"Anthony's Sauce Talk, Italian Recipe Discussions" Copyright © 1998-2008 All rights reserved



Sauce Talk Continued...
Email discussions about Italian recipes. Answers to many questions can be found within these discussions...
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Anthony,
They, I just wanna thank you for your recipe. I have been waiting on my mom to send me my grandmothers recipe. It was by far the best I have ever had my whole life until she died, no other compared, my mom doesn't make it the same way for a few reasons,one being the health factor cholesterol and junk.... So I found your recipe in the meantime, it was very similiar to my grandmothers from what I can remember. I just wanna give you one tip that really adds to the flavor incredibly. When frying up all the meat, fry it up usuing LARD. WoW what flavor!!!!! Obviously not the best for yo,u but man it taste so good!!!! Anyway I made this last week and it was to die for, it actually tasted very similiar to my grandmother she would have been proud. Thanks again.

Joe.

Hey Joe,,
Glad you liked the sauce. It is wonderful when you get that special grandma taste that nothing can come close to, I nderstand the value of this. Thus why I have put so much energy into this site! This is also a way to make sure my children will keep on the traditions of grandma sauce, it must never die! Lard? Cook the meat in Lard? Hmmm.... I just don't know, I'm thinking grandma Salerno would not approve... Although, I might just have to try this out one day. But I sure won't let any of my relatives know about it. Would never hear the end of it! Anthony, Anthony, Lard in the sauce? Whatsa-matta-fa-you? You stunots or what? Momma mia! I'm thinking this is what I would hear ;-) Anyway, I'm glad I could share this glorious recipe with you. Happy cooking!.

 Ciao,

~8-) Anthony

Anthony,
I absolutely loved your recipe directions. I was laughing so hard. I'm Italian and a chef/instructor at the local college. I think I'll share this with my students if you don't mind. I'm always looking for new and innovative ways to encourage and inspire our chefs in training.

Thanks for sharing.

~ Peggy Riccio

Peggy,
Glad you enjoyed it.. Cooking should be fun and it should be an exciting adventure, especially Italian cooking!!! and Most definitely when it's done the way grandma used to do it :-) I believe in easy instructions that are not boring to read through, seems maybe I have achieved that. Well happy cooking and feel free to share with the class, make sure you tell them to "Stir" the sauce and that the quality of their cooking will be in direct proportion to the passion and love they put into their work. I try to cook with the passion and love my grandma Salerno had for cooking, it was her way of showing how much she loved us! I have many more recipes I will get up eventually. Have them all in my head, just have to remember to write down all the steps. They best way I know if inspiring and encourage the new chefs is to impart to them a passion for good food and the joy that is brings others. What I like best about good food is that it brings family and friends together.

Live long, eat good, enjoy life, make friends, have fun!!!
We are only here for a short while, make the best of it :-)

Ciao,

~8-) Anthony

Dear Anthony,
My family and I have enjoyed your recipes so much , brings back wonderful memories. Thank you all of us appreciate it.

~ Sincerely, Lucia

Lucia,
Glad to be of service, I know what you mean. Food (Good Italian Food Especially) has powers that bring up old memories for sure! I will be adding more recipes to the site soon, I just have to remember to write all the steps down.. I'll be sitting there at the table with my family enjoying some nice raviolis or some nice lasagna and it hits me... Bam! I forgot to write down the recipe again! Ugh!!! Well maybe one day soon I will remember, it's all in my head, just have to transpose it from my brain to paper and then to the internet. I need a USB port to my brain so I can just upload directly to computer from frontal lobe, auh but alas! Things would probably get lost in translation. ha!

Well, have a glorious day!

Ciao,

~8-) Anthonyl

Dear Anthony,
I have never been to a web site where the recipes were as accurate and complete as my mother made them. You must be Siciliano! Your recipe for Eggplant Parmesan had the same steps as my mother's, right down to the eggplant pressing of 5 hours. I really enjoyed your directions and you didn't miss a step. I have forwarded your site onto many of my friends.

Thanks again,

~ Marilyn Martini Mar

Marilyn,
Glad you enjoyed the site. Well my Wife is Sacilian (some of my mother-inlaws techniques have been introduced into my family recipe) I am Itaian from mid-country. My grapndparents where from Salerno, Italy, that is about right in the middle of Italy and to the east (they moved to the states when in their 20's), so the Italian my grandma cooked was a mix of Northern and Southern Italy. Sounds like you too grew up with some GOOD cooking :-) There are so many memories tied in with a good home-cooked meal the way your grandma used to make it.

