my friend, my “secret” family recipe’s initial costs are the spices. like, the bottles are more expensive than the actual spices because you can go get bagged spices for pretty much $1 an anything. then it’s just the tomato sauce. experiment with one can until you have it, then scale it up to the size you need. try it without meat until you figure out the spice ratios, then cook it with meat. cooking is all just empiricism. trial and error. but you get to eat it. the only thing that will really make it inedible is salt. don’t oversalt. I toss about a tablespoon of salt into my pasta water if i’m doing it that way, or if i’m salting my sauce i do maybe a quarter a teaspoon of salt per can of salt? I think? it’s been a while. you do it by taste. but once you have the spices, the real expense for learning my sauce is the cost of the canned tomato. $20 and attention to detail should do it.
next time i make it i’ll try to pay attention to the volumes of the spices i use and try to get measurements. the one i am sure of, the aniseed? try to get the same area as a dime. I’m not sure radius or measurement that is. measure it out on your palm, the same size circle? roughly that many aniseeds per can of tomato sauce. i will try to fit it in a lunch this week, if not it will be next week at the soonest
if you can’t tell, i love talking food. if you try making it and have any questions (like “i tried making it and it tasted like licorice what the hell”) I’m here
One day I may be brave enough to cook like that. I’m more of an “Erector Set” cook, but I’m getting closer!
my friend, my “secret” family recipe’s initial costs are the spices. like, the bottles are more expensive than the actual spices because you can go get bagged spices for pretty much $1 an anything. then it’s just the tomato sauce. experiment with one can until you have it, then scale it up to the size you need. try it without meat until you figure out the spice ratios, then cook it with meat. cooking is all just empiricism. trial and error. but you get to eat it. the only thing that will really make it inedible is salt. don’t oversalt. I toss about a tablespoon of salt into my pasta water if i’m doing it that way, or if i’m salting my sauce i do maybe a quarter a teaspoon of salt per can of salt? I think? it’s been a while. you do it by taste. but once you have the spices, the real expense for learning my sauce is the cost of the canned tomato. $20 and attention to detail should do it.
next time i make it i’ll try to pay attention to the volumes of the spices i use and try to get measurements. the one i am sure of, the aniseed? try to get the same area as a dime. I’m not sure radius or measurement that is. measure it out on your palm, the same size circle? roughly that many aniseeds per can of tomato sauce. i will try to fit it in a lunch this week, if not it will be next week at the soonest
if you can’t tell, i love talking food. if you try making it and have any questions (like “i tried making it and it tasted like licorice what the hell”) I’m here