Originally Posted by Simply Red (Post 13408433)

I will be unable to contribute today much until COB. If I'm not back tonight - I'll certainly bump this tomorrow - I have some exciting insight toward this discussion!

Originally Posted by TimBone (Post 13408259)

Also, did you guys know that filipinos put a shit ton of sugar in their spaghetti? The sauce comes out super sweet.

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy! (Post 13408428)

Cottage cheese isn't normal. I know it's used occasionally when folks don't like ricotta. My grandma used to use it. Personally, best is a nice bechamel, IMO.

Originally Posted by Frosty (Post 13408466)

Yeah, ricotta >>> cottage cheese in lasagna. Better flavor and much better texture. I haven't tried bechamel.

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy! (Post 13408476)

This is pretty tasty.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/...recipe-2110037

Even if you don't use the whole recipe, use the bechamel and layer in where you'd do the ricotta.

Originally Posted by srvy (Post 13408490)

Kraft makes boxed spaghetti holy hell where have I been. Everything is in the box? If so this is news I can use.

Originally Posted by vailpass (Post 13408285)

I don't eat italian made by anyone who calls the gravy sauce. That is all.

Originally Posted by Frosty (Post 13408502)

The McCormick pack with tomato paste and water mixed with hamburger is how my mom made spaghetti when I was growing up (still does, actually). It's probably why I never developed a taste for it.

Originally Posted by srvy (Post 13408490)

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy! (Post 13408428)

Cottage cheese isn't normal. I know it's used occasionally when folks don't like ricotta. My grandma used to use it. Personally, best is a nice bechamel, IMO.

Originally Posted by saphojunkie (Post 13408329)

No. People are ****ing clueless about Italian food. It's also not called "marinara." There's no such thing as "marinara sauce."

It's called "sugo di pomodoro." Which literally means "sauce of tomato."

This is how you cook tomato sauce.

Cut white onion.
Put them in low heat olive oil
add tomatoes
add fresh basil
season with salt

That's it. That's the whole sauce. There's no meat. No meat balls. No sausage or peppers or oregano or shrimp or breaded chicken or anything else that makes it disgusting.

Additionally, "spaghetti" is a type of pasta, thicker than linguine. When you say you don't think spaghetti has to have... well... spaghetti noodles, it makes no sense. It is not synonymous with pasta.

But the biggest thing you likely do wrong - that almost every "italian" restaurant not run by an actual Italian chef does wrong - is that YOU DON'T SALT THE WATER. YOU HAVE TO PUT SALT IN THE PASTA WATER.

How much salt? Two handfuls. The water pasta cooks in should taste like the ocean. Pasta - even spaghetti - has actual flavor to it. When you just cook it in plain water, it's bland and gross. So, you add a bunch of shit to it to make it marginally interesting. The entire concept of italian food is based on simple recipes using few ingredients. If you add 20 things to the sauce, you're missing the entire point of why the food is good, inexpensive, and delicious.

There are other recipes for spaghetti noodles, like clam sauce (red or white), mussels, carbonara (the best), or Spaghetti alla Norma (southern recipe using eggplant).

throw away your jars of sauce.
Keep your polpette (meatballs) separate from your pasta.
Salt your water.

Open your world.

Originally Posted by Over Yonder (Post 13408603)

Really? That shows how little I know. I don't think I have ever had this ricotta you mention, but I'm not sure. A handful of times, the wife has bought those pre packaged lasagnas you get and just throw in the oven, they might of been made with this ricotta, dunno. But the wife uses cottage cheese, and it's wonderful :clap: I'm not a chef, so I don't know what ingredients go into what, I just know what I like :D