Spice up the Festive Mood With Sauces, Stews, and Spice Stews for Baking
Every October, my stepfather’s big Italian family gets together and prepares what can be described as “so many damn ravioli.” I only attended a ravioli party once, but it was an impressive demonstration of the effectiveness of pasta. Everyone leaves with a generous helping of ravioli, which they freeze and eat throughout the holiday season, and for lunch they eat the minor “scum” of the day.
I don’t know how the rest of the family serve their loot, but Greg (my stepfather) and my mom eat their holiday ravioli with a meat sauce that sits somewhere between a stew and a gravy. Originally prepared by Greg’s mother, it took my mom several tries to come up with a recipe, a task made more difficult by her mother-in-law leaving her with two conflicting handwritten recipes that she could work on.
Aside from cooking the chuck until it falls apart, the key to this sauce is the addition of cloves – a spice you probably don’t think about when you hear the words “Italian meat sauce”, but it’s actually quite common (and delicious).
The addition of this “baking spice” gives the sauce a warmer and more cozy taste and a special holiday atmosphere. The emphasis shifts from any summer tomato product to warm, inviting and stewed. A small amount of cloves provides just the right spicy depth to break up and balance the oily flavor, but it just tastes like a festive one. Cinnamon and nutmeg can do the same.
I don’t have my step-grandmother’s sauce recipe to share, just a recommendation to try some cloves and / or cinnamon in the stews, stews and chili you make this holiday season. You don’t need a lot – two or three cloves, 1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg, and / or one cinnamon stick per pound of meat in your sauce will do just fine. Add the spices when you get to the boil for the recipe, and let them convey their warmth to your meat dish.