Welcome to my little corner of culinary delights.  By popular demand, I will cover spaghetti sauce.  Since tomato sauce is basic to spaghetti sauce, we shall cover that first.

The cook is to use pure olive oil.  Do not use virgin olive oil.  Virgin olive oil is made for breads and salads but not necessarily for cooking.  Put about 2 ounces in a rondeau or large saute pan and heat it over medium-low heat.  Once the oil begins to ripple, then it is hot enough to add the onions.  The onions are to be 8 ounces of small, diced.  This is to make a gallon.  Heat and stir the onions until they take on a light golden color.  At that point, add 2 ounces of minced garlic.  Cook for about a minute until the garlic gives off a pleasant fragrance.  I need to switch gears a little and explain the tomatoes.

Add 10-12 pounds of plumb tomatoes that have been blanched, skinned, cored, seeded and chopped.  Allow to simmer for about 45 minutes, depending on the quality of the tomatoes used and their natural moisture content.  Make sure about the consistency and coloration.  Then add about 3 ounces of chopped, fresh basil leaves.  I usually add a few smidgens of dried basil along with it.  Allow this to simmer for only 2-3 minutes more.  It is a gross falsehood to think that long simmering time improves the flavor; it destroys it except for the basil.  It can ruin the consistency and texture.  Include salt and ground black pepper as needed.  This is your tomato sauce, the start of spaghetti sauce.  More is required for making the spaghetti sauce.

Two items generate incessant bragging by amateur cooks.  They are chili soup and spaghetti sauce.  Various opinions about what constitutes great chili make it impossible to judge.  However, spaghetti sauce is a classic sauce based upon certain characteristics specific to complementing spaghetti.  The balance, texture and flavor, therefore, imply a defined art.  Some feel that a true presentation of this most wonderful classic cannot include meat.  Know this first:  Spaghetti is pasta, and pasta is bland.  In this case, the sauce is everything.

Whenever making spaghetti sauce, it is imperative that you have the right attitude.  It is to be seen as an art heavy in old world traditional values.  It is to be approached with respect so that we may lend to it the dignity is deserves.  The best spaghetti sauce is not what we invent and thus for which we take credit.  The only credit we can take is in knowing how to do it right.  The true recipe for the perfect spaghetti sauce was established more than two centuries ago.  It was heavily guarded as a trade secret.  Many tried duplicating it over the years.  We now have many different recipes.

In the next article, I will give a sought-after, prized spaghetti sauce recipe.

Until next time, peace to all.