<p>I’m about to try the recipe in the Sep/Oct 2009 Cook’s Illustrated for Sunday gravy, or Italian meat sauce.</p>
<p>I know there are a few fans of that magazine here, so I thought I’d ask if anyone else has tried it, and how it turned out.</p>
<p>I’m making one substitution, using beef short ribs instead of pork babyback ribs. How do you think this will affect my results? My wife suggests pressure-cooking them before simmering them in the sauce, otherwise they won’t be tender for many hours. Does that sound right?</p>
<p>I’m making sauce right now. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a deep saucepot until shimmering. Add the beef short ribs and brown evenly over medium heat, turning frequently. When nicely browned, remove from pan. Saute finely chopped onions (one medium) and several cloves of garlic over very low heat in the pan drippings, scraping up the browned bits - do this very slowly over very low heat - should take 15 minutes or so. Add tomatoes - whatever type you normally use (If I don’t have fresh, I use three large cans of San Marzano whole tomatoes, which I puree in the food processor). Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Return short ribs to the pan. At this point, I usually add finely minced fresh rosemary, oregano, a bay leaf, and a bit of crushed red pepper. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little water to thin out. Bring to a simmer and lower the heat until you barely see a “blub, blub” in the pot. Let simmer, uncovered, for about three hours. The meat will fall off the bone and the sauce will have a very delicious, rich flavor. About an hour before the sauce is finished, I add several fresh, whole basil leaves.</p>
<p>My MIL is from Italy and this is the way she makes the sauce. She often adds one lamb rib chop along with the beef short ribs.</p>
<p>By the way, we always use beef short ribs - bone-in, from Whole Foods, never pork. Sauce made from pork is much more oily. The quality of the beef ribs should be very good - some have too much cartilage and they won’t become tender, no matter how long they are cooked.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom’s recipe sounds wonderful. Or you can watch that scene in The Godfather where Clemenza makes the gravy. (If you don’t know it, search YouTube for “cooking with clemenza”.)</p>
<p>Mine is ready and smells great. I’m putting it on cheese-filled rigatoni - handmade - I picked up at a local Italian market. Then, a grating of Reggiano-Parmesano on top. Good for a cold Sunday night.</p>
<p>Every time I watch the Godfather or Goodfellas, I get such a yen for Sicilian red sauced pasta.ESPECIALLY Goodfellas When my H worked on a Scorsese film a while back , I made M.Scorsese’s mom a big panforte as a kind of thank you gift for all those great food scenes that she inspired.</p>
<p>Funny that this should come up. I am reheating the “gravy” from earlier this week. I used beef short ribs and italian sausage. My MIL who was italian (sister born in Italy, she was born here) always had a beef bone or a lamb bone in the Sunday gravy. Her version of it (and mine) was very much like gourmetmom’s except she only used basil as her seasoning. She also used canned tomatoes in the winter or those that she had frozen from her garden. I cheat and use a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of diced tomatoes (no food processor). She was a great cook and a great mother-in-law. I still miss her 18 years later!</p>
<p>My husband pointed out that she usually added the meat back in after the onions and garlic and deglazed the pan with about a cup of red wine (whatever they had open). I tend to do that also, but if we don’t have any open I just skip it.</p>
<p>Nice thread you guys. I think beef, pork, or even better, both would work, chilling and skimming fat, of course. I’ve been on a “pork belly” mission for weeks, and wonder how that would work.</p>
<p>It turned out well, thank you! My meatballswell, Cook’s Illustrated’s meatballsgot rave reviews, and the short ribs fell off the bone. A happy Sunday!</p>
<p>I’ve read that tomato producers leave their ripest and best quality tomatoes whole and the inferior tomatoes are sold diced or pureed, so I always buy whole and puree them myself. I’m not sure if this is really true, but I’ve noticed that the canned whole tomatoes end up tasting closer to fresh than the puree. Also, the sauce is not as thick and sticky.</p>
<p>I only add the rosemary if I use a little bit of lamb. Normally, basil is enough, but if I have fresh oregano, I use it - but I would never use dried oregano in a sauce - way too strong and overpowering. If possible, only fresh basil - dried herbs really don’t cut it in a good sauce.</p>
<p>My MIL sometimes adds a few pieces of beef tenderloin along with the other meats - really a decadent treat.</p>
<p>When it has meat products incorporated, it is a gravy. With no meat products it is considered a sauce; e.g., marinara, orange, cherry, bernaise, etc., etc…</p>
<p>I could NOT ignore this thread!! When I see a reference to “gravy” I have to smile.</p>
<p>Grew-up with 100% Italian grandma living with us and making gravy every Sunday. 100% Italian mom carried on the tradition. I’m the last of the 100% generation in my family…always thought I’d marry an Italian guy but it didn’t work out that way. I don’t make gravy that often, but I did make a nice big pot today!! My “WASP” husband loves it - he might have married me for my cooking!! </p>
<p>My mom always insisted it was the pork (yummy ribs) that made the gravy. The only times I heard the words “pasta” or “sauce” when I was growing up were in specific recipes - for example Linguine with Clam Sauce or Pasta Fagioli (which I made earlier in the week and it was outrageous!!!)</p>
<p>My husband’s family never, ever calls it “gravy,” regardless of whether it contains meat or not. I get the impression that they think it is a term used by Italian-Americans, not “real Italians.”</p>
<p>It is most definitely used by Italian-Americans. After all, “gravy” is not an Italian word. They couldn’t have called it that until they came here.</p>
<p>No one in my family, including those who were first generation, called this gravy. My sauce has become very simple: minced and sauted garlic, Hunts tomato sauce, salt and pepper and lots of basil. Start to finish time is about 15 minutes. The meat is optional and varies as available.</p>
<p>Actually I never heard it called gravy until I saw the recipe in Cook’s Illustrated, and I thought it sounded weird. Tomatoes do not belong in gravy, to my way of thinking. Ew! :)</p>