More Italian Food Controversy

[tpop1]

Even though we haven't ended the "Sauce vs. Gravy" battle, here's another one for us.......(its cold and snowy up here so humor me filling my evening)

Every Italian mother has her own meatball recipe, so that's just too complex a battle.

So what we can discuss is how mom cooked the meatballs???

For the uninitiated, there are a myriad of methods.....My mom fried the raw meatballs in the bottom of the same pan the sauce was made in...wife does the same. Seems she was 'deglazing" before we knew what that was.

Aunt Kay put them in her sauce raw to cook with the sauce. Other bake them while still others broil them.

I know the right way (see above...i.e. My mom) , but what does everyone else think???

[rhondac]

browned in the same pan

[skyguy79]

My mother would bake them on a greased pan much like in the picture below, except nicely browned. When done and they were cool she placed them in the refridgerator for temporary storage. It if were to be a while before being used, they were wrapped and placed in the freezer. When she later prepared the spaghetti sauce for a meal, she would take some out of the refridgerator and put them into the sauce pan for heating... that is if in the mean time they survived my sneaky munching raids on them. :1rotfl:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3467/3385754379_7cb2f49a52_o.jpg

[missypie]

Oh wow, I would love to have the best homemade meatball recipe ever made by an Italian mom or grandma.

[Happinow]

My mom always made the meatballs and then put them right in the sauce to cook. She didn't brown them. They were moist, soft and tasty. I have added something to my meatballs that I believe I'm the only one who does it. I add raisins!! They give the meatballs a great sweeter taste. A lot of people say how good they are and I don't tell them what's in them until after they eat the meatballs, then they are shocked! Give it a try.....

[missypie]

My mom always made the meatballs and then put them right in the sauce to cook. She didn't brown them. They were moist, soft and tasty. I have added something to my meatballs that I believe I'm the only one who does it. I add raisins!! They give the meatballs a great sweeter taste. A lot of people say how good they are and I don't tell them what's in them until after they eat the meatballs, then they are shocked! Give it a try.....

ooooh raisins! Now THAT sounds like a yummy secret!

[applesoffh]

[QUOTE=Happinow;578170]My mom always made the meatballs and then put them right in the sauce to cook. She didn't brown them. They were moist, soft and tasty. I have added something to my meatballs that I believe I'm the only one who does it. I add raisins!! They give the meatballs a great sweeter taste. A lot of people say how good they are and I don't tell them what's in them...

Adding raisins is a very Sicilian thing...neither of my nonnas used them but other family members did. Mom fries her meatballs - always has - then adds them to the saucepot along with pork neck bones. Occasionally, she'd make braciole, and add that to the sauce, also. She didn't use raisins in hers, but others did, especially on my dad's side of the family.

[Shirleevee]

ooooh raisins! Now THAT sounds like a yummy secret!

In Brooklyn when I was young the Sicilian neighbors put raisins in their meatballs.........just another version and at that time I liked them

[Shirleevee]

Even though we haven't ended the "Sauce vs. Gravy" battle, here's another one for us.......(its cold and snowy up here so humor me filling my evening)

Every Italian mother has her own meatball recipe, so that's just too complex a battle.

So what we can discuss is how mom cooked the meatballs???

For the uninitiated, there are a myriad of methods.....My mom fried the raw meatballs in the bottom of the same pan the sauce was made in...wife does the same. Seems she was 'deglazing" before we knew what that was.

Aunt Kay put them in her sauce raw to cook with the sauce. Other bake them while still others broil them.

I know the right way (see above...i.e. My mom) , but what does everyone else think???

I'm with 'your Mom" lol:BigApplause:

[redwitch]

Not much of a meatball fan, but was always taught to brown them in the sauce (not the gravy). Of course, my mother was German, so what do I know?

[Happinow]

Thank you for enlightening me about the sicilians using raisins in their meatballs. I had no idea!! I'm Irish so the fact that I can make a decent sauce even surprises me!

