Italian gravy (tomato pasta sauce that is at least 20% pork fat) and leftover large elbow macaroni. Bread with homemade butter.

Traditionally I’d use pork neck bones to make the gravy but I live in an area with no Italians so they are hard to find so instead I use country pork ribs. And instead of cooking for six hours hours I can large batches of it using a cold pack method that allows me to be done in three hours. But this is my last jar. I’ll have to restock at some point.

Cost is about $2 per person. If you find the ribs on sale and get a BOGO or better on canned tomato products it can be even less.

  • FauxPseudo @lemmy.worldOP
    3·
    2 days ago

    The red sauce is the gravy. The “scoops” are chunks of pork.

    Italian gravy is a touchy subject amongst Italian Americans. But generally we are looking at a slow cooked tomato sauce with a lot of pork in it.

    This is my family’s recipe. When I’m canning it I use a very modified version of this.

    • Tomato Gravy
    • 2 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 large onion diced
    • 2 pounds pork neck bones
    • 2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
    • 6 (6 oz) cans of water
    • 28 oz tomato sauce
    • sugar or honey to adjust flavor if it’s bitter
    • heat large stock pot to medium high
    • add olive oil
    • add onions
    • add pork neck bones
    • stir mixture occasionally until pork and onions are browned
    • move pork to the edges of pot so there is a pork free zone in the center
    • add the tomato paste to the pork free zone
    • do not stir for two minutes (you want some of the paste to caramelize)
    • add the water and stir it all together
    • add the tomato sauce
    • start stirring so that you don’t burn the sauce to the bottom of the pot
    • bring it to a boil
    • keep stirring
    • bring it down to a simmer
    • simmer for 2-3 or 6 hours. or “until the pork falls of the bone and the onions disappear”
    • remove all the meat and bones from the sauce and place on a cutting board
    • separate the bones and fatty bits
    • discard bones and fatty bits
    • return the meat to the pot
    • bring it back to a simmer
    • simmer 5+ minutes
    • taste it and if it is too bitter add sugar or honey needed to tone down bitterness and cause the whole thing to become an ode to umami ! be careful when eating. Some bone bits may still be in there.