Italians and their sauce/gravy
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athene-5 — 9 years ago(November 01, 2016 11:15 AM)
Sadly, I can't find it. I sort of do it by memory anyway. The key point is that it is a gravy, so you make it in the same pan after you brown the meat- meatballs, sausages, whatever.
Make meatballs or other meat-based Italian entree that needs to be browned first and brown in a pan with some oil and garlic. Remove to a platter; in the same pan, add in plum tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and more garlic and herbs. Simmer a long time. Finish the mealballs off in the oven, and when ready to serve, add to the pasta and sauce with the gravy. Not very helpful is it?
So- I found the recipe that Ferri posted some time ago that his Grandma makes and it's very similar, but much better detailed. Maybe Ferri will come into this discussion and talk to us about it. I've used it and it is as good or better than my friend's. It does take a while, though, but this is a great sauce for bucatini.
Grandma's Gravy Recipe
by ferri07501 5 hours ago (Tue Apr 30 2013 06:40:31)
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Athene asked for this the other day, so this is for you and anybody else on the Food board who would like to give it a try. It was passed down from my grandma, to my ma, and then to me. This is no sauce. Its not a marinara. There is meat and meat drippings galore in this thick, hearty, stick to your ribs gravy. Its quite a long post and process but if you have a day to kill and want to give it a try, I'm sure you'll enjoy.
Ingredients:
-4 cans peeled plum tomatoes in basil
-1 onion
-several cloves of garlic
-4 cans of tomato paste
-meatballs, sausage, braciole
-salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, basil, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes.
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-Belvedere Vodka, olive juice, chilled served up in a martini glass with some feta stuffed olives(This is optional of course but it makes all the hard work a bit more enjoyable)!!!
I use 2 pots for this, otherwise, 4 cans in one pot takes forever to cook down. Also, if youre into eating healthy, this aint the dish for you. The more grease you throw into this bad boy, the better!
-Heat olive oil in both large pots. Add some red pepper flakes. Cut the onion in half and after the oil is warm, place half in each pot. Let the onion cook in the oil until it browns moving it around the pot. Then take the onion out and throw away. We are just seasoning the oil with it.
-Brown the garlic in the oil
-Blend the 4 cans of tomatoes and strain out the seeds. Add 2 cans of blended tomatoes into each pot. Add in all your seasonings to taste and stir. Cook on high for 1 hour stirring occasionally.
-During this time, fry up your sausage and braciole in olive oil. When done frying, take out meat and scrape the bottom of the pan. Add half the oil and scrapings to each pot of tomatoes.
-After 1 hour, add sausage, paste, and water to each pot. 1 can of paste and 2 can fulls of water per can of tomatoes. So in this case, 2 cans of paste and 4 cans of water per pot. Add more seasonings and stir very well. Turn down heat to med and cook for 2 more hours.
-During this time I form and fry my meatballs. Again, after frying them up, I scrape the bottom of the pan and add the oil and scrapings to each pot.
-Stir occasionally during this time and when you do, make sure you scrape the bottom of each pot with your wooden spoon. This will break up anything forming at the bottom. After 2 hours, add your braciole and season one last time. Cook for 1 more hour.
-After an hour, turn the heat down to low and add your meatballs to each pot and finish cooking for about a half hour. DO NOT cook the gravy with the meatballs in there for more than a half hour or youll lose a lot of flavor from your meatballs.
If it gets too thick, add some water as you go. This makes a ton of gravy. Enough to freeze and have for several meals.
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DeltaHomicide — 9 years ago(November 01, 2016 06:53 AM)
I don't have a secret recipe, but I do have a sort of "hack" to make my tomato sauce have a thicker texture and deep spiciness. I take a half bag of spicy fried pork rinds, crush them up with a mallet or frying pan, and mix it into the sauce. In the U.S., you can find a bag of these at just about any convenience store:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.caloriecount.about.com/images/medium/baken-ets-hot-n-29022.jpg
Once in the sauce, they get soft and break down, blending nicely into the gravy. You may want to go easy on the salt when making your sauce, since the pork skins have plenty in them. -
leybadana — 9 years ago(November 01, 2016 04:57 PM)
I don't have a secret recipe, but I do have a sort of "hack" to make my tomato sauce have a thicker texture and deep spiciness. I take a half bag of spicy fried pork rinds, crush them up with a mallet or frying pan, and mix it into the sauce. In the U.S., you can find a bag of these at just about any convenience store:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.caloriecount.about.com/images/medium/baken-ets-hot-n-29022.jpg
Once in the sauce, they get soft and break down, blending nicely into the gravy. You may want to go easy on the salt when making your sauce, since the pork skins have plenty in them.
