Help-spaghetti sauce

Well, I'm not a beef or pork eater but I can tell you about chicken, which I hope will be somewhat helpful.

Put some olive oil into a small pot and heat on medium high. Toss in garlic or salt or whatever other seasonings you want - but not the tomato stuff. That's for later. Cut up the meat into small pieces (bite-sized). Make sure all bones have been removed. Drop into the heated, flavored oil and watch the pot, particularly if garlic is in it (because the smell of burned garlic is particularly foul). You'll tell it's cooking because the aroma will be nice. :-D Stir occasionally to keep everything cooking evenly and assure that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.

Chicken should be cooked until it's white and 160 degrees F. Beef I'm not sure about but you definitely don't want it to be purple. I'd say, for beef, if you can easily pull it apart with a fork, it's done. Anything more will be too tough. I have no idea about pork; someone else would have to tell you that.

The main idea here is for any kind of meat to not be raw but not overly cooked so that it's tough. Another method I've used, if I'm using canned tomatoes, is to stew the meat in the liquid from the cans. This infuses the meat with more of a tomato-y flavor, and it stays tenderer. I suppose you could use other liquids or even wine. You'd have to experiment and go with what tastes good to you.

Once the meat is ready, toss in the tomato mixture. I don't know your package directions or what you prefer so you'll need to play this part by ear. Basically what you want is for all of the ingredients to be at more or less the same temperature, so the tomato mixture will need to cook for a while so that it gets up to speed.

Variations:

Add whatever vegetables you like. You mention you don't like onions, but mushrooms can be tasty. Peppers are okay but you may want to cook them separately and toss them in at the last minute; otherwise the flavor can be somewhat dominant. Another possibility is chopped eggplant or even carrots.

None of what I'm telling you is particularly authentic, but it's tasty, easy to make, fast and inexpensive. Plus, if you use olive oil and make sure whichever kind of meat you're using has had much of the fat removed, it's healthy.

i like to use italian sausage in spaghetti sauce. my daughters like it cut into bite sized pieces. i just cook it through without any oil. the sausage makes enough grease/oil of it's own, drain oil and add your sauce and whatever else you want and simmer until done.

Wilso
You don't like onions??? I'll remember that ;-) I love onions and put them in tons of stuff that I make, but I'll be sure to leave them out if you should ever drift up this way ;-)

I'm gonna have to start a new thread now asking what foods people don't like, LOL! Don't forget to stop in there since enquiring minds want to know ;-)

Wilso
This is how I make my spaghetti sauce.

If you're adding meat to it, you want to chop it up into bite size chunks and cook that. Then you want to cook your veggies in oil for about 5 minutes. I chop onions, peppers, garlic, and mushrooms in mine, but you can use whatever you want. about half a cup of each veggie is what I put, except for the garlic where I chop 2 cloves. When that's done add a can of tomatoes, 6oz of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon chopped basil, 1 teaspoon oregino, half a teaspoon thyme, and a bay leaf. Stir it well and bring it to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. remove cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.

I don't know if this is considered simple. It is to me because I'm use to making it.

Oh, I forgot to mention to add a teaspoon of sugar when you add the rest of the stuff.

Hi all!

Wilso, I getting that your goal is a basic, traditional meat sauce,..made easy by using a prepared tomato sauce. It can be done easily, and quite come out really good,..just make sure that your using a good quality sauce.

I would start by cooking some ground beef, and some hot italian sausage (taken out of the casing, and broken up), brown the meat, add some minced garlic and a bay leaf. Add the sauce and simmer on med high for about ten minutes to soften the meat, and thicken the sauce. salt and pepper to taste.

A note on carrots and tomato sauce:
My nana always put a whole carrot in her sauce while it was cooking, removing it just before serving. I always wondered why,
I found out later on that the natural sugars in the carrot, balance the acid in the tomatoes. Some cooks add sugar to balance it, I've found that the carrot works just as well

Jerry
That sounds easy enough. Thanks for the carrot idea. I'll have to try that.

Wilso
I forgot to tell you that I put a quarter teaspoon of both salt & pepper in my recipe.

Gee, I love onions too. I flood my hot dog bun with lots of chopped onions and mustard. The only way I'll eat a hot dog. c.i.

CI
I do the same thing, except for I use ketchup since I don't like mustard. I must go add that to my don't like thread.

I don't think you could make a lot of dishes without onion. You could try leeks, cooked they have a milder flavour (raw, they're even more bitey than onion - go figure). Hindis who are forbidden from consuming onion and garlic substitute 'asfortida' - a possibility for you.

Sorry mate, but the ready-made sauces will also contain onion in some degree.

I don't mind the bit of onion in the sauce. According to the jar it's supposed to be a stand alone sauce, but it just ain't got the body!

Natch, the best additions of 'oomph' to a spaghetti sauce are:
-tomato puree or tomato concentrate
-sugar (this offsets the acidity in the tomato)
-lemon (this offsets the sweetness of the sugar)
-chillis (don't panic, it doesn't HAVE to burn your gullet and your nether regions), add a little bit and find the point where it adds that 'kick' without taking over the mix.

Hmm, save for Vidalias, a raw onion is an onion at war...releasing all it's 'make you cry' chemicals in protest of you cutting it apart. However, when suateed, roasted, marinated or deeply caramelized, the onion is a beautiful thing

urgh, 'sauteed'

Cav
I agree. I couldn't imagine many of my dishes without onion.

Heh heh, just to irk the vegetarians (and no real offense intended), I have a question:

An onion (or any plant for that matter) can't run away from a human....it resorts to chemical warfare when cut into....ergo, is this not a sign of consciousness, at least on a basic level? Is this not the same political issue as killing an animal? Does not the animal, with speed and intelligence, and legs, have a better chance for survival? Whassup wit dat? If you prick a carrot (or a beet), does it not bleed? All in fun, folks

Cav
You're looking for trouble, LOL!