Italian Cooking

[Andy M.]

...Am I a food snob if I don't like hamburger in spaghetti? And am I wrong for using frozen meatballs? They do taste good to me but I'd like to do better.

With love,
~Cat

Not a food snob, just someone who doesn't like ground beef in their sauce.

If you learn to make good meatballs, you'll never use the frozen ones again.

 

[CatPat]

Do most people like ground beef in their sauce? Laki makes hers with hamburger and Carl's mom does also. Mamma uses the Italian sausage and veal in hers and that's where I got that idea.

With love,
~Cat

 

[Mad Cook]

I've been exploring Southern foods and cooking, and found so very many very good things my friends and my family like very, very much, and so my menus have begun to expand. I like this!

My new attempt at exploring new and different cooking is now Italian cooking and foods. This will start soon. Of course, I'll need help again as I go along but as in the last time, I know I'll have very much help!

I wish to thank all of you in advance, for I know I'll receive wonderful advice and tips, and I also do wish to warn you of this. I'm sure you all are thinking of, "Oh, no, here we go again!" And I do certainly understand!

I'd like to start simply, so any help you can give me is so very appreciated. We shall see how this goes, yes?

Thank you so very much!

With love,
~Cat

Anna Del Conte - "Italian Kitchen"

 

[Addie]

Do most people like ground beef in their sauce? Laki makes hers with hamburger and Carl's mom does also. Mamma uses the Italian sausage and veal in hers and that's where I got that idea.

With love,
~Cat

Cat, not everyone likes hamburger. I don't like it as a patty, like Burger King. In fact I don't even like it as a ragu in the spaghetti sauce. Only in meatballs. It has to be seasoned for me. A lot of folks here use convenience foods. They buy them because they like them. You like frozen meatballs. And Andy is right. When you learn to make your own, you will never want to use frozen again. But using convenience foods will still be available if you need them. And that does not make you a food snob. And we don't have food snobs here. Not allowed. To each their own.

 

[Dawgluver]

I prefer hot Italian sausage to burger in my spaghetti sauce. I also love additional fennel seed, toasted a bit and ground. And as far as meatballs, there is absolutely nothing wrong with premade frozen! Try them sometime with grape jelly and chili sauce in the crock pot!

 

[Zagut]

And we don't have food snobs here. Not allowed. To each their own.

That's why this is such a nice site.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

So true Jenny. She writes her books as if she is standing at your side talking to you. A very easy read. Even for a beginner cook.

So I should look for Lidia Bastianich books?

Yeah, like I don't have enough to do on this enforced vacation.

 

[Dawgluver]

So I should look for Lidia Bastianich books?

Yeah, like I don't have enough to do on this enforced vacation.

I press the envelope to my forehead, and in my best Johnny Carson Carnac the Magnificent impression, ask, "Who wants to go back to work ASAP?"

Answer: A nurse who no longer sets off the metal detector and who doesn't want to eat what her ogre cooks!

 

[CatPat]

I press the envelope to my forehead, and in my best Johnny Carson Carnac the Magnificent impression, ask, "Who wants to go back to work ASAP?"

Answer: A nurse who no longer sets off the metal detector and who doesn't want to eat what her ogre cooks!

Oh my! My magical crystal ball said the very same thing, Dawg!

I'm glad no one thinks badly of me about this. I'm still reading and reading! I thank you all so very much! I'll discuss my first meal here before I try it.

With love,
~Cat

 

[CatPat]

I prefer hot Italian sausage to burger in my spaghetti sauce. I also love additional fennel seed, toasted a bit and ground. And as far as meatballs, there is absolutely nothing wrong with premade frozen! Try them sometime with grape jelly and chili sauce in the crock pot!

Did you post a recipe of this? I'd like to try it!

With love,
~Cat

 

[Rocklobster]

I love meatballs with lots of filler. My ex had a Zia who would bring us home made meatballs to work at the bar when I lived in Italy. She loaded them with garlic, Romano cheese and eggs and simmered them in tomato sauce. They had a very spongy texture and melted in your mouth. The best I have ever tasted and I could never reproduce them..

 

[Dawgluver]

Did you post a recipe of this? I'd like to try it!

With love,
~Cat

Sure, Cat, it's just a 32 oz jar of Welch's grape jelly, and 3 bottles of Heinz Chili sauce. You mix the sauce together, throw in your frozen meatballs (I used 64 ounces) , cook together until it's heated through, then pour into your crock pot and keep warm. You can do the whole thing in your crock pot, or on the stove. Cut back on the measurements if you want.

Aunt Bea had a great idea, these are normally served with toothpicks, but she suggested spearing them with pretzel sticks, so the toothpicks don't show up all over the house!

And obviously, this is not Italian, but has been a very popular recipe since the 1950‘s and around here, it disappears quickly!

 

[Andy M.]

Sure, Cat, it's just a 32 oz jar of Welch's grape jelly, and 3 bottles of Heinz Chili sauce. You mix the sauce together, throw in your frozen meatballs (I used 64 ounces) , cook together until it's heated through, then pour into your crock pot and keep warm...

This is really good. You can also use sliced kielbasa, Lil Smokies or cocktail franks.

 

[CatPat]

Oh this sounds so good! I love grape jelly, jam, or anything of grapes. Thank you both!

With love, ~Cat

 

[Dawgluver]

This is really good. You can also use sliced kielbasa, Lil Smokies or cocktail franks.

Yes! DH announced that his potluck was the same day as mine, the day before the potlucks so I had him get some Little Smokies and threw those into the sauce along with the meatballs. He got the little crock pot to take to work.

 

[cara]

Do most people like ground beef in their sauce? Laki makes hers with hamburger and Carl's mom does also. Mamma uses the Italian sausage and veal in hers and that's where I got that idea.

With love,
~Cat

I like it very much - would be a suggestion for my last meal if I'm going to be executed
It has to cook long enough until the ground beef is tender..
But you might give ground pork a try, if it's the beef you don't like.

Or go for a nice carbonara ;o)

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Do most people like ground beef in their sauce? Laki makes hers with hamburger and Carl's mom does also. Mamma uses the Italian sausage and veal in hers and that's where I got that idea.

With love,
~Cat

We're on our third generation of making sauce with the family recipe that uses ground chuck as the meat. It started when my MIL (of Slovak descent) fine-tuned her recipe, taught it to Himself. who then taught me. I've tweaked it over the years and now our daughter makes it every once in a great while. It was one of the "Mom must make" foods when we were in OH for Christmas. Oh, and the recipe is also included in a neighborhood cookbook one of the neighbor's put together from all of our best-loved foods.

The best part about cooking though is that YOU get to put in whatever YOU like best! If a recipe calls for one ingredient that you really don't like, feel free to try a different ingredient. Either you love it...or you decide to never add that ingredient again!

 

[Andy M.]

I like to use either ground pork or Italian sausage (loose) in meat sauce.

 

[Addie]

So I should look for Lidia Bastianich books?

Yeah, like I don't have enough to do on this enforced vacation.

PF I don't know if you watch her show, but she came to this country as a DP (Displaced Person). The Catholic Charities brought them to this country after they fled communism in northern Italy. Throughout her series she has shared her story and shows pictures of when she was a little girl during WWII. He mother now lives with her and often appears on her show. Her son is partners with Mario Batalli and a wine expert. Her daughter studied European Art History and often appears on her show also.

In her books she often shares her stories and how the dishes she makes are part of her life. She tells why a certain ingredient came into being in place of the obvious. Aside from the recipes, makes for some very interesting reading.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I lost control of watching food shows when Shrek retired.