Reviewed: Apr. 18, 2007

I took the advice of others and didn't use any salt, but I could have used a little. I also added some garlic powder towards the end and only simmered the sauce abomut half an hour. I used fresh herbs from my garden, sage, thyme, oregano, lemon basil, rosemary and a bay leaf. The sage gave it a kind of smokey flavor which was nice. I only gave it four stars because it was a bit too thick. Overall it was very tastey! Fresh herbs are great.

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Can_Katie_Cook

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

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Reviewed: Mar. 19, 2007

This sauce has great flavor and is easy to make. I cut down on the red pepper for my children. It is a little thick. I use the leftover as a pizza sauce. Which is wonderful!

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ASERGEANTSWIFE

Cooking Level: Intermediate

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Reviewed: Feb. 25, 2007

This is a great base sauce....... I sauteed up onion and fresh mushrooms with garlic. Then browned a combo of sasauge and ground beef together. I used a large can of crushed tomatoes with basil and one can of tomato paste. I did scale down the oregano and basil and added fresh rosemary. I used some others advice and subsituted brown sugar for the white. I let is simmer for about 3 hours. It had a great taste and didn't make a hugh amount for our small family of 3.

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texascook

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Denton, Texas, USA

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Reviewed: Feb. 6, 2007

Excellent and authentic Italian taste. My kids even liked the flavor.

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MSJ1

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Reviewed: Jan. 17, 2007

This is the best base meat sauce! I call it base because I made quite a bit of changes, for our taste. I added 1 to 2 lbs of hot sausage. Cook sausage in the large pot. Ground beef was cooked separately and then drained. Once sausage was cooked, I removed it from the pot and sliced the links (set aside). Removed all but 1 tbsp of sausage fat and cooked onion as directed and then added the garlic (I used 8 cloves of garlic). Sausage bits at the bottom of pot adds great flavor. Add the drained ground beef. I also changed tomatoe paste and sauce to 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and 1 28 oz can of peeled plum shape tomatoes. I changed red pepper amount to 1 tsp and salt to 1/2 tbsp. The changes I made prevented this recipe from being too thick, salty or hot. I simmered for about 30 minutes vs 2 hours. My family absolutely loved it. It can also be frozen for future use.

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Magdalena

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Reviewed: Jan. 14, 2007

I used a little less red pepper, oregano, and basil (we have a toddler in our house) and it turned out beautifully! The delicous auroma filled the house, a nice suprise for my husband when he arrived home from work. Excellent!

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S. Brue

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Reviewed: Nov. 28, 2006

I thought it was really good. I followed other people's suggestions on not adding salt and cutting back on spice. I added 1 can of beef broth to get a better consistancy. Also it didn't take me as long to make it as stated in the cooking time. It took me under an hour for sure.

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TRINITY991

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Reviewed: Oct. 10, 2006

This is what I've been looking for for 40 years! Awesome! However, I will cut the red peppers in half next time.

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Sarah Howard

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Richmond, Virginia, USA

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Reviewed: Sep. 22, 2006

Awesome! Has an excellent blend of spices.

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Big D

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Reviewed: Aug. 8, 2006

I am glad that I read the reviews before I made this sauce. I did not add any salt, I cut way back on the chili powder (I didn't have flakes) and I add some balsamic. oh, and I also only used enough olive oil to lightly coat the pan before adding the onions...I would say I used, maybe, 1 TBS. The outcome was GREAT...even my husband liked it and he is VERY picky:)

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HAHAINLALA

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Living In: Los Angeles, California, USA

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Reviewed: Jan. 29, 2006

My family voted this recipe a four star. Used the members suggestion of no mushrooms and added 2 TBL of balsalmic vinagar. Very good.

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Debbie W.

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Reviewed: Dec. 1, 2005

This is a definite 5 star recipe with the changes in the amount of salt and chili flakes that others have recommended. I didn't have chili flakes (not sure what they are,actually), so I used a mixture of ancho chili powder and crushed red pepper. I actually didn't add any salt at all. I also added a can of beef broth to make it less thick. I made it just spicy enough for my family and everyone loved it! Great as leftovers too.

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DTSCEP

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

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Reviewed: Nov. 6, 2005

This is the first meat sauce I've ever made. It was easy to make and very tasty. I do however wish I'd looked at the reviews before I made it. Other reviewers were dead on about saltiness, spiciness and thickness (and I like things salty and spicy) If I remake this, I will halve the amount of salt, halve the amount of red pepper and inrease the ratio of tomato sauce to meat.

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newyorknovice

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Reviewed: May 9, 2005

Very good with a few modifications. I do not brown the meat in oil, the meat has enough fat in it to brown. I added two cans of diced tomatoes, drained, omitted Worc. sauce, mushrooms and red pepper flakes. Added ground pepper, some garlic powder and a dash of parsley. I thought that 2 TBS of salt seemed way too much, I just sprinkled some on top, not measuring. Sugar is added toward the end of the simmer period. We remove the bay leaves prior to serving.

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Butterfly Flutterby

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Kingsport, Tennessee, USA

Living In: Maryville, Tennessee, USA

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Reviewed: Jan. 26, 2005

Very good, easy to make sauce. It's thick enough that it really doesn't need to boil 2 hours. I had to add water it was so thick. I reduced meat to 1 lb and that was plenty and added chopped fresh red pepper. I used crushed red pepper as I couldn't find flakes. Used only 1t and it was plenty, more would have been too spicy.

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JAM9

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Reviewed: Jan. 18, 2005

This is the best sauce I have ever had...AFTER a few modifications. Other reviewers were right about too much salt and also it was VERY spicy! I too, will cut the salt at least in half next time and will leave out the red pepper. My 6 year old loved the flavor but after about 2 bites, couldn't eat anymore. This is after I added lots of Splenda to tone down the heat and it did add a nice sweet flavor. I also had to keep adding water because it was very thick. I will make this again and again with these modifications. Served over whole wheat rotini.

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MADISONLIBERTY

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Reviewed: Jul. 20, 2004

i left out the mushrooms and threw in a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and was left speechless

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SWARD135

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Reviewed: Jul. 10, 2004

The salt! The salt! I think the recipe is perfect minus 1 tablespoon of salt. Nearly 3000 mg's of sodium per serving is a bit much.

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MARGO77

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Reviewed: Oct. 7, 2003

I cut this recipe in half since I didn't need the full recipe. Be warned, this is very hot. I only used half a tablespoon of pepper flakes in the half recipe and I have now added diced tomatoes and 2 more tablespoons of sugar to try to counteract the heat. My three year old will never eat this with it this hot. I also added a green bell pepper, just because I like it in my sauce. It was a very tight mixture so I added water to simmer or I would have been frying it soon even on low. The taste is ok, but I'm beginning to feel like I've altered it enough to call it my own. I've got to go brew tea to put out the fire in my mouth!

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