[ugotme]

Just my two cents worth. Personally I lightly brown them in the frying pan then cook them all the way through in the "sauce." I start the sauce by browning sausages in the pot where I eventually put the tomatoes.

My wife stays out of the way when I cook the sauce. :1rotfl:

[tainsley]

Uncle Albert used a mix of ground pork, veal and beef. After mixing ingredients and rolling into balls, he lightly rolled them in bread crumbs and baked in oven. After baking he added to his delicious gravy. Mmm so good! That is how I make my meatballs!

[jblum315]

I have always browned meatballs in a skillet, and then deglaze with some of the sauce, but many of my Italian friends bake the meatballs in the oven, turning them over so they brown on all sides.

[senior citizen]

I have always browned meatballs in a skillet, and then deglaze with some of the sauce, but many of my Italian friends bake the meatballs in the oven, turning them over so they brown on all sides.

My mom and dad (plus his Italian family) always FRIED the meatballs in a skillet......then added them to the big pot of GRAVY.

I did the same thing as a newly married......however, over the years, it became more efficient to make them in larger batches by baking in the oven.........they come out the same. Just faster in two oblong baking pans on two racks.....then in the frying pan, several batches...........

I always cooked in large volume so I'd have leftovers or some to freeze.
If one is going to go through all the mess, why not?

So, yes, I added the fried meatballs to the GRAVY / SAUCE ...........

Back in 1965 to 1967 there was a little diner in back of our offices..and the chemist's lab.................I would look with horror as the "cook" would be rolling the meatballs from the big bowl and dropping them UTTERLY RAW into the hot boiling gravy sauce..........I THOUGHT, OH MY GOSH.
It just didn't look right.

A few years ago, maybe 5, I read one of the recipes from THE FOOD CHANNEL..........can't remember who the chef was........they used raw meatballs in their sauce............I tried it. Guess what?

Great moist meatballs......with less simmering time in the "SAUCE".
WE're now in the 2000's so I do call it sauce now.

One can always learn something NEW. However, I think that original trick was just invented by a lazy housewife of the time...........maybe she didn't have time to fry the meatballs.

But it does work. As long as they don't fall apart in the sauce. It would depend on one's recipe for the meatballs.

[senior citizen]

Soprano's Sunday Gravy Spaghetti Sauce) Recipe - Food.com - 64750 (http://www.food.com/recipe/Sopranos-Sunday-Gravy-Spaghetti-Sauce-64750)

If Carmella and Tony Soprano called it “GRAVY” I guess their recipe should be a “the one”. Just teasing.

This is truly how I remember it being made as a kid...........my mom used pork spareribs for the neck bones.

She always had veal chops for my dad. Italian sausage, hot and sweet....plus bracciole (meat rolls tied with string) when she had time.....

Keep scrolling down. ..............for the meat balls...that recipe comes after the sauce. The only thing they LEFT OUT in the sauce is the basil and oregano which I would add.
They did add the basil leaves at the end...........my dad grew fresh mint and would also add that......but I don't. I think that would be more for a marinara sauce.

In making a plain sauce, some might like to add fennel seeds....but the sausage already has fennel in it..

First you make the sauce and then you let it simmer.............then you make the meatballs.........lastly, you boil the spaghetti.



I can’t believe the recipe sites that say, “Put on a big pot of boiling water for the spaghetti”.........
Then they tell you to make the meatballs............then the sauce, which both take some time..........
Not to mention constantly washing your hands after forming the meatballs........
There is a certain procedure to follow........so as to keep everything running smoothly.

Don’t attempt this unless you have TIME........a long rainy day.

[tpop1]

We need to get a room at one of the Rec. Centers some evening, get a few of the people posting here to cook us up a Macaroni Dinner!!!

By the sounds of the posts here, that would certainly answer the question "Where can we get good Italian food in The Villages!"

