Hello again!
If you are at least 50% Italian or full blooded Italian, you have probably encountered that age old question… “Is it SAUCE or is it GRAVY”? I’ll try to give you my perspective.
This question has been an ongoing source of contention in my own family long before I could remember. One could argue that if it is RED, it’s sauce; since Del Monte sells that little can of “tomato sauce” and it is in fact RED. If it’s brown, white or yellow, it’s a gravy; I think!
In just about any Italian restaurant the menu will most likely say “spaghetti with meat “sauce” not meat “gravy”. But you won’t ever see an entrée saying …turkey with sauce, but rather turkey with gravy. You would not even think of making a pizza with tomato gravy. In Italian cooking every type of tomato or cheese based sauce has a particular name, but none of them are gravy. Think marinara or alfredo.
Just think of it this way. If you are making something from a meat base, it will be a gravy. Take biscuits and gravy. The gravy will be made using a sausage base for the flavoring right? But here is where it gets confusing. If I am making a meat sauce using ground beef, my finished product will be a meat SAUCE!
There, I’ve cleared that up right?
O.K. now that you are more confused as ever, I will enlighten you on just one more thing. The Italian word for sauce is sugo. This is the most basic tomato sauce you can make. It uses just plain ripe tomatoes cut into chunks, sautéed with onion, garlic, olive oil and a few basic spices like oregano and basil. Yep, this simple “sauce” can be served on anything from pasta to grilled chicken or pork and it takes less than 45 minutes from start to finish.
I want to share with you my basic meat sauce recipe with you. I make this sauce fresh for every Lasagna Love client I have. It’s pretty straight forward and you get enough for a large tray of lasagna or two small trays of baked ziti with some left over sauce for a pound of spaghetti too. FYI, it takes a good 2 hours or more.
Lenny’s Basic Meat Sauce
1 small can of tomato paste
1 24 oz jar of prepared tomato sauce, Ragu, Classico, Prego etc. (optional) any type
1 large can of crushed tomatoes (use 2 cans if not using prepared sauce)
2 small cans of diced tomatoes
½ cup red table wine
3-4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic
1-2 tablespoons of mixed Italian spices
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. ground beef
1/8 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons of sugar
Start by opening up the cans of tomatoes so they are ready to use.
In a medium sized stock pot add the olive oil and heat on medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the sliced garlic and sauté for a few minutes until tiny bubbles appear around the edges. Immediately add the can of tomato paste by spoonfuls and stir with a wooden spoon until the paste mixes with the oil. Fill the tomato paste can with warm water and pour that into the pot, mixing with the wooden spoon until it is well combined. Add the sugar and stir. Cook on medium heat for a few more minutes and then add the ground beef. Use the wooden spoon to chop up the beef into small pieces, stirring constantly. Add the spices and cook for a few minutes more until the beef is no longer pink. Now add the can of crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and jar of prepared sauce. (Note: you can use 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes in lieu of the prepared sauce… I use it to cut down on cooking time).
Fill the large can ¾ full of water and pour that into the sauce. Add the wine and stir. Continue heating on medium heat until the center starts to boil. Stir occasionally and keep cooking until it comes to a complete boil. Lower the heat and with the lid ajar on the pot. (I like laying the wooden spoon on the edge and set the lid on it so one edge is lifted for water vapor to escape). Check the sauce every 10 minutes or so and stir. Don’t let it boil too fast. Cook on a gentle boil for about 2 hours stirring occasionally. As the sauce cooks some oil will settle on top. For the first hour or so, stir the oil back into the sauce. After the second hour you may remove some of the oil using a deep ladle.
You can freeze the sauce once cooled in a zip lock bag for months, but do not reheat the bag in the microwave. Thaw the bagged sauce in a fridge overnight or remove it from the plastic bag and reheat it in a microwavable covered container until hot.
Again, thanks for reading my blog and until next time… Caio!
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Thanks for the tip with using the red wine in the sauce. It probably gives a little more complexity to the sauce. I don’t usually do this, so I will try it out and let you know how it turns out. Caio!
Cathy
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That’s is So Special that you do Lasagna Love and make a whole meal for these families . Mmm Sunday sauce , I never use the wine either . I hope to try it one day soon . Thank you for sharing this story and recipe xoxo
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Yum! That sauce sounds good. I never have any wine in the house so have never added that to my sauce but need to try it. I’ve had your spaghetti sauce and it’s delicious. Much better than mine. Also the differences between sauce and gravy is very simply explained here. Thanks. Thanks for sharing your recipe and story.
Betty
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