The return of penne alla vodka, there's no escaping the Eighties

"What makes Penne Alla Vodka so delicious? It's all in the sauce," headlines the New York Times. Then, a playful documentary investigates the origins and anecdotes of the dish starting with how they were a staple at the end of 1970s disco nights. The recipe became an icon of the fashionable cuisine of the time. Having fallen into oblivion, with a hint of snobbery, penne alla vodka have fallen out of fashion and forgotten in their homeland. But not in the US, where they are making a big comeback.

The exact origin of the creamy vodka sauce is uncertain, but its historical imprint is bold, spicy and ubiquitous. Especially overseas. The recipe gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s but the all-American passion for the tradition of the Italian table runs deep and brings back recipes that are often looked down upon at home.

The origins of penne alla vodka

Some claim that the birthplace of the dish as we know it now (tomato passata, heavy cream and vodka) was the Dante restaurant in Bologna in the 1980s. Others claim it was the Orsini's in New York. But one of the earliest written records of vodka added to spicy tomato pasta is in Ugo Tognazzi's cookbook and memoir, L'Abbuffone published in 1974. A versatile actor and skilful cook, Tognazzi hosted convivial dinners for years at his villa in Velletri, welcoming relatives, colleagues and friends, whom he entertained with the flair of a gastronome and great host. For his dinners, now legendary, he drew heavily from the huge refrigerator towering in the kitchen, considered the 'family chapel'. In addition to his passion for cooking and convivial dining, the book began as a diary of his experience on the set of Marco Ferreri's film 'La grande bouffe' where he starred along with Michel Piccoli, Marcello Mastroianni and Philippe Noiret. The book alternates youthful memories, happy and melancholic anecdotes from set, and recipes. One of these, the 'pasta all'infuriata,' is a pasta all'arrabbiata with a tinge of Polish chilli-infused vodka. This first mention of vodka in a tomato sauce sparked the curiosity of a young Italian-American filmmaker, already intrigued by the sauce's mysterious origins.

The documentary on penne alla vodka

Another contribution to the return of penne alla vodka is the tongue-in-cheek documentary by filmmaker Roberto Serrini, son of Italian immigrants in Queens called "Disco Sauce: The Unbelievable True Story of Penne Alla Vodka." The $250,000 documentary released in 2022 explores theories about the origin of the dish, from Ugo Tognazzi to Italian immigrants in the United States, and the chefs who celebrated the dish as a metaphor for society as a whole. "Penne Alla Vodka are America's dirty little secret," says Serrini. "You eat it with a hangover, or you pay $32 a plate at Carbone in the South Village in Manhattan. I decided to take a deep dive into what is lovingly called 'disco sauce' to discover the secret powers of the dish that like no other polarises the culinary world." To recreate the ultimate penne alla vodka, the filmmaker interviewed celebrity chefs, explored New York's best underground markets, had the sauce analysed by scientists, and even sourced illegal ingredients such as a Brooklyn craft vodka aptly called 'American Moonshine'. And then there is the heavy cream, which falls outside Tognazzi's recipe but is a fundamental pillar of the recipe. "While it's easy to get a weapon or weed here," says Serrini, "on the other hand, fresh cream made from raw milk is illegal, I had to turn to the dark web to score a pint." At the end of the documentary, the filmmaker thanks Tognazzi, quoting a passage from the actor's book: "Eating, no. I eat to live." And that, he concludes, is the meaning of life.