I'm getting hungry!!!
_

[senior citizen]

We need to get a room at one of the Rec. Centers some evening, get a few of the people posting here to cook us up a Macaroni Dinner!!!

By the sounds of the posts here, that would certainly answer the question "Where can we get good Italian food in The Villages!"

I'm getting hungry!!!
_

You are correct. There is nothing like home made.

Whenever we travel, I can't get over how bad the lasagna is.
Or the "new" healthy recipes for lasagna instead of ricotta and mozzarella.
Yesterday I saw a recipe in our newspaper for a healthful lasagna filled with broccoli in the layers........???

I love broccoli.........but not in lasagna.

Most of these chains use "frozen meatballs" which are like hockey pucks.
Rubbery unless you cook them for days......even then they are just not right. O.K. in a pinch maybe......but nothing like real meatballs.

[senior citizen]

BELOW ARE SOME SUPER EASY PASTA DISHES.........WITHOUT RED SAUCE.....
Linguine Pasta with Garlic and Oil (http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/pasta_garlic_oil.htm)


Some will recall this dish from their Italian childhoods back “home”.....


I use red pepper flakes or you can eliminate and just pass at table.


I also use tons of garlic, minced up but his way sounds good........


I also now use Bertollli “Light” Olive Oil.....but back then they had the gallons of “motor oil” heavy olive oil.


It’s a great side dish for fish.......or “just on its own”.......as we had it on meatless fridays.



My dad also made a version where he’d saute dry bread crumbs (like Progresso that we use today) and top his linguini with the bread crumbs.........usually during Lent.


Sometimes he would add currents and black olives.......and toss with the bread crumbs. The things they didn’t do to a humble pasta dish.



There’s another dish called “Streetwalkers Pasta" or Pasta Puttanesca.


Linguine Pasta with Garlic and Oil (http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/pasta_garlic_oil.htm)



http://italianchef.com/2011/05/23/linguine-with-white-puttanesca/


Pasta for Kids for Italy Vacation (http://www.kidseurope.com/Newsletter/PastaBasta.htm)

Cute information if traveling with children........

[Patty55]

My Mother was Dutch/German, here's her "secret" spaghetti sauce recipe. You boil the macaroni until it is swollen up with water, (kind of resembling snakes), drain it, put enough squirts of ketchup....DONE.

I don't reccomend this recipe-LOL.

[tpop1]

My Mother was Dutch/German, here's her "secret" spaghetti sauce recipe. .......... put enough squirts of ketchup....DONE.


That's like making Spare Ribs and Sauerkraut, but substituting lettuce for the sauerkraut!!!

Banned for life from Italian food arguments!!!!!!!!!!!!:loco::loco::loco::p:p:p

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Don't know what my mother used in her recipe, but she would brown them in an old cast iron skillet and then let them cook in the sauce for hours.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

My Mother was Dutch/German, here's her "secret" spaghetti sauce recipe. You boil the macaroni until it is swollen up with water, (kind of resembling snakes), drain it, put enough squirts of ketchup....DONE.

I don't reccomend this recipe-LOL.

The only thing missing is the cut up hot dogs. My Irish mother-in-law feed that to my second wife and her brothers.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

[QUOTE=Happinow;578170]My mom always made the meatballs and then put them right in the sauce to cook. She didn't brown them. They were moist, soft and tasty. I have added something to my meatballs that I believe I'm the only one who does it. I add raisins!! They give the meatballs a great sweeter taste. A lot of people say how good they are and I don't tell them what's in them...

Adding raisins is a very Sicilian thing...neither of my nonnas used them but other family members did. Mom fries her meatballs - always has - then adds them to the saucepot along with pork neck bones. Occasionally, she'd make braciole, and add that to the sauce, also. She didn't use raisins in hers, but others did, especially on my dad's side of the family.

Never heard of raisins but whatever meat my mother put in, meatball, sausage (and braciole was a special treat), she would fry it first in that old cast iron skillet. Then it was into the sauce in the same old aluminum pot that she used for as long as I could remember. When she died, my father told us to come to the house and take something of hers. My sisters took some jewelry, my brother too some photo and I took that old aluminum pot.

