Spaghetti and meatballs or spaghetti and meat sauce?

[soleil]

Love both soooooo much, but I love meatballs.

[Thor]

I prefer meat sauce.  Meatballs are OK once in a while.

[soleil]

I prefer meat sauce.  Meatballs are OK once in a while.

I am picky about my meatballs, but I prefer a really good meatball to meat sauce. I always do meat sauce when I cook sketti because my meatballs ain't all that.

[Chris_]

Eh.  I prefer meatballs most of the time but a good meat sauce with lots of interesting cheeses is good, too.

[IassaFTots]

Meatballs.  MY meatballs.  Or Italian Sausage, sliced.  I don't like plain ole ground meat in my sauce. 

[Chris_]

I mentioned this before, but my friend's wife made me dinner one night and she puts a couple jalapenos in her meat sauce.  It was really good.  They were cut very fine... you could taste them but it was all flavor and no heat.

[soleil]

Meatballs.  MY meatballs.  Or Italian Sausage, sliced.  I don't like plain ole ground meat in my sauce. 

I am not a big sausage fan, and I can't stand hunks of any kind of sausage in my food. Poor hubby. He could live off of sausage alone.

[Carl]

Meat sauce,preferably with ground venison sausage.

[Chris_]

I tried mixing chorizo in my meatloaf one day... it didn't turn out that great.  Maybe I didn't mix it well enough.

[soleil]

I tried mixing chorizo in my meatloaf one day... it didn't turn out that great.  Maybe I didn't mix it well enough.

Was it too salty?

[Chris_]

No, it wasn't salty, but I had dense chunks of chorizo in my beef.  I think it was more of a texture thing since the beef overpowered any flavor the chorizo has.  I think chorizo is better in lighter dishes with rice like jambalaya or paella or maybe cous cous.  At least that's what I normally use it for. 

I'm tempted to try it on pizza at some point.  I may pick up a couple of plain cheese pizzas this weekend and try it along with a barbeque chicken pizza.

[IassaFTots]

Was it too salty?

Prolly too greasy.

[Chris_]

Prolly too greasy.

I use ground sausage, not the solid/whole stuff.  I think it tastes better.

My mom put some in her "chili" once... it was too hot to eat.  Ouch.

[IassaFTots]

I use ground sausage, not the solid/whole stuff.  I think it tastes better.

My mom put some in her "chili" once... it was too hot to eat.  Ouch.

Chili is supposed to be hot.   

[Chris_]

Chili is supposed to be hot.   

You don't use boiling water to take a shower, do you?  Same thing.  It was unreal.  No subtlety, no nuance, no flavor.  Just burn.  Maybe she was getting even with me for the jerk chicken I made once.  I admit I messed up.  You don't need to try to kill me over it.

Besides, she only cooked it for like half an hour.  That's got to be against the rules.

[true_blood]

Spaghetti and meat sauce for me please!
I could substitute the meat sauce for Italian sausages any day though. 

[IassaFTots]

You don't use boiling water to take a shower, do you?  Same thing.  It was unreal.  No subtlety, no nuance, no flavor.  Just burn.  Maybe she was getting even with me for the jerk chicken I made once.  I admit I messed up.  You don't need to try to kill me over it.

Besides, she only cooked it for like half an hour.  That's got to be against the rules.

Sounds like a payback to me!

[debk]

Meat sauce... but rarely make or eat it anymore. Prefer more of a pomodoro.

I buy those frozen Italian meatballs that are about an inch or so in diameter. Found some really good ones at Walmart last winter, they probably don't even still carry them. I add seasoning to them, bake them, then add them to sauce and cook in the crockpot for several hours. I either serve them on rolls or in bowls with shredded parmasean and garlic Texas toast.

[Eupher]

Meatballs.  MY meatballs.  Or Italian Sausage, sliced.  I don't like plain ole ground meat in my sauce. 

Same here.

[Thor]

It depends on my mood and ambition. Sometimes, I just use plain ground meat  with an onion and garlic base. Sometimes I'll use ground meat AND Italian sausage.

[TVDOC]

In Italy pasta is served as a "side dish", much like potatoes or rice is here.  We got our meatball recipe from a chef in Florence, and they are served as the main dish, with the pasta on the side.

These meatballs are made with a mixture (equal portions) of ground beef, ground Italian sausage, and lamb or veal, mixed with Italian spices, crushed roasted garlic, finely chopped onion, and tiny cubes (or shredded) of mozzarella. After making the meatballs, they are dumped (raw) into the marinara, which is "simmered" for a minimum of four hours.  I know many will differ, but we never fry or bake them, they are far better if cooked in the sauce.

They are kind of a pain in the ass to make, but we use them primarily around the holidays, and generally make up several pounds of them at a time, and freeze them for later use.

doc

[Thor]

The best store bought meatball are made by Simek's. They're a processor up Nort in Minnsota. Yah, you betcha !! I don't like the ones at Sams or Walmart because they're "Italian" spiced  meatballs.  They're OK with spaghetti, but no other decent use.

[Chris_]

I don't normally make spaghetti and meatballs, but I saw a neat trick on some cooking show today.  It's similar to the Juicy Lucy burger -- it's just a cube of cheese wrapped in ground beef and cooked.  Might be worth trying.

[TVDOC]

The best store bought meatball are made by Simek's. They're a processor up Nort in Minnsota. Yah, you betcha !! I don't like the ones at Sams or Walmart because they're "Italian" spiced  meatballs.  They're OK with spaghetti, but no other decent use.

Speaking of meatballs and Minnestoa.....when I lived up there, Swedish meatballs were the rage back then......I have no clue how to make them, especially the sauce, but they were good.

doc

[soleil]

In Italy pasta is served as a "side dish", much like potatoes or rice is here.  We got our meatball recipe from a chef in Florence, and they are served as the main dish, with the pasta on the side.

These meatballs are made with a mixture (equal portions) of ground beef, ground Italian sausage, and lamb or veal, mixed with Italian spices, crushed roasted garlic, finely chopped onion, and tiny cubes (or shredded) of mozzarella. After making the meatballs, they are dumped (raw) into the marinara, which is "simmered" for a minimum of four hours.  I know many will differ, but we never fry or bake them, they are far better if cooked in the sauce.

They are kind of a pain in the ass to make, but we use them primarily around the holidays, and generally make up several pounds of them at a time, and freeze them for later use.

doc

My aunt went to a cooking school in Italy a couple of summers ago. She said the same thing. She also said they eat a lot, but they are all fairly small people. I guess it is what they eat. She said the food was PHENOMENAL. I bet it was.