This is an excellent sauce! I used fresh herbs, from my garden, in place of the dry. I had homemade sausage I used and it was enough to sub for the beef as well. I added at least a tablespoon or so of crushed red pepper because we like a little heat. I toasted Allison with a glass of red wine and one for the pot in her honor. I opted to use 3 29 oz. cans of sauce. Two 29 oz and one can of water for the 76 ounces of water as we like a thicker sauce. The sauce was flavorful and meaty. Wonderful aroma and I could not resist dipping some crusty bread into it; just to *test* it :) The recipe makes quite a bit so I used half over some linguini and froze the rest to appreciate another day. Peace and blessings, Allison.
This is an excellent sauce! I used fresh herbs, from my garden, in place of the dry. I had homemade sausage I used and it was enough to sub for the beef as well. I added at least a tablespoon or so of crushed red pepper because we like a little heat. I toasted Allison with a glass of red wine and one for the pot in her honor. I opted to use 3 29 oz. cans of sauce. Two 29 oz and one can of water for the 76 ounces of water as we like a thicker sauce. The sauce was flavorful and meaty. Wonderful aroma and I could not resist dipping some crusty bread into it; just to *test* it :) The recipe makes quite a bit so I used half over some linguini and froze the rest to appreciate another day. Peace and blessings, Allison.
I have to wonder how this recipe turned out for some and not others. I followed it EXACTLY, right up until it came time to add the water. I had serious doubts about the volume called for, which is A LOT. So, I hedged and only added half. Am I ever glad I did, because even three hours of simmering in, it was still trying to thicken up. I kept at it for another couple of hours, with the lid off to keep reducing, and it did finally thicken. We still ended up with a small pool of liquid below the pasta on each plate though, so wishing I had stirred in a 1/4 cup of cornstarch at the end, to mitigate that. The flavor of the sauce was really nice but if I were to make it again, I would double the whole recipe and only add in about a cup or two of water rather than the 72 ounces. The recipe description said to expect a LOT of sauce but we only got two meals out of it, and that was for two kids and two adults.
The water is dependent on the type of tomato puree you use. Some brands will be more watery than others. Use San Marzano puree as it is much thicker than most brands. I am sure the original recipe is old, and most likely from Italy, so it would make sense to use that much water with Italian tomatoes. The original recipe stated to use the cans to fill up the water, 2 29 oz cans of tomatoes, and one can of paste for the water. So the amount of water would be far less if it had some puree and paste still left in the can, as well as most people would not fill it to the top when they add water to a can and transfer it to their pot! After letting the meat and onions cook, I transferred the rest of the ingredients to my slow cooker, (fit perfectly in my 6 qt.) ,and simmered for 5 hours on low. I have made this several times, and it is fantastic. My family of four can easily get two full meals out of it. Thanks Allison (dog fish head) for sharing your recipe, your legacy lives on! May you rest in peace.
This is the best Spaghetti Sauce I've ever had or ever made! I put ALL the spices in my Magic Bullet to completely blend and pulverize, then added them as per the directions. Other than that I made exactly as written. It has the texture and flavor of an "HOURS" cooked sauce. I do believe the trick to this recipe is the minimum of 2 hours simmering with the lid OFF! It came out perfect. I fed 4 Granddaughters, my youngest son and husband & myself. There wasn't one drop left. I will be making this again and will make for gifts and canning too. Really the very best Spaghetti Sauce ever!!! If I could, I would give this 10 STARS!!!
Followed recipe except I used 1/2 # mild and 1/2 # hot sausage. Great sauce. This will be my go to recipe! When I make again, I will double! Thank you, thank you!!
Oh my! This is the WORST spaghetti sauce I have ever made! I followed the recipe exactly and after two hours my sauce looked like a thin soup. I decided to let the sauce simmer longer (for 6 hours) and it still never thickened! By that point I figured I would try it anyway hoping the flavor was good. Nope! The sauce was very acidic and the tomato flavor was very strong. I had to add some sugar to counteract the acidity and tomato taste. I also had to add more garlic and other spices to get the mix right. The only reason I rated this a 2 and not a 1 is because after my doctoring of the sauce it was edible. I will NEVER make this sauce again. If you choose to make it I suggest using much less water (and less tomato paste) adding sugar more garlic less rosemary.
I can't believe it took me this long to try this, this is GREAT sauce! I made this yesterday. everyone says it makes a lot. it takes a big pot to make it in that's for sure. I made a few changes: used 1 can (29oz.) crushed tomatoes, and 1 can (29oz.) tomato puree, filled 1 can with the water called for. used extra garlic (family preference), added fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, and just a touch of Savory. along with all the other spices it called for. (my mistake) was using Chicken Sweet Italian sausages I had on hand. Not realizing that they were fully cooked, and had sun dried tomatoes in them. That being so, the sauce still came out great! The 3 of us ate large portions and still had 3 16 oz. containers to put into the freezer for later. So next time I will use a mild Italian sausage, and ground beef. also will use extra garlic still. and as many fresh herbs as I can. but will cut back the butter just a bit. (personal thing) Thank you Dog Fish Head for sharing such a wonderful recipe with us!
Absolutely delicious meat sauce. Omitted the butter as the olive oil was plenty to saute the onion and garlic. Simmered for 3-1/2 hours and had a thick, hearty sauce. The seasonings were spot on. Mushrooms would make a good addition, also. Thanks, Allison. RIP
Family thought that this was a good recipe but I had to do a few tweeks. First I only put in 6 cups of water (recipe calls for 9 1/2 cups) and still found it to thin so next time will cut back to 4 cups. Found that the tomato taste was strong but correct that by adding sugar and I also added 1 tbsp of garlic powder and an addition tbsp of Italiam seasoning. Will be making again. RIP Allison and thank you.
