re: Spaghetti Sauce Secrets

I ate some sketti that a black woman brought to work one time and it quite possibly could be the best spaghetti that i've ever eaten. I asked her for her recipe but she wouldn't give it to me (family secret blah blah). She did tell me that one of the several weird ingredients was bbq sauce. any of ya'll ever heard of putting bbq sauce in a spaghetti sauce? I tried it in a jar of store bought sauce one time when i was feeling brave and it definitely brought a different side out of the sauce.

Otis, I used both of your recipes for sauce and meatballs that I'm cooking today.

It's currently simmering for the 2-3 hours...It looks, smells, and tastes great.

Thanks!

Alcohol in the form of wine or vodka, causes the tomatoes to release some flavors that are only alcohol-soluble - you won't get that flavor any other way.

Also, through experimentation, I figured out what makes Mandina's red gravy so rich and tasty. They cook it a loooong time. If you like that style cook it 4-6 hours on low and add a little sugar.

ETA: Also a lot of New Orleans Sicilian recipes call for frying the tomato paste for a while to caramelize the flavors.