I could never figure how she kept the meat balls round. When ever I did that they would flatten out on the sides that were on the bottom. I would end up with meat cubes.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

We need to get a room at one of the Rec. Centers some evening, get a few of the people posting here to cook us up a Macaroni Dinner!!!

By the sounds of the posts here, that would certainly answer the question "Where can we get good Italian food in The Villages!"

I'm getting hungry!!!
_

I'm in. I'll bring some pasta fagioli or some linguine and clams. Not clam sauce, but something a bit different.

[Patty55]

The only thing missing is the cut up hot dogs. My Irish mother-in-law feed that to my second wife and her brothers.

No, the cut up hot dogs went in the "secret" pea soup recipe.

[2BNTV]

Don't know what my mother used in her recipe, but she would brown them in an old cast iron skillet and then let them cook in the sauce for hours.

Ditto.

[ugotme]

My Mother was Dutch/German, here's her "secret" spaghetti sauce recipe. You boil the macaroni until it is swollen up with water, (kind of resembling snakes), drain it, put enough squirts of ketchup....DONE.

I don't reccomend this recipe-LOL.

No offense meant Patty BUT . . . :censored: :cry: LOL

[ugotme]

The only other thing I add to my meat-a-balls is a "whole bunch" of Locatelli cheese !

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm G O O D !

[rubicon]

Soprano's Sunday Gravy Spaghetti Sauce) Recipe - Food.com - 64750 (http://www.food.com/recipe/Sopranos-Sunday-Gravy-Spaghetti-Sauce-64750)

If Carmella and Tony Soprano called it “GRAVY” I guess their recipe should be a “the one”. Just teasing.

This is truly how I remember it being made as a kid...........my mom used pork spareribs for the neck bones.

She always had veal chops for my dad. Italian sausage, hot and sweet....plus bracciole (meat rolls tied with string) when she had time.....

Keep scrolling down. ..............for the meat balls...that recipe comes after the sauce. The only thing they LEFT OUT in the sauce is the basil and oregano which I would add.
They did add the basil leaves at the end...........my dad grew fresh mint and would also add that......but I don't. I think that would be more for a marinara sauce.

In making a plain sauce, some might like to add fennel seeds....but the sausage already has fennel in it..

First you make the sauce and then you let it simmer.............then you make the meatballs.........lastly, you boil the spaghetti.



I can’t believe the recipe sites that say, “Put on a big pot of boiling water for the spaghetti”.........
Then they tell you to make the meatballs............then the sauce, which both take some time..........
Not to mention constantly washing your hands after forming the meatballs........
There is a certain procedure to follow........so as to keep everything running smoothly.

Don’t attempt this unless you have TIME........a long rainy day.

senior citizen: Sounds close to my mother and father's whose families both immigrated from Naples area . Both used a combination of veal pork and beef.....meatballs, bracciole and chunks of veal, chops etc.. Both parents added wine but the big debate between them was at what point during the cooking process the wine would be introduced. My mother would let the sauce sit on the stove for a bit so that she could remove any excess grease. The selection of the type of pasta was also a basis for serious debate

The meat used for the sauce was browned first then added to the sauce again the time of introduction of the meat to the sauce was a basis for debate. You can see why I say that in my family we were required to discuss politics and religion but cooking...now that could get you into trouble.

Ciao

[senior citizen]

senior citizen: Sounds close to my mother and father's whose families both immigrated from Naples area . Both used a combination of veal pork and beef.....meatballs, bracciole and chunks of veal, chops etc.. Both parents added wine but the big debate between them was at what point during the cooking process the wine would be introduced. My mother would let the sauce sit on the stove for a bit so that she could remove any excess grease. The selection of the type of pasta was also a basis for serious debate

The meat used for the sauce was browned first then added to the sauce again the time of introduction of the meat to the sauce was a basis for debate. You can see why I say that in my family we were required to discuss politics and religion but cooking...now that could get you into trouble.

