Bill's was a little Italian restaurant in Brunswick, Maine in the 60's (actually it was around before that, but I wasn't) and they served spaghetti sauce that was deep red and had a delightfully bitter taste. All other sauces since have paled in comparison.
Hanging on a wall at Bill's was a sign, and the fact that my mother can remember this word for word is testament that her memory is better than mine was, or will ever be:
"Stop and spend a cheerful day
in harmless mirth and fun,
let friendship reign,
be just and kind,
and evil speak of none."
(I hope they weren't referring to Bill because there has been just a little bit of evil, while not spoken out loud, at least thought of, because he made no reference to this sauce on Google...and we blame him for not at least printing it somewhere where we could find it)
Poem aside, Mom has failed to remember (she's good but not that good)...what the secret ingredient may have been, so she and I have been on a fruitless search for decades (I really am not kidding) for a very specific spaghetti sauce recipe. I throw it out here to see if anyone might know what the secret ingredient may have been. Through the years we've tried limitless combinations of anchovy paste, browning garlic and onions, red wine, extra oregano, extra basil, Kalamata olives, olive paste, fresh tomatoes, fresh parsley, a touch of balsamic vinegar, and various brands of canned tomatoes,etc.
One gentleman I know, a chef, suggested making a deep, dark tomato roux (similar to the roux in gumbo without the flour) to pull out the deep color and tomato flavor. For this I used olive oil and tomato paste, stirring until it was very dark. The result was good but not quite what I am remembering. While I am indeed getting closer to the taste of Bill's, I just haven't hit it yet.
Games not up just yet though. My next step is to do something I talked about in an earlier post...roast my tomatoes! Maybe it's the intensity of the tomatoes we're missing. It will be more time consuming but if I can solve the mystery, let this goofy thing rest, and move onto something else (conquer flan or something), both Mom and I may remember Bill's words to be gentle, kind, and evil speak of none!
Hanging on a wall at Bill's was a sign, and the fact that my mother can remember this word for word is testament that her memory is better than mine was, or will ever be:
"Stop and spend a cheerful day
in harmless mirth and fun,
let friendship reign,
be just and kind,
and evil speak of none."
(I hope they weren't referring to Bill because there has been just a little bit of evil, while not spoken out loud, at least thought of, because he made no reference to this sauce on Google...and we blame him for not at least printing it somewhere where we could find it)
Poem aside, Mom has failed to remember (she's good but not that good)...what the secret ingredient may have been, so she and I have been on a fruitless search for decades (I really am not kidding) for a very specific spaghetti sauce recipe. I throw it out here to see if anyone might know what the secret ingredient may have been. Through the years we've tried limitless combinations of anchovy paste, browning garlic and onions, red wine, extra oregano, extra basil, Kalamata olives, olive paste, fresh tomatoes, fresh parsley, a touch of balsamic vinegar, and various brands of canned tomatoes,etc.
One gentleman I know, a chef, suggested making a deep, dark tomato roux (similar to the roux in gumbo without the flour) to pull out the deep color and tomato flavor. For this I used olive oil and tomato paste, stirring until it was very dark. The result was good but not quite what I am remembering. While I am indeed getting closer to the taste of Bill's, I just haven't hit it yet.
Games not up just yet though. My next step is to do something I talked about in an earlier post...roast my tomatoes! Maybe it's the intensity of the tomatoes we're missing. It will be more time consuming but if I can solve the mystery, let this goofy thing rest, and move onto something else (conquer flan or something), both Mom and I may remember Bill's words to be gentle, kind, and evil speak of none!
2 comments:
I am on a quest myself..I can not help you with your spaghetti sauce...as I am busy looking for that perfect biscuit that a lady who worked for my mother use to make each Sunday....Sunday was a huge dinner...then for suppah ( Maine Lingo ) was canned peaches and these biscuits to die for...she would whip them up...and they would go into a huge cookie sheet..these biscuits were huge....tall and wonderful..each and every time..I can not tell you how many I have made over the years..and nothing comes close...I am beginning to think that maybe I just have these biscuits so on my mind..that never will anything come near to those wonderful Sunday biscuits...oh ,how I wish as a kid that I would of asked for the recipe..of course she would of thought of me as being nuts!! I can certainly relate to your sauce..as I can see and taste those biscuits when they pop in my mind...and how I crave to have a hot buttered one.
Now for a laugh..do you remember Cream Of Wheat? Another favorite of mine...I just had some this evening..oh, from the days of past!!
Oh how I love good biscuits. The only problem is I've been asked never to make biscuits because they consistently turn out hard and flat enough to be used a hockey puck. Maybe one of these days I'll make a concerted effort to find the perfect recipe...the trouble will be finding the victims willing to eat the practice biscuits! Although I do have six dogs...;-)
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