultry dishes American seafood dishes Soul food Cuisine of the Southern United States Italian-American cuisine Louisiana Creole cuisine Californian cuisine

History

See also

References