Creativity, Leftovers and Mamma’s Gravy

Now comes the challenge: What to do with all these leftovers before they go bad? I have half a pound of maytag blue cheese leftover; maybe some gnocchi are in my future. Ham sandwhiches for the rest of the year, certainly, and there’s enough beer left in there to keep a frat house busy for an hour. I feel some cheddar quesadillas coming on, for sure.

And cookies? Forget it.

One thing still blows me away: We ran out of gravy. No, not ham gravy, tomato gravy. What most of the world calls tomato sauce, in Philadelphia (and New Orleans) we call gravy. I make a lot of different tomato sauces, some traditional, some not, but they’re tomato sauce. But when I make the gravy like Mamma makes, I’m *makin’ gravy*.

**Mamma Cangelosi’s Gravy**
Ok, this isn’t really Mamma Cangelosi’s gravy. It’s Mamma’s how I make it, but honestly they are very similar. My mother’s is a little more acid and, visually, stays redder than mine. (Mine goes slightly mahogany.) Mine also comes out slightly sweeter, which I find a little annoying. Attempts to use less sugar have taught me a lot about using sugar with tomatoes, but haven’t produced the desired result. Maybe a higher temperature (which I believe mom uses) would caramelize the sugar more, ending in a richer and less sweet sugar flavor. I stray from her on this because she often scorches her gravy, not usually affecting the taste (though sometimes) but affecting the bottom of the pot, big time.

Sometimes I think it’s the garlic. Garlic has a lot of natural sweetness, and since I don’t saute it first (whole cloves go into the liquid) maybe they’re introducing more sweetness than I realize. Mom uses garlic powder, so it’s a non-issue in hers. Mom also doesn’t always use basil. For her, it’s optional depending on availability. Remember, Italian or Italian-style tomatoes are almost always packed with basil, so, as they say, it’s in there.

Thinking back to gravy-making experiences with other families, the garlic gets sauteed, but that’s because most of those versions include other vegetables, especially onions. I feel a new experiment in my future.

**The Recipe**

This is the ancestral sauce. It has few ingredients, the most important of which is time. The character of tomatoes, like most foods, changes with a long, slow cooking process. The sugars cook and intensify, the water goes away, the garlic melts into the occasional white fleck. Tasting (with bread) throughout the cooking process does a number of things: it’s enjoyable, you can be sure you’re not scorching it, you learn how the tomatoes change over time and, most importantly, it irritates the hell out of my mother.

I use a 7 quart enameled cast iron pot for this, mom has a big, old stainless steel and copper guy. This size pan will hold a double recipe with no meats, or a single recipe with meats, which will sauce 2lbs of pasta amply (with leftovers) and all of that will serve about 8 normal people, or five if two of them are my brother and me.

2-4 pounds meats, such as meatballs, hot and sweet sausages (pricked all over with a fork), *bracioles*, thick, bone-on pork chops or meaty bones *or* 3 tbsn extra virgin olive oil

Peanut or canola oil as needed, if using meats

1 28-oz can tomato puree or equivalent amount of canned or home-pakced tomatoes milled through the finest blade of a food mill. (1 qt jar of home-packed is fine)

3 6-oz cans tomato paste (Mom uses the flavored ones)

Salt and black pepper to taste (about 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon respectively)

1-3 tablespoons of sugar, depending on acidity of tomatoes

3-4 whole, peeled garlic cloves (Mom uses 1-2 tbsn garlic powder- NOT garlic salt)

3-4 bay leaves

1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves, optional

Brown meats either in the gravy pot with oil (if their own fat is not enough) or under the broiler (good for meatballs) until thoroughly browned but not cooked though. Set aside.
Dump out all fat from the gravy pot and add tomato products. Turn heat to high. I use a whisk here to get out all the lumps of tomato paste. Mom does all of this right on the meat and doesn’t worry about it. I can’t say she’s wrong.

Take your cans of tomatoes and rinse them thoroughly to get all of the bits of tomato out of the can, and to get water into the sauce: about 2/3 of a can for the tomatoes, and 3 cans of water per can of paste. (It will take about three canfuls to get all of the tomato paste out of the can, anyway.)

Add all remaining ingredients except meats or olive oil, and bring to a boil. Cook the gravy, uncovered, stirring often, for about ten minutes. Turn heat down so that it will boil vigorously when partially covered and cook for another thirty minutes, partially covered. You cannot leave the gravy alone, especially now. You cannot stir it too often, scraping the bottom and sides thoroughly.

After thirty minutes, the gravy should be a slightly darker color and noticeably thicker. Add the meats or oil and reduce heat so that it bubbles and perks excitedly, but doesn’t boil. You may need to use a flame-tamer (the lids of the tomato cans work well for this- be sure to take the price tags off). Cook, stirring regularly for about 2-1/2 hours, until the desired depth of flavor and consistency is reached. The meats may be taken out after an hour or so, or left in for the duration, which will cause them to fall apart slightly. They can be reheated in the gravy before serving.