 ~8-) Anthony

Anthony,
I was trying to find a recipe for braciole and happened upon your site. I love it. The amount of detail you provide is great. My sister recently asked me to write down my Grandma Rose's recipe for her, and it is difficult to write for someone to follow, it is so much easier to show them. You did a much better job than I did. I just told her about your site. My family never calls it sauce though, we always call it Gravy. We only call it sauce if it is marinara sauce. We call it Gravy if we use meat in it. I am going to try your sauce this weekend. I am alway in the mood for a big pot of gravy when the weather gets cold, and here in Chicago, it just got really cold. Funny that several people mentioned Everybody loves Raymond because I saw the late night re-run last night which prompted me to look for a recipe for braciole. Even though I am 1/2 Italian, I have never made braciole. On the show, Debra mentions something about currants in hers and I have no idea what currants are doing in braciole. I personally have never heard of that. You really have to try to catch that episode. It is very funny. Can't wait to try your recipe. I am also going to try your recipe for tarelle. I usually just by them from an Italian bakery, but they sound so good I'm going to give them a try. The Italian music really adds alot to your site..

Thanks! Mary Pat Eraci-Sullivane.

Mary,
I'm glad I could help you out with your sister. I KNOW what you mean. It really is very hard work writing down every step necessary for classic family Italian meals. So many little secret details, so much work to write them down! I still have many recipes that are just in my head. I just know how much to put in of each item, hard to expolain, you go by feel because that's how grandma did it. Anyway, glad you like the site :-) I keep on hearing about this Everybody loves Raymond episode with the braciole. I'm going to have to watch that show some how! I don't watch much TV at all, I think it's all garbage. Well, maybe one day it will show un in the library :-) Happyt Cooking!!.

 Ciao,

~8-) Anthony

Hi Anthony,
I'm a huge fan of your page and have been visiting off and on for well over a year salivating over the pictures on my lunch breaks usually :) I've made the sauce and meatballs a few times (photos coming at ya soon) Anyway, I'm cooking up the braciole and sauce this weekend (definitely taking some photos!) Anyway, I had an idea for a recipe I think would be an awesome addition to your page. Do you have a good one for Coq Au Vin?.

~ Max

Lucia,
Hi! So glad you are enjoying the site. I too am making the whole shebang this weekend for Easter holiday feast! I will be having 8 adults and about 12 kids! Yikes! My house will be full! I'm going to make double the sauce, meatballs and brocile. And I too plan on taking more photos for the site. I would love to get photos from you having fun with the recipe. I look forward to the pix! I have never heard of Coq Au Vin, what is it? Where are you from by the way? I am in North Carolina USA, a lovely place! Nice hearing from you Max.!

Ciao,

~8-) Anthony

Anthony,
I'm in Kingwood (outskirts of Houston) Texas, I lived in Greensboro NC for a year when I was 21 and loved it. Great place. Coq Au Vin I believe originated in France but a lot of Italian people I know like it. It was actually the signature dish of Al Pacino in the movie Donnie Brasco. I make a lotta manicotti and one day I heard the quote from the movie, Al Pacino saying "Manicotti, manicotti, a hundred years they'll be eating manicotti but wait'll you tatse my Coq Au Vin it will melt in your mouth like holy communion". And it looked really great what he was cooking so I hopped online and found a recipe for it, it's like a chicken stew with wine sauce, and served with potatoes is really good. Here's a link to the recipe I used. I still love a good manicotti though :) Salut!

~ Max

Anthony,
First off, I must sadly admit that I am fully Irish, but I was raised by Italians ;-) For Valentines day, I took a stab at making Chicken Parmesan with a home-made red sauce for my girlfriend, and the sauce came out horrible. I had no idea what I was doing, added too much tomato paste, not enough of anything else, and let it sit there boiling fully covered for 13 hours. I really didn't take the cooking of this sauce seriously enough. My girlfriend is Italian and didn't hold back on the criticism of my sauce, so I had to promise to cook the meal again and do a better job. My research led me to your website. Last night, I made the same meal, but used your recipe for the red sauce. I followed everything to a T. I have to admit, the sauce was by far the best tasting sauce I have ever had, and I've tasted a great deal of Italian cooking in my time (No, I'm not talking about the Olive Garden - I'm talking about 80 year old women with secret family recipes that have been around for generations). Now, my girlfriend doesn't know that I cheated and followed someone else's recipe, but that's for my own safety ;-) Either way, I want to thank you a thousand times for providing this recipe on your site. It truly made for an amazing meal.

