Spaghetti Sauce 101 - Part 2

Welcome back. Are you refreshed and ready to start assembling this sauce?

I typically let the sauce simmer all day to really blend the flavors, so I do a lot of my prep work the night before.

Equipment

I have 2 enormous stockpots that I use for this sauce. I think my smaller one is at least 12 quarts. The bigger one may be around 20. It’s been a long time since I bought them, but I did get them at Walmart for a reasonable price.  I make sure my ladle, can opener, cutting board, skillet and a good knife or two are ready to go. Oh and keep your trash barrel close to where you will be opening the cans for easy disposal in the morning.

Ingredients

Chop all your veggies in advance to save time in the morning when you are layering your sauce. I put all the veggies in raw as it will be simmering all day.  As for the meat, it really depends on what you are putting in and how long you are doing sauce. In my case, I can usually put most meat in raw as it cooks all day long. If you are doing a smaller portion for dinner or dinner plus leftovers, you’ll want to skillet most meat and throw it in at least partially cooked, if not fully. I tend to put sausage in without pre-cooking. Pork and chicken usually get a browning in the skillet before they go in. I like the fact that they cook while in the sauce, soaking up the flavor and there’s less likelihood of the meat drying out.  Meatballs are a different animal all together.  I spend the time to cook them either the night before or early on in the day that the sauce will be simmering. I don’t actually put them in the sauce though. I find freezing them separately and throwing in just what I need for any given dinner is better. Of course, I bet you are asking yourself why I even cook them at the same time. I like the flavor of them in my sauce, so I’ll pour the grease from the cookie sheets into my sauce.

Good Morning

It’s assembly time. I’d like to say that the method I am about to describe is because I am O.C.D. but it’s more that I’m lazy and don’t want to spend a lot of my day constantly stirring, hoping that all the flavors are blending okay.  My stockpots are 2 different sizes, so I tend to divide my ingredients between them unequally. The bigger pot gets about 2/3 of the ingredients and the other gets about 1/3. Again, no one is doing an exact measurement here. I layer my ingredients in to help the process. There most likely will be multiple layers, so use the list below as a guide and repeat until you get to the top of your pots.

Crushed tomatoes – These go at the bottom as they tend to have more liquid. That’s especially helpful when it gets to full temperature and you don’t want scorching on the bottom of your pot.

Meat – I put in each meat separately as there’s usually plenty of room for multiple layers.

Diced tomatoes – There’s usually a ton of water in these tomatoes. I strain out about half before putting it in the pot.

Vegetables – I put in the garlic and onion together in a layer. Same goes for the peppers and mushrooms. Again, I wish I could tell you why – it just works out that way.

Tomato puree – Puree gets put in last of the big 3. This is the layer that looks most like your standard tomato sauce. I use it to put in the spices and cheese.

Spices and cheese – This is where the novice will ask for quantity. I don’t have a solid number for you. In fact, I don’t always do a spice layer either. I shake each of my spices over the pot, coating the layer of puree. Sometimes, I match up a spice to each of the other layers (e.g. basil – crushed tomatoes, oregano – meats, etc.) Either way, you are making a gigantic amount of sauce, so don’t  feel like there is such a thing as too heavy handed. You really don’t want to get to the end of this process and say “Oh, I really don’t have any flavor in there”. Same goes with the cheese. If you are truly nervous, then you can go a little light at the beginning and add spice throughout the day as you taste test it. I recommend taste testing it anyway to make sure it it up to your bar of excellence.

Tomato paste -Last but not least. I mentioned earlier using 2-3 of the small cans. In my recipe, I put 2 in the big pot and 1 in the small one. It will help things thicken up. At this point, add some sugar too. It will help cut the acid taste in your sauce. It doesn't have to be a lot but you definitely want some in there. You’ll get a better sense of just how much as you taste test throughout the day. Don’t add too much though – you don’t need your sauce to be sticky sweet.

By starting everything at different layers, you've pre-mixed your sauce to a certain extent. You’ll have to stir it occasionally throughout the day to ensure it doesn't scorch and to give yourself an opportunity to smell and taste the deliciousness. Simmer on low though you will be tempted to turn up the heat.  Dont. It’s simmering all day and even on the lowest temperature, it will boil a little by the end. If you can’t get that boil under control and it’s late in the day, it may just be time to turn off the heat and keep it covered.  That’s why you do need to watch it and stir. You don’t need a boil over mess on top of all this work, right?

Are We Done Yet?

By your pre-dinner time taste test, this sauce should taste pretty good.  Check out part 3 where I discuss using the sauce that night, being strategic with what you make and how you store all the extra sauce.