# MY Spaghetti Sauce



## Termy (Jul 17, 2021)

I cannot call this a recipe because I can't nail down all the amounts etc. 

Even so, I figure a nice pot of sauce worth even making is about 48oz. sauce, canned but a good brand, Cento or whatever with NO SUGAR. long with that goes almost as much canned whole tomatoes, and as you put them in you cut them in half. But all that comes later. 

First, in a small pot put water. Then take dried rosemary and fennel seeds and make a bag for them out of a coffee filter. Boil until the water get dark. Retain bag for future use, they work several times. It method keeps those ungrindable, unchewable, get stuck in your teethable little stems out of the sauce. The fennel seeds are  not as bad but just stick them in there. 

Once that is ready, you have been cutting up onion and garlic, at least a whole one each and have put them in the food processor, they go in that rosemary tea. They cook as you prepare the spices. Now for the batch size I said, the spices are;

1 tbsp.+1 tsp. Oregano
1 tbsp.+1 tsp. Basil
1 tbsp.+1 tsp. Thyme
1 tbsp.+1 tsp. Celery seed
2 tsp Cayenne ground (or lil bit mo...>:->)

Once all that is in, it is time to make the meatballs. 

Of course you need everything there, meat, egg(s), breadcrumbs without sugar, Little bit mozzerella and romano. 

Process up another, wait, what scale are we on ? If you like the meatballs you'll love having extras, so.. With all the ingredients, one meatball is approximately one ounce. They can be bigger but this is a nice size, want more take another. 

So a "pound" of ground meat makes 16. Our pounds are a bit big here. Probably closer to ½kg. 

So that warrants ½ a big onion and ½ a garlic. 

First mix all the dry stuff up with the meat. Onion, garlic, cheeses, (to taste) everything but the egg and the breadcrumbs. For a whole pound two eggs is warranted. So then after that is mixed in and thoroughly all over you you start adding breadcrumbs until it reaches the consistency you want - have to make spheres, remember ? 

Once that is done it goes into a fry pan and is fried, or some people put them in the oven but I am not sure it works as well. 

Then the sausage, hot or mild, please no sweet. The best one around her I found was Lou's, it comes in package with four links, longer than a CD width but not, well almost a 45 record, they called them 7" and that sounds close. So since i got 16 balls, I cut each link into ¼ths. Now I got 16 and 16. Fry up sausage and throw in, cook a couple more hours. 

In fact, on cooking; With or without meat this stuff will scum up because of the tomatoes. Leave it for a time. Let some grease come up and make it dark and one piece that comes right out BUT LEAVE THE GREASE and in fact stir it in. 

If it is not thick enough leave the lid off. 

Sometimes I have added pieces of pork, (8, or 12, or...) but have not lately, didn't feel like it. And I am sick of pork loin. Y'know, complain about meat that has too coarse a grain, and then get this you will be sorry what you asked for. I used to put in western style ribs, which I think is/was shoulder. They had them boneless or not. Haven't seen them in a while 

Anyway, probably a good time to start the rest, salad, garlic bread, and the spaghetti. Now this is kinda important. When you make the pasta it will still be full of water. You put it on the plate looks nice and dry and when the sauce goes on there is a bunch of water at the bottom of the plate. That is because the weight of the water squoze out the moisture in the  pasta. So what many do is to bake the pasta after it is done. 

Licensing: License has a rule that the first time this sauce is eaten when first made, that it will be eaten with spaghetti, though linguini or angel hair is fine. This only applies to the first time. 

T


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## gerardj (Jul 17, 2021)

meatballs made with 50% ground veal makes a tender version, all beef is too rubbery for me. You ever tried veal ?


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jul 17, 2021)

Another option for cooking the pasta, and one that use, is to add another 1 1/2 cups of water to the sauce, and add the pasta to the watery sauce. The pasta hydrates by absorbing the excess water, and at the same time, releasing starch into the sauce, which makes it adhere to the sauce, and thickens it more, for a very rich, and tasty pasta with marinara, and meatballs.

I also use tomato puree, and both chopped, and crushed tomato, as they are unseasoned, allowing me to flavor the sauce the way I prefer, and not with the flavorings added to canned tomato sauce.

I like your recipe though.  It looks close to my own, but with minor changes.

Seeeeya; Chuef Longwind of the North


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## skilletlicker (Jul 17, 2021)

gerardj said:


> meatballs made with 50% ground veal makes a tender version, all beef is too rubbery for me. You ever tried veal ?