Thank you, Anthony

~ -=Patrick M. McGovern=-
Experience Impaired Chef

 Patrick,
I am glad to be of service. I have an interesting story behind the way I laid out the recipe. I am actually 50% Italian and 50% Irish. My moms parents where from Italy and my dads parents were from Ireland. So my dad is Irish and my parents got divorced when I was around 11 years old. My dad always loved my grandmothers sauce (my moms mom - the Italian side of course ;-). The problem here lies in the fact that my dad is not a great cook! Sooo, he said to me one day, you know how to make grandmas sauce? I said "sure do!". I loved my grandmas cooking and asked a LOT of questions when she cooked, she liked that a lot! I used to sit on the counter when she cooked. So I said to my dad, ok, next time I cook the sauce I will write down every single painstaking step necessary to produce the magical sauce and I'll throw it up on the web for ya. That's what I did and before you know it I had about 400 visitors a day going to the recipe! WoW! People like spaghetti sauce and people wish they could cook it! It's like only the grand mom's knew how and they are all gone and we are left with lost children not knowing how to make a good Italian sauce.. LOL! So I made the sight a little more presentable since there were so many visitors coming to the site and started to add more recipes. Well there you have it. If an Irish dad who can't cook at all can make a great sauce by following the recipe then I think I nailed it on the head ;-) The trick to this recipe coming out good is the "Following everything to the "T" part" of which you have done and I congratulate you. It's hard work!

Live long and eat good!!

Ciao,

 ~8-) Anthony

Anthony,
I am such a fan of Italian food, I wonder if I was Italian in my former life. ;)
I am a French Canadian who love to eat wonderful meals with a nice wine and good friends, in that order ;) . My mouth is watering just reading about your spaghetti with meatballs recipes. Thanks for sharing, I will write back once I have tried this amazing recipes. e..

Thanks! Alexandra.

Alexandra,
Hi! There is something just wonderful about Italian food it's hard to explain. I believe it all the LOVE that is poured into the food! It's an event, it's not just something you whip up, it takes real effort and time to make this food right, so as a result much love is poured into the food because in most cases you have much love for the people you are serving the food to. Anyway, good luck with the recipes! I hope everything just comes out wonderful!!! I am looking for more photos to add for my Visitors Photos section of the site located here: If your up to it I would love to have some photo's of your culinary experience to add to the site, but no pressure ;-) Happy cooking and happy times!!!! I'm working on adding a new recipe I have been working on for some time now. Anisette Cookies. I finally nailed it! I can now make these exactly like my grandma Salerno did years ago. it was hard work because here hand written recipes where not big on measurements. You know, things like "add some flour" and "cook until done" and stuff like that. Momma Mia! Well, here is a sneak peak of the Anisette cookies, so yummy!!!!! The recipe for these cookies will be up soon, still working on writing every single detailed step! :-)

 Ciao,

~8-) Anthony

Anthony,
Your recipe sounds great. One question: When you have the eggplant slices in the improvised eggplant press and you let this sit for 5 hours, how do you keep the slices from turning brown? Or does this not matter? By strainer, do you mean a wire rack or a mesh strainer? When I think of a strainer I think of one of those mesh things that are shaped like a cup in various sizes. Do they make mesh strainers that are flat? I am inexperienced with eggplant but I love it. I want to try this recipe. I will try your tomato sauce recipe. I usually make my own from scratch anyway. Take care. ~ Thanks,

Mitchell Harrison ~ Washington, DC

Hi Mitchell,,
Well, by strainer I mean like a calendar. Similar to what you would strain your cooked pasta in. Don't worry about the slices turning brown. They do turn just a bit brown but not much and I you say, this does not matter because they will be covered with egg and browning in the oil. Trust me it comes out quite lovely :-) EnJoY! Let me know how it all turns out.!.

 Ciao,

~8-) Anthony

Anthony,
How have you made out, any progress with the Tarelles?

Al Howard

Al,,
Nice to hear from you again. You know funny you should bring this up. I just found EXACTLY what I was looking for in regards to the recipe for the Tarells I remember my grandmother making. I found this site here: http://tarallibaresi.com. Now that tuned me into exactly what I remember. Same size and look and it talks about the cookie being from this region "Puglia Region of Italy" I do believe that is close to where my grandmothers mom was from which is where she got her recipe. I also called these guys and talked with a very old Italian guy. Great guy! We had a nice talk. Boling is definitely the step I was missing for sure. So now armed with the proper name of this cookie which is "Taralli Baresi" I was then able to find this recipe here: http://www.recipezaar.com/121732. This is very close. Still has the yeast in the recipe too. Looks like my grandmother used beer instead of wine. But this recipe does call for the boiling of the dough before you bake. I was very excited to find this. This upcoming weekend I'm going to give this a try. I will let you know how it comes out. I'm close than I have ever been! :-).

 Ciao,

~8-) Anthony

P.S. I believe I have added a new recipe since you may have last visited the site: Onion Tomato Bread, do you know of this recipe? Took me a long time to get this one right but I finally nailed it! Just like grandmas! :-) WooHoo!

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