2569. resonance - 1/26/2005 11:37:23 PM The blender I have could probably puree gravel. The texture was good and the sauce tasted great -- it just wasn't exactly what she remembered. Maybe next time I'll add more bay and onion. 2570. thoughtful - 1/26/2005 11:45:38 PM well, if they used ragu it would be smooth. I remember once hubby brought home 'chef marco' sauce cause it was a real bargain. one taste and it brought back days in the school cafeteria. I didn't know they bottled institutional flavors for sale in the store. Blecch!!!
I remember reading/hearing one time that a ketchup co (heinz?) was trying to make the perfect ketchup...come to find out it didn't sell well. See in the usual process, the ketchup gets burned and it turns out people like the burned flavor. So they went back to the "less-than-perfect" burned ketchup and it sold better. Go figure. 2571. alistairConnor - 1/26/2005 11:58:03 PM topped with shaved prosciutto
but I like my prosciutto hairy, dammit! 2572. wonkers2 - 1/27/2005 5:16:14 AM Cap'n Dirty sez, "No shaved prosciutto fer me neither!" 2573. resonance - 1/27/2005 7:41:10 AM In the words of John Lennon, "Stop dragging things down to your own level," you unspeakably vile chimps. WTF, is nothing sacred?
I have made marinara sauce with bacon (you know, dicing up bacon, tossing a handful of it into the pan, half-cooking it then throwing in the onion and garlic -- in other words using the bacon where you'd use olive oil). It was very good, although different to say the least. I think it would have been a good sauce for, say, ravioli with some sharp pungent filling.
2574. resonance - 1/27/2005 7:42:43 AM You know if you deep fry capers they turn into little rosette looking things? They taste nutty, too.
2575. Dubai Vol - 1/27/2005 5:22:27 PM
Just back from the World Aerobatics Championships in beautiful Al Ain, which is in the middle of the desert. Amazing stuff, five hours a day of non-stop aerobatics. It's not like an airshow so much as a serious competition where the public is invited to watch. The routines are done to music, and it's realy a bit like figure skating in that everybody is doing similar stunts, just choreographed differently and with enough skill that really only a knowledgeable judge can tell the difference. I must say that the planes they use these days are just amazing, with so much power that they can go vertical, and come to a stop, then just hang on the prop. The teams are more photogenic, but the solo guys do things that you just shouldn't be able to do with an aircraft. 2576. Macnas - 1/27/2005 5:33:12 PM Sounds good. 2577. Jenerator - 1/27/2005 10:17:22 PM Res,
Run the sauce through a sieve. 2578. resonance - 1/27/2005 10:28:33 PM ...
...nevermind. 2579. robertjayb - 1/27/2005 10:35:35 PM ...must say that the planes they use these days are just amazing, with so much power that they can go vertical, and come to a stop, then just hang on the prop. The teams are more photogenic, but the solo guys do things that you just shouldn't be able to do with an aircraft.
I love that stuff but after seeing a performance at the Experimental Aircraft Association Flyin at Oshkosh, my favorite solo guy is:
Oops! Pretty clearly not a guy...
2580. resonance - 1/27/2005 11:25:49 PM In one of the Microsoft Flight Simulators they have Patty Wagstaff's aeronautics airplane (something called an Extra 300 or the like) done up in her personal paint scheme.
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If no one has any useful advice about the red sauce I'll just stick with what I'm doing. Like I said, I have it close to what she remembers and the texture is fine, just the flavor is a touch different from what she remembers from the restaurant and she can't really say what the difference is.
The recipe I used, so you know, was roughly the following:
1 lb extra-lean ground beef
1 qt peeled and de-seeded plum tomatoes
~1/3 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
6 black olives
~2 T parsley
~1 t whole sugar
~1/4 c dry red wine
basil
oregano
rosemary
marjoram
bay
salt
pepper
butter
olive oil
The solid ingredients were pureed very thoroughly. 2581. thoughtful - 1/28/2005 12:09:09 AM well, my comments...it may be there's more in there than in her old sauce, e.g., marinara is usually meatless so maybe it's the meat. Also olive is a strong flavor so maybe try it without the olives. Rosemary is also a strong flavor so maybe try it without rosemary. I don't usually add bay to my sauce either, so maybe that's it. 1/3 onion isn't a lot of onion...i usually add a whole one.
Of course, I not only like it chunky, but I use my sauce to 'garbage up' whatever is hanging around in the house, so I'll add celery, green peppers, mushrooms, beans, whatever. I'll make it with whatever meat I have too...chick breasts, legs, beef, pork, etc. Then serve it over whatever kind of pasta we have around.
Only problem with that approach is it's not repeatable. I made a batch, gave some leftovers to mother who raved about it...darned if I know what was in that version though.
So it goes. 2582. Ronski - 1/28/2005 3:19:45 AM Kill the rosemary and the meat. Follow Jen's suggestion on the sieve. That would be my guess. And you probably don't need the wine, either.
Me, I like a very chunky bolognese. And sometimes I make what I call a "confetti sauce," with lots of diced sweet peppers in different hues (green, red, orange, yellow, purple) with other diced veggies (white and red onions, celery, scallions, carrots). It's good. 2583. Ronski - 1/28/2005 3:20:40 AM And I love bacon or ham in a red sauce, often mixed with other stuff, like beef. 2584. Ronski - 1/28/2005 3:21:58 AM My Subaru said it was minus two degrees F. when I pulled onto the driveway at 7:30 p.m.
We could get to ten below, I suppose.
Big ice storm predicted for the weekend down South. 2585. arkymalarky - 1/28/2005 4:16:03 AM Whoa. I hadn't heard that. Where down South? 2586. Wombat - 1/28/2005 5:04:19 AM Smooth Red Sauce. Use Pomi crushed tomatoes in UHT carton 2587. marjoribanks - 1/28/2005 6:23:34 AM Ronski,
For years, I've been stirred to real irritation by your paens to the freezing cold.
Now, I'm happy to say I'm merely amused in a head-shaking "that-wacky-Ronski-Bonski" way. I laugh at the cold. I spit at the cold. I've beaten the motherfucking cold. Bwahahaha. 2588. marjoribanks - 1/28/2005 6:27:13 AM Wombat's tip about the sauce is in the right direction.
What Woden wants is apparently simply sauce, the red staple of Italian American cooking in the Northeast. So, Res, skip the fripperies and go straight for liquefied tomatoes from the packet or can, add sugar to the mix, the archetypical red sauce tastes only sweet, oregano-y, and slightly garlic-y. And it's served with overcooked spaghetti.
And after you make it, order Chinese takeout for youself. Because that shit is barely edible.
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