Day 68: Building a Better Spaghetti

[itasianinvasion]

Spaghetti, or as it’s known in the pre-K ‘hood, pasghetti, is a seemingly simple dish of meat, sauce, and noodle.  It is a staple across kitchens not in only homes filled with small children, but also with bachelors in the hope of luring unsuspecting women into their hovel in the hopes of making small children.

Spaghetti is a rare dish in that it’

Comments

[coolhandskippy]

bay leaves. my mom has always used them in her spaghetti, and in my opinion adds a flavor that can't be found anywhere else. two or three per batch of sauce should do the trick

[itasianinvasion]

Shit. Totally spaced the bay leaf. Bay leaf is key, good call, Doler.

[coolhandskippy]

hooray, i know one thing about cooking!

[itasianinvasion]

Hey, you were a steady hand on the grill. And unlike most people that prefer charcoal, you weren't full of shit about it.

[not_a_girl]

General agreement except on two points:

1. Garlic Presses are a waste of your time, money, and garlic. Mash with the flat of your knife like a real man.

2. Fresh Tomatoes DAMMIT.

[itasianinvasion]

Fresh tomatoes are nice to have if you have them, but every kitchen needs a couple cans of diced tomatoes just in case. Spaghetti can be ostentatious, or off the cuff depending on time, need, situation.

As for Garlic presses, I use quite a bit, and am at that line where the press saves times and energy due to the amount I put in. Plus, I want garlic in every bite, not just giant smashed pieces floating in my sauce, because frankly, smashed garlic in the amount I use would eclipse everything else from a visual standpoint, or would be too big a piece for people to eat comfortably.

I will admit, I feel my dude points drop everytime I use the press. John Wayne instincts must yield to practicality and killing someone with garlic.

[not_a_girl]

No, no. Chop AND smash with the knife. That way you have smaller pieces and smushy goodness. One good chef's knife will save your kitchen.

[spanishbullshit]

i use a press depending on the dish... if i want to coat a meat w/ garlic (along with the rest of my "sofrito") I use the press. Mincing and mashing simply won't get the consistency you need all around to coat evenly. if you're just throwing garlic into a sauce though, i would have to agree and mash or mince to save time and use the whole clove

[spanishbullshit]

I can see this entire Gene/JP event taking place and it stirs within me a certain sense of nostalgia/total creeped-outedness

[ninjarouge]

I think that in a past life, or perhaps yet to be, in the future, in this very life, you have been the best damned cook an army unit has seen during wartime. I can picture you in the back of the trenches as smoke blows through and bombs erupt on all sides, screaming for more basil, because goddamnit, if you're not gonna feed these boys who the hell is?!
I have a roommate who is a sort of pasta connoisseur, mostly because he fits into the category of bachelor, but occaisionally because he fits into the "living with small children" category. He likes to add a bit of the barby sauce into his. You know? It's really not that bad. Pretty good.

[peechiz]

on my excursion into Japanland, where they have neither good milk nor cheap produce, i found myself making a lot of pasta. My favorite one was the naturally spicy sauce. The kick? Cayenne pepper. Slow burns in your mouth and makes everything taste better.

Also, i have yet to try this, but i have a cookbook that claims that I can MAKE my own italian sausage:

1 lb Ground Pork
1 tbsp finely chopped red pepper
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp fennel seed
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp black pepper
Mix it like a bad hip-hop album.