"Sunday" Meat Sauce
Chapter 1 — The Sauces: The Foundational Layer
Let’s get one thing straight right out of the gate: this is not a quick weeknight marinara. This is Sunday Gravy, a magnificent, unapologetic, four-hour minimum project born when Southern Italian immigrants took one look at the glorious abundance of American meat and said, 'put it all in the pot.' Do not apologize for it not being authentically Neapolitan. This is its own distinct cuisine, the proud, deeply comforting taste of a Tuesday night at your favorite red-sauce joint in Brooklyn. It is meant to bubble slowly on the stove while you make foil-wrapped garlic bread, drink a glass of Chianti, and listen to the chaos of your friends arriving.
Before you start
Make the panade.
Combine the torn Italian bread chunks and whole milk in a bowl. Let it sit and soak until completely softened. Do not substitute dry breadcrumbs; the milk-soaked bread keeps the meatballs incredibly tender.
Ingredients
- extra virgin olive oil3 tbsp
- pork spareribs or neck bones1 lb
- sweet and hot Italian sausages1 lb
- yellow onion1 large
- garlic cloves5 large
- tomato paste6 oz
- dry red wine1/2 cup
- whole peeled plum tomatoes56 oz
- tomato purée or passata28 oz
- fresh basil2 small
- ground beef1 lb
- ground pork1/2 lb
- ground veal1/2 lb
- stale Italian bread1 cup
- whole milk1/2 cup
- eggs2 large
- Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano3/4 cup
- fresh flat-leaf parsley1/4 cup
- garlic cloves2 med
- kosher salt2 tsp
- black pepper1 tsp
- red pepper flakes1/2 tsp
Method
- 01
Sear the pork and sausage.
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, then brown the ribs and sausages on all sides until deeply crusty. Remove them to a platter, leaving that dark, sticky, rendered pork fat exactly where it is.
- 02
Build the aromatic base.
Drop the heat to medium-low, add the grated onion to the pork fat, and sauté until soft and translucent. Stir in the smashed garlic and red pepper flakes for exactly one minute, just until it hits your nose.
- 03
Caramelize the tomato paste.
Add the tomato paste and fry it, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it darkens from bright red to a rusty brick color to cook out the metallic tin flavor and build a deep, umami-rich foundation.
- 04
Deglaze with red wine.
Pour in the Chianti—it will hiss and spit—and use your wooden spoon to aggressively scrape up every last browned bit from the bottom of the pot. Let the wine reduce until it’s almost entirely a thick syrup.
- 05
Begin the four-hour simmer.
Pour in the hand-crushed tomatoes and purée, slide the browned meats and their juices back into the pot, and tuck in the basil. Bring to a gentle bubble, then drop the heat to the absolute lowest setting, partially cover, and let it lazily blub for at least four hours, scraping the bottom every thirty minutes.
- 06
Mix the meatballs.
Around hour two, squeeze the excess milk from your soaked bread, crumble it into a large bowl, and gently combine it with the beef, pork, veal, eggs, grated cheese, parsley, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Use your hands, but do not overwork the meat or the meatballs will turn tough.
- 07
Par-bake the meatballs.
Roll the mixture into large, golf-ball-sized spheres and place them on a lightly oiled sheet pan. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes just to set the crust so they survive the sauce.
- 08
Integrate and finish.
With 90 minutes left on the sauce's journey, gently slip the par-baked meatballs into the simmering tomato bath. Let them poach slowly until the four hours are up, the ribs are falling apart, the sauce is a dark, oily red, and the whole house smells like heaven.
Notes
The Holy Trinity of Meatballs.
The ratio of 50% beef, 25% pork, and 25% veal is the non-negotiable secret to a perfect meatball. The beef brings flavor, the pork provides sweet fat, and the veal yields gelatinous tenderness. If you absolutely cannot find veal, a 50/50 split of beef and pork will do.
Do not wipe out the pot.
After you sear the ribs and sausages, the sticky brown fond and rendered fat left behind are the absolute soul of your Sunday gravy. Build your sauce directly on top of it.
From Cook Red Sauce at Home.