On July 15 Helen Rennie posted a Q&A YouTube video. 25:56 minutes in, related to a meatball question she mentions using gelatin as an alternative to veal to prevent "rubbery meatballs."

I haven't tried this yet or even heard of it until two days ago but thought it worth mentioning here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpFhaLgSITg


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## GotGarlic (Jul 18, 2021)

gerardj said:


> meatballs made with 50% ground veal makes a tender version, all beef is too rubbery for me. You ever tried veal ?


Veal is very expensive and hard to find. I use 1 pound of ground beef and 1/2 pound of ground pork and the meatballs are nice and tender.


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## dragnlaw (Jul 18, 2021)

Whether for meatballs or meatloaf - milk soaked bread works for me - lightest and fluffiest ever!


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## Termy (Sep 3, 2021)

"Another option for cooking the pasta, and one that use, is to add  another 1 1/2 cups of water to the sauce, and add the pasta to the  watery sauce"

I don't like that idea. In fact the sauce and pasta are still separate when they hit my plate. I don't mix it all up. Sometimes I have dry pasta with a piece of sausage or whatever. Other times (forkfulls) I drown the noodles. 

T


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## bethzaring (Sep 3, 2021)

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> Another option for cooking the pasta, and one that use, is to *add another 1 1/2 cups of water to the sauce, and add the pasta to the watery sauce. The pasta hydrates by absorbing the excess water, and at the same time, releasing starch into the sauce, which makes it adhere to the sauce, and thickens it more, for a very rich, and tasty pasta with marinara, and meatballs.*
> 
> I also use tomato puree, and both chopped, and crushed tomato, as they are unseasoned, allowing me to flavor the sauce the way I prefer, and not with the flavorings added to canned tomato sauce.
> 
> ...




This is the method I use to cook lasagna noodles.  I layer regular dry lasagna noodles to the layering process of making lasagna, add about 1 cup of water around the edges of the lasagna pan, cover and bake.  It works very well, and you don't mess with precooking the noodles.


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## bethzaring (Sep 3, 2021)

dragnlaw said:


> Whether for meatballs or meatloaf - milk soaked bread works for me - lightest and fluffiest ever!



that's what works for me too.


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## karadekoolaid (Sep 4, 2021)

OK - help me out here, as I´m a bit confused with US terminology sometimes and need to learn! Sauce, marinara, gravy... I get lost.
Your first line says "spaghetti sauce", but the recipe is for meatballs.
You also mention Cheddar cheese - do you put that into your meatballs?
How does the flavour of the celery seeds come through? They´re pretty intense.
Thanks again.


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 4, 2021)

Don't feel confused, kara, sometimes we confuse ourselves.

"Sauce" is a generic term. It can mean a meat sauce, vodka, Bolognese - very general until you name the specific kind. Marinara is a thin tomato based sauce with subtle herb seasoning. "Gravy" refers to Sunday Gravy, the name given to spaghetti sauce by natives in and around Boston, MA. Then again, "Bostonian" can sometimes be its own language...


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## dragnlaw (Sep 4, 2021)

Got me on that one too CG. To me the only translation for 'gravy' is a meat 'sauce'.


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## GotGarlic (Sep 4, 2021)

Cooking Goddess said:


> Don't feel confused, kara, sometimes we confuse ourselves.
> 
> "Sauce" is a generic term. It can mean a meat sauce, vodka, Bolognese - very general until you name the specific kind. Marinara is a thin tomato based sauce with subtle herb seasoning. "Gravy" refers to Sunday Gravy, the name given to spaghetti sauce by natives in and around Boston, MA. Then again, "Bostonian" can sometimes be its own language...


I thought Sunday gravy was the tomato sauce that cooked all day (traditionally started Sunday morning and left to simmer while everyone went to church) with sausage and meatballs in it. Italians in New Jersey call it that.


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 4, 2021)

I thought that's what I said? Sometimes what sounds good in my head doesn't come out of my fingers.  [emoji1]


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## skilletlicker (Sep 4, 2021)

*Google Spaghetti and Gravy*

A few pictures in this link aren't red. But then there are always a few that can't grasp the concept.


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## GotGarlic (Sep 4, 2021)

Well, to me, Sunday gravy and spaghetti sauce aren't the same thing


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## GotGarlic (Sep 4, 2021)

skilletlicker said:


> A few pictures in this link aren't red. But then there are always a few that can't grasp the concept.


