I remember as a child how much I loved pizza. I would often get pizza hut, but every Thursday, I would get two slices of pizza from Little Ceaser's. Based on the taste, I always wondered why their pizza sauce tasted, well, sweet. Different from other pizza places I ate at. It irked me, yet I still continued to eat it. Growing up in my house, our sauce, whether it's for spaghetti, pizza, lasagne, or any other Italian dish, it was ALWAYS a homemade sauce. Jars were forbidden and looked down upon.In America, we're absorbed to sweetness. We look at food porn pictures and we often find ourselves looking and devouring doughnuts, macaroons, cookies, cakes, pies, and so much more. In fact, even though our country is the melting pot of all different types of ethnicities, not everything we eat is truly authentic to the core. Chinese for example is not the same as if you would go to China. And I don't mean by what type of protein they eat, but in how their food is cooked and presented. For example, almost a lot of dishes we eat are fried and braised in a sweet sauce, whereas in China they don't eat General Tso Chicken, Sweet and Sour pork, and Fortune cookies. Same as Italians. When the Italians arrived to America, they decided to bring some of the essence from their country. Though I always inform people that Italian food is much more than pasta and sauce, I try to educate many people that Italian cuisine has a rich culture, rich cuisine, and definitely a rich history. When the trending question surfaced on Facebook "Should you put sugar in Spaghetti?" that's when I 'facepalmed' and tried to justify my answer in the comment section. So from my knowledge of studying this cuisine in the past, I had researched more on the history of the Italian cuisine. From my knowledge of studying the cuisine, the Italian cuisine we're all familiar with comes from the Italian-American cuisine. I'm sure everyone knows that, and of course it's different than the true Italian cuisine in which we don't know. Fun fact, did you know that the tomato was NOT the staple fruit of the country?
The Italian-American Cuisine, and the Tomato
Italian-American is taking different elements of Italian food and converting it for the American palate. Similar to the Chinese cuisine. We are all familiar with spaghetti, lasagne, tortellini, chicken parmesan, sausage sandwiches, and pizza. Those dishes in fact came from the Italian-American Cuisine that were invented here in America. But the one thing these dishes all have in common with each other, is the tomato. Some say it's a vegetable, others say it's a fruit. We all love the juicy acidic taste it has to offer when we're applying it to food. If you're like me, you would eat it plain like an apple. What we don't know is that there are so many unique varieties of the tomato, we fail to embrace the different intense flavors. Not all tomatoes are the same. While our tomatoes in America originally came from Britain, Paris, and the Southwest, Italy actually grew and produced their own tomatoes dating back to the 15th century. Being in Europe, Italy has different climates, land elevations, and land regions that all produce many types of tomatoes that aren't found in America. These tomatoes are rich in flavor. They are, Fiaschella, Lampadina, Patanara, Principe Borghese, Re Umberto, San Marzano, Borgo Cellano, Christopher Columbus, Costoluto Genovese, and Italian Pear. Some tomatoes, are actually used for specific dishes. They have everything from pizza tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, and sun even dried tomatoes to last a long time. I think we'll stick to the basics and talk about sauce tomatoes.
Types of sauces
I will not give you any of my family recipes, but I want to go ahead and give you some the different ways of making a delicious sauce. First thing's first, you want to make sure you're using a good can of tomatoes. Traditionally, I like to use San Marzano tomatoes. These tomatoes are what Italians cook with, traditionally. They can be found in the organic section of your local grocery store in either a white, or yellow can. STAY AWAY FROM THE JARS!!!! You want to make sure that your sauce is plain, and doesn't contain any added ingredients and preservatives.
Meat Sauce: This is typically your Sunday Gravy. This sauce takes hours to cook, and it is also famously featured in Francis Ford Capolla's, Mario Puzo's The Godfather as 'Clamenza's Meatballs'. This is where you start your pot frying up some garlic in olive oil, while cooking your sausage, meatballs, pork, veal, and braciole on low heat. Then, add your tomato sauce, wine, and let it cook and simmer for a few hours.
Ragu Alla' Bolognese : This is my favorite sauce, similar to the traditional meat sauce, this one you use ground pork, pancetta, ground veal, ground beef, along with carrots, celery, onions, tomato paste, wine, and little milk. There are many variations of this sauce/recipe, as it is widely an argument amongst chefs and Italians. I always recommend going traditional, but you should always respect the recipe based on the area it comes from, or how most people in certain regions of Italy make it. Keep in mind, no tomato sauce is added. Only a tomato paste. This is best on pasta such as tagliatelle, a broad flat pasta.
Arrabbiata: This tomato sauce is a spicy sauce that is to be only served on penne pasta. Ingredients are tomatoes, red chili, and garlic cooked in olive oil. It's nicknamed "The Angry Sauce", in which in Italian, Arrabbiata means 'Angry'.
Checca: This tomato sauce is actually uncooked. Giada de Laurentiis made her own variation in one of her shows. This is great for the summer, and the reason why is because you take good ripe tomatoes, mix them with basil, fresh mozzarella, garlic, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Think of this as your Italian pasta salad.
Amatriciana: This tomato sauce was invented in Amatrice, somewhere in the region of Lazio. This is one of the popular sauces because the ingredients used is tomatoes, guanciale which is cured pork cheek, pecorino cheese, and olive oil. This is a pork based sauce that is famous in Italian cuisine.
Spaghetti all Puttanesca: This is a tangy but salty sauce that originated in the 20th century. The ingredients used are all from the southern region, consisting of tomatoes, anchovies, olives, capers, and garlic. In the Neapolitan tradition, they don't use anchovies in the sauce. Anchovies and chopped garlic are sautéed in olive oil, and then add the remaining ingredients with the tomatoes and salt and pepper.
Vodka Sauce: This is your basic marinara sauce, but it has to be smooth. Added ingredients are vodka, herbs, and heavy whipping cream.
Some Italian tomato sauces are quite similar, depending on the regions of both South and North Italy. Take for example, Traditional Marinara and Neapolitan. Both sauces are strictly tomato based, originating in Naples of South Italy. Marinara is traditionally cooked with olive oil, garlic, and onions. Neapolitan is the same, but you can add vegetables like mushrooms, cloves, thyme, and other stuff. The bottom line is that there is no meat used in these, nor meat stock. Ragu Neapolitan is also similar to bolognese sauce, but sometimes it's slightly cooked differently. This is varied based on the ratio of how much meat and tomato sauce is added. Bolognese uses fine chopped meat. Neapolitan uses whole pieces of meat and soffritto, lots more onion and herbs, and also white wine is used instead of red. Bolognese, uses no herbs.
I question sometimes, why do we as a culture are fascinated with sugar? Thinking about the original Italian Nutella of how the taste is more nuttier, why is the American version sweet?
So the question goes, should you put sugar in Spaghetti? My answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT! I believe that tradition is very important, and I'm sure that many Italians enjoy the flavor of a tomato, while sticking to the traditions of their origins and roots. While some Americans love the sweetness in a sauce, there are people who actually put sugar in their spaghetti. But if you want want, you can do what most chefs and home cooks do, and put a small amount of red wine in your sauce and a couple of table/teaspoons of sugar to help balance the acidic taste. But to make it sweet? HELL NO! Based on the sauces I have listed, those traditional recipes call for NO SUGAR. Generally speaking, if you're like me in which I stay on the traditional Italian route, don't do it. Everyone's different, and to be honest, that's okay! But I want to make sure that there's a closed argument, and that people are informed.
As always, I am on Instagram with my latest food adventures and cooking updates. Follow me @RonaldAtkinson9.
Ronald Atkinson
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