Ty Delta, much appreciated
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falconefans — 9 years ago(November 01, 2016 07:52 AM)
Sauce is the easiest thing to make if you're willing to do some prep work.
And i bet if everyone posted their sauce recipe there'd be no two alike. I think it's partly a regional thing but also a family thing. My sauce recipe is similar to the one my grandparents made. But they liked a lot of pork in their sauce. My mother didn't, so when she started making sauce she eliminated the pork and used only ground beef. But she also loved the flavor of chicken cooked with tomato sauce (like chicken cacciatore). No one else in the family would eat chicken cacciatore, so mom would throw a couple chicken legs or thighs into the pot of sauce so she could have something she liked.
For the meatballs:
Combine ground beef, chopped onion, chopped fresh parsley, some bread crumbs, an egg or two, and some garlic powder. Mix thoroughly and form into meatballs. Saute these in oil in your saucepan and brown on two sides. Do a few at a time and remove them when they're browned. If you put them all in at once you won't be able to turn them.
For the sauce:
Once all the meatballs are browned and you have an empty pan full of bits, add a large can of tomato puree. Fill the can with water to clean out all the tomato and add this to the pan. As it heats up, you can use this tomato-y liquid to deglaze the pan which will add extra flavor to the sauce.
Once the tomato starts to bubble, add a can of tomato paste, mix it in well. Add the meatballs back to the sauce. Turn down the heat and let this simmer for about an hour or so.
There are so many variations depending on your tastes. If you like pork, add pieces of pork, pork bones, sausage, whatever. My niece is wheat-sensitive, so my sister doesn't make meatballs, she adds chunks of stew meat.
Some people like green peppers in sauce. I like mushrooms but no one else does, so if i make it for myself i'll add them, otherwise i don't. I know several people who like hot/spicy sauce so they'll add red pepper flakes or use hot sausage.
It's very common to add a lot of oregano to sauce. I don't care for that flavor, it tastes too much like pizza sauce. I do love to add a few whole dried basil leaves while it's cooking and then top my pasta/sauce dish with fresh chopped basil.
And then there's the issue of grated cheese. Some people love it. I don't care for the taste of pasta/sauce topped with grated cheese. But if you like it, then by all means use it.
Once you have a basic sauce recipe, you can start adding different items or seasoning to your taste.
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jofus224 — 9 years ago(November 03, 2016 09:06 AM)
My Abruzzese/Calabrese Dad always complained that my Mom's family (the Sicilian side) put 'too much crap' in their sauce. They'd even put various salami in there! Made for a really greasy sauce.
On his side they'd put chicken, sausage, beef, meatballs, bragioli, or any leftovers they had kicking around. Never the same sauce twice.
An 'Italian pot roast' was always my favorite. Simmered slowly it would fall apart and infuse the sauce with great flavor.
Damn, I'm hungry now.
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Beef_Jerky_Time — 9 years ago(November 01, 2016 10:24 AM)
Easiest thing ever!
Onion/shallot sliced and slow fried with garlic until brown. Lardons and minced beef in to brown and then blended tomatoes to measure added into the mix. A bit of oregano + basil and you are sorted. Finish off with some raw egg at the end and let the heat of the sauce cook it whilst you stir the mix.
Incredibly simply but it should take (Depending upon amount being made) a few hours.
I'd say eight portions takes 4 hours to cook so don't rush anything if you want to do it to my families' recipe.
For the record it makes a great base for a chilli recipe to be built on for the next day
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koskiewicz — 9 years ago(November 03, 2016 10:36 AM)
I used to have a Sicilian neighbor who grew his own tomatoes and basil. He spoke almost no English but would give me some of his sauce which was excellent. I can only guess he used those two ingredients along with other spices. It was delicious!!!
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falconefans — 9 years ago(November 03, 2016 12:17 PM)
I have a freezer full of cooked tomatoes from the garden so i'll get quite a few pans of sauce out of that. Even though i did grow my own basil, i only enjoy fresh basil from the garden over the summer. I just used up the last of it a couple weeks ago.
I have a big container of dried whole leaves i made with excess. But for fresh i have to buy a bunch every other week.
Fraaaank. FRANK! Get my jean bin. Susie wants my jeans.
No she doesnt.
Athene