Ciao

I always read about wine being added, but I never have and don't really remember my folks adding it...............but they might have.

My father's Uncle Vito (Vito Antonio) was the bachelor of the family and he "made the wine" in New York City...........he would bring jugs around to everyone in the famiglia........(family in Italian).

My Ukrianian mom hated the smell of wine and coerced my dad to switch to beer. Thank goodness he never smoked the cigars that the others did.

I think the wine would have been better for his arteries.........all of his family lived to a ripe old age. Of course the wine back then didn't have any sulfites, etc. in it.

My father's mom and dad both sailed out of the Port of Naples; their village was up in the mountains in southern Italy......Laurenzana Potenza Basilicata Region.

[senior citizen]

Soprano's Sunday Gravy Spaghetti Sauce) Recipe - Food.com - 64750 [Full Page View] (http://www.food.com/recipefullpage.do?rid=64750)


This should be a more printable version of the recipe I posted earlier.





Soprano’s Sunday Gravy (Spaghetti Sauce) with Meatballs





Click on hyperlink above and print out full page version.


Great to make on a cold snowy day. Fat chance in Florida.

[Jim&Fran]

More important than the cooking method is what's in the mix. Every Granma passed the "secret" to a select few. A little tweaking was tollerated but don't dare freelance and try to pass yours as Granmas. I am of Napolitan descent and we usually had two ingredients used that added that special flavor. Two batches were made during the rolling fun. One batch with one ingredient and the other batch with the other. I'll hold off sharing for a while until we get a spirited exchange of twenty questions. I have to admit that I pride myself with care and tradition when it comes to cooking like Granma. Excuse me if I sing in the kitchen when I'm cooking. We Napolitans do that sort of stuff.
Keep the family alive in food, song and knowledge.
Regards. Jim

[Jim&Fran]

More important than the cooking method is what's in the mix. Every Granma passed the "secret" to a select few. A little tweaking was tollerated but don't dare freelance and try to pass yours as Granmas. I am of Napolitan descent and we usually had two ingredients used that added that special flavor. Two batches were made during the rolling fun. One batch with one ingredient and the other batch with the other. I'll hold off sharing for a while until we get a spirited exchange of twenty questions. I have to admit that I pride myself with care and tradition when it comes to cooking like Granma. Excuse me if I sing in the kitchen when I'm cooking. We Napolitans do that sort of stuff.
Keep the family alive in food, song and knowledge.
Regards. Jim

[jblum315]

My recipe for meatballs from the Italian grandma who lived next door to me in Mamaroneck NY:
2 slices French bread
1/2 cup milk
1 pound ground beef
1/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage removed from casing
6 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. grated lemon peel (very important!)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg or allspice
1 tsp. salt plus fresh ground black pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
Soak bread in milk 5 minutes, squeeze dry and discard milk. Combine bread with other ingredients and mix vigorously with both hands. Shape into small meatballs (1 1/2 inch) Lay them on baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour (this helps keep them round). Fry them, bake them, or drop them in simmering sauce - your choice. 4-5 meatballs per serving. They freeze well.

[Yankee Quilter]

Both my husband and I are of Calabrian decent ... My mom browned meatballs and put them into the sauce ASAP and left them there as long as possible. Joe's Gramma, not Scicilian, put raisins in hers, fried them and then added to the sauce. However they are made...manga! Here in the Atlanta area, you have to explain that they are wonderful on pizza!
After turkey I already for a good meatball!

[carm310]

My mom fried them in a separate pan from the sauce/gravy. My grandma dropped them raw into the sauce/gravy.
I have done both and have baked or broiled them also. It depends what I want in a particular batch of meatballs. Each method creates a different taste.

My mom called it gravy and my grandma called it sauce...so I guess I am flexible!