Sometimes I *really* wish I had a lot of people to cook for


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## karadekoolaid (Sep 4, 2021)

skilletlicker said:


> A few pictures in this link aren't red. But then there are always a few that can't grasp the concept.



Aha - gravy in the UK is a brown sauce made from what´s left in the roasting tin after making roast beef, or lamb, or chicken. It´s usually thickened with a flour mix, or a bit of cornstarch. Or sometimes, just straight out of a packet !


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Sep 4, 2021)

I've come to understand:

Sunday Gravy is A Boston/East coast term.    We just called it spaghetti sauce.

Ragu is basically a Marinara with ground meat, usually ground beef where I grew up, browned, and left in small chunks

Spaghetti Sauce is the same as ragu, except it can contain meatballs, or sausages instead of ground beef, and can be a smooth tomato based sauce, seasoned usually with oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, and onion, and other herbs and spices, depending on th cook..  It can have chunky tomato, or pureed, or crushed tomato, and any added veggies are left in small chunks.  Mushrooms are often added, and sometimes sweet bell peppers.  It can be served separately from the pasta noodles, or mixed in prior to serving.

Bolognaise Sauce is similar to a ragu, but with a béchamel, and cream added, along with carrot, and chunks of meat, rather than ground meat.

Gravy, where I grew up meant a thick, brown sauce made with a brown roux, and thinned with beef stock, or broth, or other meat broth.  What I grew up thinking of as gravy, is actually either an Espagnole, or volute', unless it's pan gravy made from the drippings of what was cooked in the pan, i.e. sausage gravy, Swiss steak, chicken fried stake, chicken gravy, etc.

It truly gets complicated when sauces become mops, or soup base, bone broth, consume', mole', etc. And this doesn't even start to address different versions from other parts of the world.

Sauce is truly a generic term that can be anything from a mother, or daughter sauce, to Sunday Gravy, to cheese sauce, to Sriracha, or any of the commercially available hot sauces.  A sauce can be thin and watery, to almost thick enough to stand up a spoon.

You know that liquid that surrounds a good pot of baked beans, or the pasty tomato coating on many pizzas, they are sauces too.  Put together mustard and honey, and you have a classic BBQ sauce.  Salad dressing (Miracle Whip), and horseradish gives you horseradish sauce.  I could go on for pages.  I think you get the idea.  I hope this has been helpful.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## GotGarlic (Sep 4, 2021)

karadekoolaid said:


> Aha - gravy in the UK is a brown sauce made from what´s left in the roasting tin after making roast beef, or lamb, or chicken. It´s usually thickened with a flour mix, or a bit of cornstarch. Or sometimes, just straight out of a packet !


It's the same in most of the United States. Italian Americans in the northeast call it Sunday gravy, sometimes gravy for short.


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## msmofet (Sep 4, 2021)

GotGarlic said:


> I thought Sunday gravy was the tomato sauce that cooked all day (traditionally started Sunday morning and left to simmer while everyone went to church) with sausage and meatballs in it. Italians in New Jersey call it that.





GotGarlic said:


> It's the same in most of the United States. Italian Americans in the northeast call it Sunday gravy, sometimes gravy for short.


 +1!


That's what my Italian New Jersey mom and aunts did every Sunday. Gravy bread was a treat while waiting for dinner to be served. Put some bread on a plate and top with gravy and grated cheese.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Sep 5, 2021)

If you go into a grocery store in any predominately Italian location anywhere in this country you will find prepared meatball mix, which is 2 parts ground beef, one part ground pork and one part ground veal. Where I live I need to buy the ground beef, pork and veal separately and combine it my own damn self, add fresh, not dry, bread crumbs, eggs, sautéd onions, and various herbs and spices, roll the mixture into balls about the size of a pool ball, and bake them in the oven. Now days I cook them in the air fryer.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Sep 5, 2021)

GotGarlic said:


> It's the same in most of the United States. Italian Americans in the northeast call it Sunday gravy, sometimes gravy for short.


If it's just the sauce it is called Sunday sauce. If it contains meat, it is called Sunday gravy. Trust me, I'm Sicilian, born and raised in Western New York. I know these things!


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## dragnlaw (Sep 5, 2021)

So in other words,_ sauce_ is any food in liquid form, either thick or thin, that is used on/over/stirred/mixed into, other foods.

If served alone in a fairly thin consistency it is called _soup_.


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## jennyema (Sep 5, 2021)

That’s A LOT of celery seed …


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