Notes about Recipes in this book

• Classic spaghetti and meatballs

  • ashallen on November 08, 2019

    Excellent, classic spaghetti and meatballs. Meatballs are tender and flavorful with a great browned exterior. Their richness balances really well with the tomato sauce. My husband likes them so much that he happily eats them without the sauce! The pork+beef mixture as specified in the recipe is great - I also frequently make these with all beef. I use less oil than specified in the recipe to brown the meatballs - basically enough to film the pan. They're a bit less luscious but still plenty rich. Making each meatball a bit smaller than specified in the recipe for a total of anywhere from 14-21, cooked in two batches, works fine. We like more tomato sauce than specified in the recipe so I usually make 1.5-2x the specified quantity. Freezes well. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Beef barley soup with mushrooms and thyme

  • Rinshin on October 30, 2014

    I did not completely follow this recipe. Used scraps from grinding chuck to make the broth part. So, we had much less useable beef than this recipe but the taste was spot on. Excellent beef barley soup the way it should be. Second time used 1 qt beef broth and water. Still produced excellent stock. Brown the beef until cannot brown anymore to impart the umami.