Sunday Gravy-- My Red Sauce

[Paul_Bacino]

I stir about every 30 -45 mins… Unless I add parm or romano cheese to my sauce… then I stir it every 15-20 mins to keep it from burning on the bottom…

I don’t do this much any more… but if you were to add uncooked meatballs ( it is done )… to the sauce, you might just jiggle the pot a bit.



Paul

[Frank_Hronek]

Great thread people!

Going to try Tom’s Batali oxtail ragu.

Paul, I have your oxtails but they’re frozen into one 20 lb.mass. Let me try to separate into halves over the weekend. Tell me if you need them sooner. They appear to be nicely trimmed already.

[Paul_Bacino]

@Frank Hronek

Great thread people!

Going to try Tom’s Batali oxtail ragu.

Paul, I have your oxtails but they’re frozen into one 20 lb.mass. Let me try to separate into halves over the weekend. Tell me if you need them sooner. They appear to be nicely trimmed already.

I think we’ll be good for thursday night… I’ll get them then… just send me the details… via PM

Tom Batali

[T_Melloni]

@Paul Bacino

Ohh… I have posted this before… this is the family store.

P.

Great shot. That could be in so many towns or cities across the country.
You can smell the wonderful foods, hear the accents and the stories, the offering of a “here, taste this” from behind the counter. Kids running in and out.
Wonderful.

[T_Melloni]

@mike pobega

Real low, stir every hour or so. Maybe 45 minutes. I use my le Creuset and get no sticking what so ever. I also don’t deglaze with the wine but rather put in right in with the tomatoes.

Ok so maybe every 15 minutes is too often…that’s usually cause I take a piece of bread and “spoonz”… that is, dip the bread in the gravy as its cooking. All about quality control. So waiting 30 minutes is too long.

It’s funny how growing up, Ronzoni brand was “the brand” of dried pasta. Then again, there were not that many choices. Special occasions called for ravioli from Bruno - The King of Ravioli.
Wine was Bolla Bardolino or Chianti in a straw basket.
I’m getting hungry.
T.

[mike_pobega]

@T. Melloni

@mike pobega

Real low, stir every hour or so. Maybe 45 minutes. I use my le Creuset and get no sticking what so ever. I also don’t deglaze with the wine but rather put in right in with the tomatoes.

Ok so maybe every 15 minutes is too often…that’s usually cause I take a piece of bread and “spoonz”… that is, dip the bread in the gravy as its cooking. All about quality control. So waiting 30 minutes is too long.

It’s funny how growing up, Ronzoni brand was “the brand” of dried pasta. Then again, there were not that many choices. Special occasions called for ravioli from Bruno - The King of Ravioli.
Wine was Bolla Bardolino or Chianti in a straw basket.
I’m getting hungry.
T.

Sunday was gravy day in my hometown of Brooklyn, USA.
Dried pasta ruled, but yep, ravs from Pastosa or Queen Anne were the treat for birthdays and such. I would pick them up for my mom on 18th Avenue and then hit Alba’s pastry shop for a Kiwanis cake. Always served espresso while you waited on line. Always a line. Believe it or not our house wine was Jordan CS!! My dad had CASES of it and loved opening them for us. BTW, he does not drink at all.
Great days.

[Bob_Wood]

@T. Melloni

It’s funny how growing up, Ronzoni brand was “the brand” of dried pasta.

It was mine for the better part of 30 years. Now and then I’d use DiCecco but I don’t find their past to be all it’s cracked up to be and it’s ridiculously priced to boot. In recent times I’ve discovered Barilla and very glad I did.

When I want fresh pasta I just go to this place. http://pastaworks.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; For $3.00 per pound, I don’t find making it myself a viable alternative unless I just want to be able to say I did.

[Paul_Bacino]

Few things I’m adding!!

If your interested in dried artesianal try

Latini or Rustichella d’Abruzzo !!

[Peter_Muto]

I’ll throw my two cents in.

My family is from Bari & Cosenza (Calabria) but most importantly my mom is from Bari so…

Here’s how we make sugo (no Italian-Canadians use the word ‘gravy’)

We buy bushels of tomatoes (San Marzano or Roma locally grown) in September and make our own sauce. A little salt, and fresh basil goes in each jar before being sealed.

On Sunday, brown meat (usually a combination of beef bones and pork, whatever has lot’s of cartilage or marrow. Sometimes a few links of sausage, sometimes oxtail, once in a while lamb.)
A little olive oil, then dice up a small onion and cook until fragrant, put meat in, one jar of sauce, one jar of water.
Simmer at least two hours, or until you’ve come back from church and are ready to eat.

Pasta is usually rigatoni or penne or variation of the two.
Instead of the ‘sugo meat’ sometimes we’ll use meatballs instead.
That’s it. I’ve eaten this nearly every Sunday since I was a child. Until this fall when I moved away for school. I miss it so much.

[T_Melloni]

@Peter Muto

My family is from Bari & Cosenza (Calabria) but most importantly my mom is from Bari so…

Here’s how we make sugo (no Italian-Canadians use the word ‘gravy’)

Peter - Part of my family is from Bari too.
Italian - Americans called it gravy (at least where I’m from).
Perhaps the Calabrese influenced your mom. (It woud not be far-fetched to think of my own grandfather saying something to my grandmother along the lines of “You’re going to make it the way my mother made it.”)

