Italians and their sauce/gravy
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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.
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