UNCLE ALAN'S dayum good spaghetti sauce..

[Cindy Denning]

I like garlic, so I'd probably use 3 - 4 cloves for that size meal (or more if the cloves are small). That's just me, though.

Well, looks like it's off to Wally World for the garlic cloves but that's ok with me. I can pick up Genos beer and safely get away with it there because some fellow church member who has a grandson just learning how to read won't be there to keep repeating Busch Lite, Busch Lite, Busch Lite,Busch Lite stop, little boy!Keeping Appearances always.

 

[TorzJohnson]

How 'bout meatballs? Here's my favorite recipe, super easy to make. It's nothing fancy but pretty darned good:

1 lb ground beef
3/4 cup italian bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp minced garlic (from a jar*)
1 egg, beaten

* If you want to use fresh garlic, 1/2 tsp of minced garlic = 1 clove

Moosh it all together with your hands, form it into balls and fry in a little olive oil over medium heat, turning regularly. When you get a nice dark crust, that is the sign that they've gone from good to delicious. Put 'em in your spaghetti or make a nice meatball hero with 'em. I'm eating some right now!!!

 

[Cindy Denning]

A sweet 'tater souffle 'ud be fittintoeat too. How 'bout thin slicin' cukes.marinating 'em with thin onion slices in a vinegar/sugar.water mixture overnight too ?
'Tater salad with mayo & mustard,onions,celery & a dash of black pepper ?
Beef steak 'maders wif basil & mayo.....
Girl, you've got my mouf a 'waterin ' !

Us Southerners do know good 'eatins, huh.Cindy ?

Uncle [ out for lunch ] Alan

Honey, we wouldn't be caught in this heat without that now! I make alot of coleslaw, potatoe salad by the gallons...cool foods that are proper with any meats or a snack, watermelon and ice cold sweetend tea. Yes, Uncle Alan we do!

 

[bladefixation2]

Sorry Uncle Alan, but the idea of adding catsup to spaghetti sauce makes me cringe. Same thing for garlic powder. Real sauce needs real ingredients, and the best sauce is the simplest: garlic, extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes and a little salt.

I can see where the ketchup is going, its adding the sweetness where I just add sugar. I find without that its very sour. Maybe the tomatos in italy are sweeter because you get so much more sun?

 

[bladefixation2]

Nathan, I don't know how to use garlic in cooking at all. Not the real garlic clove. In sauces I use a powdered kind but the other is a mystery to me. Can you put it in a sauce whole and get the flavor like that or dice it?

If you lay the clove on a chopping board and put the wide flat side of a chefs knife on top and press down with the heel of your hand (hard) it will crush flat, then just slice it very fine longways and shortways and you have chopped fresh garlic you can use anywhere you would use powder, even just rubbing straight onto meat. I chop a clove and rub it over pork chops, grind some fresh black pepper over and rub in a small drizzle of olive oil and grill. mmm...

Some people rub in a pinch of salt after crushing but I dont like adding too much salt to my meals. You can also buy a garlic press if you arent too good at chopping.


I dont know why garlic powder is so popular, fresh garlic keeps for weeks or months even out of the fridge.

Just be careful pushing down on that knife, its sharp !!

 

[GigOne]

Sorry Uncle Alan, but the idea of adding catsup to spaghetti sauce makes me cringe. Same thing for garlic powder. Real sauce needs real ingredients, and the best sauce is the simplest: garlic, extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes and a little salt.

Hear hear !


You sound like you're Eye-talian or sumfing.

I just read an article in the Baltimore Sun about lebanon bologne, my favorite lunchmeat (actually sweet lebanon bologne). One of the uses, I was suprised to find, is that chunks are cut up for spaghetti sauces, with ground beef etc. Anybody make their pasta with lebanon bologne sausage?

:barf:

 

[uncle Alan]

I can see where the ketchup is going, its adding the sweetness where I just add sugar. I find without that its very sour. Maybe the tomatos in italy are sweeter because you get so much more sun?

Ketchup does sweeten the mix. It take a fine hand to add the right amount of Texas Pete too. Speaking of sweetening, I use apple cider vinegar in my chili to negate the greasy taste. Surprisingly enough,it works very well.

You can experiment with any recipe except when baking. Exact amounts or you have a flop. My wife lets me cook [ man's gotta' have a purpose ] & she bakes pies & cakes to kill for. Anyone can do package baking but it takes someone special to bake from scratch.


