Probably everyone who knows me or has read my blog even once knows I don’t like red sauce. For years, we had spaghetti and meatballs almost every Sunday because that’s what Vince had growing up and I know those kinds of traditions mean a lot so . . I tried. Now that he’s retired, I kinda feel like . . he wants, he likes it . . he can make it. So we don’t have spaghetti and meatballs very often.
Having never eaten much marinara growing up, I don’t even know what it’s really supposed to taste like. I’ve tried hundreds of recipes and every single recipe is just a bit different. Vince will eat anything but they’re never like his dad’s. You would think . . his dad made the sauce so Vince would at least try but nope, not happening.
It’s been about 28 years that I’ve been trying to perfect the sauce and have it even close to his dad’s. Since I never met his dad, I’m kinda stabbing in the dark because I don’t know what it tasted like.
This morning, after all these years, Vince was going through a box and found this:
I love that it’s written on a ‘Ramb’lin Reck notepad. I don’t love that it’s pretty much impossible for me to read. Vince said his dad told him what to write and Vince wrote it. Good grief . . I guess wherever Vince went to grade school, handwriting wasn’t that important! 🙂 That’s ok . . he does lots of other things quite well.
Vince is going to have to interpret a lot of this for me. The funny thing is that through the years, Vince has always told me not to use tomato paste in my sauce because his dad said that made the sauce bitter and there it is . . one can tomato paste.
I question how well his dad was remembering because when Vince was at Georgia Tech, his dad was really old. The recipe calls for 1 can tomato paste and 1 can of tomatoes, though “2 (13 oz)” is written above it. Then it says simmer for 2 hours. That doesn’t seem like it’s going to make much sauce if you simmer even 2 cans of tomatoes and 1 can of paste for two hours. But, in the spirit of trying my best to make his dad’s sauce, I will follow the recipe and see what happens.
With this recipe were also recipes for “turkey stuffing”, Eggplant Parmesan, and Escalloped Eggplant, thankfully written by someone with a legible handwriting . . probably his sister.
The turkey stuffing kinda cracks me up. This is exactly what it says: “ham, celery, onion, raisins, parsley and fennel seeds. Chop and fry.” Then, it looks like says “cold (bread meatball)”. Again . . Vince says it’s his writing. Then it goes on . . “turkey seasoning, cheese, salt and pepper”. That’s it. Vince thinks it might meat add breadcrumbs – the same ones used in the meatballs.
Any of you ever heard of anything like that?
Dot says
The amount of tomatoes might be one 28-oz can or two 13-oz cans. Doesn’t sound like it makes a lot of marinara sauce. You’d get about 4 cups. If you squeeze them in your hand, it must have been canned whole tomatoes. I have no idea about the turkey dressing!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Very true! I guess this means in the little book I’m keeping for Addie with my favorite recipes, I should include can sizes. I know in my cooking days, cans have gotten smaller so I will start adding the can size to the recipes. Thanks for that reminder.
Cilla says
“cold” probably means OLD as in not ready to toss but may be good for toast or FR. toast but not a sandwich. Turkey seasoning may mean Bell’s Poultry Seasoning. As for the sauce how many people should that recipe serve? It may be only for 4 people? So interesting to run across an old family recipe. Does Vince have an answer or some thoughts about it?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Oh, that makes sense. Thank you! It just seems that if you simmer one can of tomatoes and one can of tomato paste for two hours, you’re going to end up with half a cup of sauce. Vince always told me his dad saved all the leftover meat – steak, roast, pork, and added that to the spaghetti pot . . can’t see doing that with 1 can but like someone else said . . it might have been a bigger can. I’m thinking 15 oz. but I’m probably wrong.
Ginny says
A Sunday sauce would include pork sausage, meatballs, pieces of cooked pork (Grandma Mary used pork chops and sometime pork ribs), beef short ribs and braciole. Braciole is thin slices of beef round pounded as thin as possible covered in parmesan cheese and grated garlic rolled and secured with toothpicks and simmered in the sauce. All of the meat would have been browned before being added to the sauce. I believe you would need to use 2 to 3 large cans of crushed tomatoes or tomatoe puree depending on how chuncky you like your sauce, if using whole tomatoes squeeze the by hand before adding. Plus water to rinse the cans. Usually no paste unless at the end for thickening. The only seasoning would be sauted garlic and onions, fresh basil, salt and pepper and perhaps a little sugar if sauce tasted to tart after cooking for 3 to 4 hours until the meat was tender. Meatball and sausage added half way as you don’t want them to disaggregate. I think the recipe you have was for a small amount just enough for one or two people
judy.blog@gmail.com says
According to Vince, his dad simply saved leftover meat during the week and added all that, bones and all, to the sauce to simmer. The smaller amount makes sense. Thanks for your help. I will try your suggestions next Sunday but will save leftover roast beef and pork chops this week to add.
Sandy G says
can sizes: ttps://www.thespruceeats.com/can-sizes-for-recipes-4077057