Grandma Sciarillo's Meat Sauce

This is my great-grandma's meat sauce. She had been making it since
the 1920s and my family has been making it ever since. My grandma
wrote it down around 1960. I had to scan the fragile 50-yr old paper
in my scanner to preserve the original notes on making it. Obviously,
filtered water, fresh garlic, and high-quality ingredients make a
better meat sauce for your spaghetti and your meatball subs.

Meatballs
1 lb ground beef (I use the 20% fat stuff)
1 lb pork sausage (I used Farmer John's Pork Sausage - 1 lb package)
8 oz Bread Crumbs - Italian Style package is best
2 eggs
4 crushed garlic cloves (I use a garlic press with fresh cloves)
1 tsp Hot Pepper Flakes
1 TBSP Dried Oregano

Sauce
2 6oz cans tomato paste + 32 oz water
3 28oz cans Crushed Tomato in Puree + 56oz water
3 TBSP dried Italian Seasoning Mix
2 TBSP salt
Pepper
8 crushed garlic cloves (I use a garlic press with fresh cloves)

Other
Olive Oil & + 4 chopped garlic cloves & 1 diced onion + 1 TBSP Salt
8 pork sausages (I prefer Hot&Spicy Italian Sausages)
1 10-quart stainless-steel pot

Mix the meatball ingredients, then roll out the meatballs. Video on
construction of meatballs: http://video.about.com/italianfood/H...-Meatballs.htm.
Concentrate on the part where he rolls out the meatballs with his
hands. His recipe won't make good meatballs for spaghetti - not
enough fat, so not enough meat flavor to the sauce.

Gently Saute the oil/garlic/onions/salt on low heat for 10 minutes.
Remove the garlic/onion from the oil with a slotted spoon, then use
that oil to brown the meatballs and sausages on med heat. You want it
brown/caramelized, not burnt on the outside of the meat stuff. Set
the meat aside. It will take 3 batches to brown everything in your 10-
quart pot.

In the same pot, drop in the 2 cans of tomato paste and the 32oz of
water. Boil on med for 20-30 minutes, up to 45 min if you have the
time. Use a spoon to get all the crusty bits off the bottom of the
pot (that is all flavor!) as you boil.

Next, add the 3 cans of puree and 2 cans of water. Bring to a boil,
then add in the meatballs and sausages, garlic, dried seasoning, salt
and pepper. Boil with the lid askew over the pot for an hour on med-
low heat. That is about it. Pull out the meatballs and sausage, pour
the sauce into some large jars, and you got meat sauce and meat for
2-3 nights for 4 people.

Suggested Servings: make meatball subs with garlic bread and cheese
one night, and spaghetti another night.

On May 19, 8:03*pm, "
wrote:
Grandma Sciarillo's Meat Sauce

This is my great-grandma's meat sauce. *She had been making it since
the 1920s and my family has been making it ever since. *My grandma
wrote it down around 1960. *[snip]

Interesting. They had dried "Italian seasoning mix" in the 1920s?
I'll bet your great grandma had a favorite brand of tomato paste and
tomatoes in puree. Wouldn't know which it was, would you? -aem

On May 19, 8:03*pm, "
wrote:
Grandma Sciarillo's Meat Sauce

This is my great-grandma's meat sauce. *She had been making it since
the 1920s and my family has been making it ever since. *My grandma
wrote it down around 1960. *I had to scan the fragile 50-yr old paper
in my scanner to preserve the original notes on making it. *Obviously,
filtered water, fresh garlic, and high-quality ingredients make a
better meat sauce for your spaghetti and your meatball subs.

Filtered water makes a better meat sauce? Where do you live? Outside
of the U.S.?

Karen

On May 19, 10:46*pm, Karen wrote:
On May 19, 8:03*pm, "
wrote:

Grandma Sciarillo's Meat Sauce

This is my great-grandma's meat sauce. *She had been making it since
the 1920s and my family has been making it ever since. *My grandma
wrote it down around 1960. *I had to scan the fragile 50-yr old paper
in my scanner to preserve the original notes on making it. *Obviously,
filtered water, fresh garlic, and high-quality ingredients make a
better meat sauce for your spaghetti and your meatball subs.

Filtered water makes a better meat sauce? Where do you live? Outside
of the U.S.?

Karen

Yes, she would dry majoram, thyme, oregano, basil, mint, chives, and
cilantro in the summer (that I know of), and her notes say she used
dried oregano/basil/majoram in her meat sauce. I don't know about
dried Italian seasoning mix. I use the mix cause Grandma uses it -
she said it was easier than making her own dried herbs. Sheesh - you
people sure are stupid picky if everything isn't explained in
detail.

My local tap water has a LOT of minerals - enough to make your glass
cloudy the first 30 seconds after you pour from the tap. I find it
messes with flavors in food and drinks. Thus, filtered water (reverse
osmosis is what the kitchen has) doesn't interfere with flavor.
Again, what a ****ing stupid picky thing to post.

These 1st 2 replys were as stupid as someone posting your spelling
mistakes. I got an email with links to other recipes - apparently
this is called 'Italian Gravy' - now that was a helpful reply. These
2 are about as helpful as the cat running between your legs as you go
up the stairs.

I have no idea what her favorite canned brand(s) were... apparently,
raising 8 children in depression-era NY meant she used whatever was
cheap or free, so I doubt it was anything fancy. I prefer San Marzano
canned tomatos, but that is a rare treat for me - $3 per can vs the on-
sale stuff for $1 per can - it is a lot more economical to use the $1
per can stuff. Same goes for the other ingredients. Fresh garlic is
no problem, but I tend to use the on-sale ground beef and generic
brand pork sausage more often than not. And since I make bread about
1x/year, I use canned bread crumbs 99% of the time that I buy on
sale. I did make my own crumbs to make the meatballs last night, but
the flavor difference is pretty minimal, so I don't do that often.

wrote:
Obviously,
filtered water, fresh garlic, and high-quality ingredients make a
better meat sauce for your spaghetti and your meatball subs.


Perfect timing. I'm making lasagna this weekend but this time I'm going
to use bottled water instead. I'm also going to try a little thyme.

On May 20, 1:27*pm, Scott wrote:
Perfect timing. I'm making lasagna this weekend but this time I'm going
to use bottled water instead. I'm also going to try a little thyme.
================================================== ==
Good for you, Scott! Personally, I find things usually turn out well
if you take a little extra thyme . . .

Lynn in Fargo ;-)