THE HORRIBLE TRUTH ABOUT SPAGHETTI

AAAARRGH! I overate and now I feel like jumping off a cliff just to end the pain. I blame it on
demon spaghetti.

I posted some spaghetti recipes a few days ago, and that started my mouth watering. It occurred to me that since I'd just watched a bunch of videos on the subject, and since I had the all the recipes that commenters sent in, that I could probably make a decent pot of spaghetti this very day. Today I spent hours shopping and cooking, and I just finished eating what I cooked. My conclusion? It was by far the best spaghetti I ever had, but......I'm sorry to say...it was disappointing.

It was disappointing because spaghetti itself is disappointing. The American style, meat-mixed-in-the-sauce spaghetti can be good, and in the right hands it can be very good, but it can never be great. Nothing that's meant to be wolfed down then sit in your stomach like a brick for hours can ever aspire to greatness.

I know what you're thinking, that it's my own fault if I overate, but that's only half true. The fact is that spaghetti is designed to be overeaten. Something about the chemistry of the thing actually promotes overeating. Using better ingredients only makes overeating more likely.

I have such a stomach ache! I can hardly type!

From this experience I learned that Italians were probably right about meatballs. Separating the meat from the sauce gives makes for more contrast in the flavors, and likely prolongs the meal so you don't feel so drowsy and heavy in the stomach afterwards. Next time I make spaghetti, I'll go the meatball route.

Aaaargh! Now I'm gonna sack out on the couch!

BTW, here's the way I made it: I like mushrooms, so I started by frying a few in olive oil, garlic and a little bacon fat. I only half cooked them, figuring that I'd let them cook the rest of the way when I put them in the sauce. I now regard this as a mistake. When added too early the mushrooms are overwhelmed by the sauce and you don't even taste them.

I cooked up some Italian sausage in olive oil and garlic and added lots of cabernet and port. Most of it evaporated and had only a small impact on the flavor. Next time I'll use only port and add it when the sauce is nearly finished.

When the meat was more than half done I added a sauce of fresh, skinned Italian tomatoes (according to a commenter, they're out of season and are therefore inferior to the canned variety), and canned crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Also in the sauce: the mushrooms I talked about earlier, onion, parmesan, green pepper, garlic and garlic powder, salt, ground pepper, oregano and basil. I would have added fennel if I'd had it.

I let it simmer for about 45 minutes. When it still seemed too thin, I thickened it with another small can of tomato paste, which was a mistake because the finished sauce tasted pastey. Later, when I was finished, I realized that I'd never added water. The only liquids were wine and the crushed tomato fluid. I should have added some water and let it simmer longer.

I wish I'd combined the Italian sausage with some ground beef or pork. The sausage was delicious but needed something to balance it out.

In spite of my mistakes the sauce still tasted very good, so I feel like I gave the meat sauce-style of spaghetti a fair trial. I still like spaghetti a whole lot, but I've been won over to the meatball theory.

BTW: This blog was featured on Boing Boing a couple of days ago. Many thanks to Steve Worth for the kind words!