The same gravy was used to make manicotti and lasagna.
The meatballs would be broken up and placed with the layers of ricotta (combination of ricotta and eggs and pecorino roman) between the pasta sheets in the lasagna.

This thread suggests that we need to hold an off-line. Forget the wine - everybody bring their gravy/sauce/sugo.
Now that would show true terroir.
T.

[Paul_Bacino]

MY Grandmother… never said " pasta " she just called it " macaroni "

Cheers

[Bob_Wood]

@Paul Bacino

MY Grandmother… never said " pasta " she just called it " macaroni "

Cheers

Yankee Doodle Dandy

[G_Bienstock]

For dried linguini I am very happy with Whole Foods 365 brand from Italy. Only 99 cents for a pound to boot.

I usually make a pomodoro sauce with the tomato playing the leading role but some of these gravies sound wonderful.

[Peter_Muto]

@T. Melloni

Peter - Part of my family is from Bari too.
Italian - Americans called it gravy (at least where I’m from).
Perhaps the Calabrese influenced your mom. (It woud not be far-fetched to think of my own grandfather saying something to my grandmother along the lines of “You’re going to make it the way my mother made it.”)

Very possible. Though the Calabrese way would have to involve frying somehow

@T. Melloni

This thread suggests that we need to hold an off-line. Forget the wine - everybody bring their gravy/sauce/sugo.
Now that would show true terroir.
T.

Absolutely. The sugo is slightly different for all my relatives. Not sure what exactly but it always tastes different (not worse different just not the same as my family)

[T_Melloni]

@Paul Bacino

MY Grandmother… never said " pasta " she just called it " macaroni "

Exactly. I didn’t hear the word “pasta” until the 80’s (the decade, not my age).
T.

[Brett_Johnson]

@Peter Muto

I’ll throw my two cents in.

My family is from Bari & Cosenza (Calabria) but most importantly my mom is from Bari so…

Here’s how we make sugo (no Italian-Canadians use the word ‘gravy’)

We buy bushels of tomatoes (San Marzano or Roma locally grown) in September and make our own sauce. A little salt, and fresh basil goes in each jar before being sealed.

On Sunday, brown meat (usually a combination of beef bones and pork, whatever has lot’s of cartilage or marrow. Sometimes a few links of sausage, sometimes oxtail, once in a while lamb.)
A little olive oil, then dice up a small onion and cook until fragrant, put meat in, one jar of sauce, one jar of water.
Simmer at least two hours, or until you’ve come back from church and are ready to eat.

Pasta is usually rigatoni or penne or variation of the two.
Instead of the ‘sugo meat’ sometimes we’ll use meatballs instead.
That’s it. I’ve eaten this nearly every Sunday since I was a child. Until this fall when I moved away for school. I miss it so much.

I made a bastardized version of this over the weekend. Ridiculously good sauce and I think the key factor was including two shanks (chock full of marrow) in the sauce. Such as an easy way to add boat loads of flavor. I also added a large chunk of guanciale.

[T_Melloni]

Reservations about Risotto at Rao's | Bravo TV Official Site

From Tom Colicchio’s Blog on Top Chef:

Our presence at the dinner table was required every night when I was growing up, and most especially on Sundays, when family around the table expanded to include aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Sunday dinner was served between three and four in the afternoon and always included three courses. We started with a salad of some sort, an antipasto. We’d next have gravy and macaroni (we never called it sauce and pasta), and we’d then have the meat that had been cooked in the gravy as our third course. We wouldn’t deviate from that, be it spring, summer, fall or winter.

“gravy and macaroni” - I love it!.

[Peter_Muto]

@T. Melloni

Reservations about Risotto at Rao's | Top Chef Blog

From Tom Colicchio’s Blog on Top Chef:

Our presence at the dinner table was required every night when I was growing up, and most especially on Sundays, when family around the table expanded to include aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Sunday dinner was served between three and four in the afternoon and always included three courses. We started with a salad of some sort, an antipasto. We’d next have gravy and macaroni (we never called it sauce and pasta), and we’d then have the meat that had been cooked in the gravy as our third course. We wouldn’t deviate from that, be it spring, summer, fall or winter.

“gravy and macaroni” - I love it!.

Awesome! Exact same here, except that is still our Sunday ritual to this day (which I sorely miss being away from home at school)
My experience is identical for every single point (other than naming) except as any Italian would tell you, salad is not antipasto. You have salad AFTER the pasta and meat.

[Bob_Wood]

@Peter Muto

My experience is identical for every single point (other than naming) except as any Italian would tell you, salad is not antipasto. You have salad AFTER the pasta and meat.

Yeah well . . . any Italian would tell you that pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza, too.

[T_Melloni]

@Peter Muto

… salad is not antipasto. You have salad AFTER the pasta and meat.

Exactly.
After the meat, we would have sliced cucumber and finnochio (fennel). We called the finnochio “fa-nook” - some sort of Badese dialect.

Bob - yes, pineapple has no place on pizza. I don’t think a Dante, Enrico, Francesco or Salvatore came up with that one.
Wasn’t it a “Wolfgang” who really made famous pizzas with fruit, avocado, smoked salmon, and all other kinds of foods that, while fine in and of themselves, have no place being even within the same zip code as a good pizza?