Meat Sauce and Spaghetti

Show: Episode:

Picture of Meat Sauce and Spaghetti Recipe Photo: Meat Sauce and Spaghetti Recipe
Rated 4 stars out of 5
  • Rate This Recipe
  • Read 111 Reviews
Total Time:
5 hr 45 min
Prep
45 min
Cook
5 hr 0 min
Yield:
6 to 8 servings
Level:
Easy
x

Save To My Recipe Box

Please limit to 20 characters

Saving Recipe

Adding Recipe

Or Do Not Add

Success

This recipe was saved to your Folder_Name folder.

x

Save To My Recipe Box

Please sign in to save this recipe to your Recipe Box!!

25 Characters Max

Enter Time:

:
:

You can create up to five timers

Ingredients

Meat sauce:

  • 6 ounces thick sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 large onions, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 1 whole star anise pod
  • 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic, 3 minced and 2 sliced
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 8 ounces coarsely ground beef chuck
  • 8 ounces coarsely ground pork butt
  • 1 1/4 cups white wine, divided
  • 3/4 cup evaporated milk
  • 3 cups beef broth
  • 1-ounce dried porcini mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil
  • 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan

Pasta:

  • 1 gallon water
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 pound dry spaghetti

Directions

For the meat sauce:

Place an 8-quart Dutch oven over low heat and add the bacon. Cook slowly until the bacon is crispy and has rendered its fat, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan for another use. Add the onion, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Place the clove and star anise into a small spice bag, add to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cook, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions caramelize, 45 to 60 minutes. Add the celery and the 3 cloves of minced garlic to the pan and continue to cook over low heat until the celery is semi-translucent, approximately 30 minutes. Remove the spice bag from the pot.

Meanwhile, place a wide 4-quart saute pan, over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and once it shimmers, add the beef chuck and the pork butt and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the meat to a colander to drain. Return the pan to high heat, add 1/2 cup of the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Transfer these bits and any remaining wine to the Dutch oven along with the meat.

Add another 1/2 cup of the wine, evaporated milk, beef broth, and mushrooms to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours.

Once the sauce has been cooking for 1 1/2 hours, place the 4-quart saute pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once it shimmers, add the 2 cloves of sliced garlic and cook for 30 to 45 seconds or until fragrant. Do not allow the garlic to brown. Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and marjoram and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, approximately 30 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 cup wine, tomato paste, ketchup, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high; add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the tomato mixture to the meat mixture and stir to combine. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, while preparing the pasta.

For the pasta:

Bring the water and salt to a boil over high heat. Carefully add the pasta, stirring quickly to separate. Cover and return to a boil, being careful that the water does not boil over. Once boiling again, uncover and continue to cook until slightly less than al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Add the pasta to the meat sauce and cook, over low heat, for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Add the Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. Transfer pasta and sauce to a serving bowl or individual bowls and serve.

Print Recipe

Wine Suggestion for This Recipe

Sangiovese

Sangiovese

Bright, fruity Italian red wine

Quick Video Tips

Find easy pairings for your favorite recipes, Bobby's perfect picks and party ideas.

Wine 101: Get All the Basics

Browse Reviews by Keywordnew!

Loading review filters...

COMMENT ON THIS PROJECT

    

Sign in

All fields are required.

E-mail Address:

Password:

Remember me on this computer

Signing in

Please enter your email address and we will send your password

E-mail Address

Your password has been sent and should arrive in your mailbox very soon.

Not a member?

Sign up for My Food Network to share photos, show off your style, and connect to an enthusiastic and helpful community.

It's free and easy.

Review This Recipe

You must be logged in to review this recipe.

Newest Ratings and Reviews

Read all 111 reviews

  • on May 17, 2013

    Flag

    I am rating this five stars only because I don't want to be one of those people that gives a recipe a bad rating and then goes on to say they changed 50 things..that would be lame. I tried to make a healthier version of this, using olive oil instead of bacon fat and ground turkey instead of the beef and pork. I really should have known better..the turkey doesn't benefit from cooking this long at all, really, plus this method of cooking the tomatoes make them very sweet and ketchupy..with the big flavors of pork and beef it might work, but with turkey it overwhelms. If you are looking for some lean meat sauce I would try something else, or make this recipe as written. Also..I can't believe how many people complain about the milk curdling when it clearly says to use evaporated milk. Don't you think there was a reason for that?

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
  • on April 21, 2013

    Flag

    This recipe is pretty good but requires some tweeking. 3 cups of beef broth is way too much, it dilutes the flavor and makes the sauce watery, use 1 to 1 1/2 cups instead. Same with the wine, take it easy, 3/4 cups is about right. I tried adding the evaporated milk, it soured the flavor. These are my taste preferences but I've been working with this recipe for about a year and have tried many different versions based on this recipe. Half beef broth and half chicken broth makes for a little more depth of flavor.

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
  • on February 18, 2013

    Flag

    Made it for the first time yesterday. So good. It's a great recipe that takes a lot of tending to. If you have a Sunday where you just want to fiddle about the kitchen and read the paper or that book you been meaning to read this is the recipe for that type of day. No complicated techniques just a lot of steps and ingredients. It is well worth it. Very thick and flavorful. I did not add the pasta into the sauce as I wanted to save the sauce separately if there were leftovers. There weren't. This will work well with double the pasta suggested as well if you serve the sauce over the top as I did.
    I had no trouble with the evaporated milk curdling as others had experienced. I slowly drizzled the milk into the sauce meat mixture as I stirred it well. No problems.
    It's an "all afternoon" endeavor but well worth the time spent. I made the recipe exactly as written. Definitely putting this into rotation.

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Next Recipe

Manny's Manly Meat Sauce

Manny's Manly Meat Sauce

By: Rachael Ray
Rated 4 stars out of 5
Advertisement

What's Hot

Iron Chef America

Hosted by: Alton Brown

Free Recipe of the Day Newsletter

Let Food Network chefs plan what's for dinner, with quick and easy recipes delivered to your inbox daily.

Ads by Google

© 2013 Television Food Network G.P. All rights reserved.