Uncle Alan

 

[mycroftt]

How 'bout meatballs? Here's my favorite recipe, super easy to make. It's nothing fancy but pretty darned good:

1 lb ground beef
3/4 cup italian bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp minced garlic (from a jar*)
1 egg, beaten

* If you want to use fresh garlic, 1/2 tsp of minced garlic = 1 clove

Moosh it all together with your hands, form it into balls and fry in a little olive oil over medium heat, turning regularly. When you get a nice dark crust, that is the sign that they've gone from good to delicious. Put 'em in your spaghetti or make a nice meatball hero with 'em. I'm eating some right now!!!

That's pretty close to my own recipe but I like to use 1/3 ground pork and 2/3 ground beef. Also I don't use the onions or worcestershire but I do add some parsley ( just for the looks, so you can see flecks of 'green stuff'). Hey - maybe it isn't really that close to my recipe after all!

Frying in olive oil is definitely the key. They just don't come out as good when they are baked. Hey Torz - how about sharing some of that meatball hero?

 

[Nathan S]

You sound like you're Eye-talian or sumfing.

I'm not Italian, but I play one on television....

 

[Triton]

Thanks for the recipes guys! I'm going to try my hand at making pasta this weekend... and I think this will go with it perfectly!

 

[Suicycoprowler]

Sorry Uncle Alan, but the idea of adding catsup to spaghetti sauce makes me cringe. Same thing for garlic powder. Real sauce needs real ingredients, and the best sauce is the simplest: garlic, extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes and a little salt.

Agreed. Basic ingredients may increase the cooking time, but they increase the flavor as well.

Adding meatballs to spaghetti sauce is fine, but I gag when people add ground hamburger and make a meat sauce. Personally, I prefer hot italian sausage sliced into big chunks. I generally fry the sausage in the stockpot, and then cook the onion in the sausage grease with some added extra virgin olive oil. I love both onions and garlic, so I add a lot of both. Besides tomatoes, the only other ingredients I add are oregano and salt.

I prefer my sauce to be thick. Besides flavor issues, ketchup would be way too thin for my tastes.

 

[TorzJohnson]

Hey Torz - how about sharing some of that meatball hero?

Come on over, I'll save ya a piece. (Urp!)

 

[A.W.U.K.]

That is the problem! Your right about that and I'll try the garlic, one or 2 clove? say for a four serving size meal. Thanks!

Personally, I'd use the whole bulb - but that might be a bit much for some people - especially those not at the meal!

Andy.

 

[Acolyte2]

Does some really bad things to my digestive system. I can experience the after effects for days. The home and car need a lotta airin' out after that!!

As far as hamburgers or meatballs go, they will hold together better if you knead or stir the mixture plenty. I like to make my hamburgers up a few hours ahead of time, with some parsley and / or celery in them. Add a bit of worcestershire sauce, some whole seed mustard, an egg and the secret ingredient to thicken. Can I get banned from BF for admitting my secret ingredient is chick pea flour (besan flour)? If so I thicken them with plain flour, so they hold together better. Stir for a while and they hold together better still.

Cheers all, I'm getting real hungry!! BY the way, I haven't mentioned this on the forum before, but my wife and I are expecting our first child in mid February.

Cheers, Acolyte2.

 

[fixer27]

Does some really bad things to my digestive system. I can experience the after effects for days. The home and car need a lotta airin' out after that!!

As far as hamburgers or meatballs go, they will hold together better if you knead or stir the mixture plenty. I like to make my hamburgers up a few hours ahead of time, with some parsley and / or celery in them. Add a bit of worcestershire sauce, some whole seed mustard, an egg and the secret ingredient to thicken. Can I get banned from BF for admitting my secret ingredient is chick pea flour (besan flour)? If so I thicken them with plain flour, so they hold together better. Stir for a while and they hold together better still.

Cheers all, I'm getting real hungry!! BY the way, I haven't mentioned this on the forum before, but my wife and I are expecting our first child in mid February.

Cheers, Acolyte2.

Number 1, Congrats on the child!
Number 2. I don't like a "meat sauce" but I will put my sauce in a crock pot
First I sweat the onions and garlic, then I remove the seeds from the whole
Tomatos, stir them with olive oil then into the crock pot they go, then the
tomato paste is mixed with salt and pepper and basil in a blender and into
the crock pot. Then brown the sausages (do not cook them all the way they
should still be a little pink) then after browning the sausage deglaze the pan
and dump the "broth" from the pan into the crock pot.

Put on low heat, and go to work. Sauce is ready when you get home...
The sausages are browned on the outside, tender on the inside, and flavor
the whole thing. If you want to make your sauce richer then add parmesan
cheese and your sauce will thicken quickly....
And then add salt to you pasta water, a drop of oil and cook ten minutes.

Calimari makes for a interesting sauce as well...

If you want to get creative then use wine to degalze the pan, but if you
use wine, leave the lid of the crock pot when you get home and let it
simmer for a half hour. That removes the smell of the wine but leaves
the flavor.