To explain for those who don't want to read through all the comments looking for the explanation. Philadelphia's Catharine Street is a long street that crosses the city from one river to the next and contains the Italian neighborhood of the time. The street also either had the Italian market on the street or the market was just off the street (comments were mixed on the issue) so it is possible that visitors may have tried the spaghetti in the market and wanted to make it at home. The cookbook may also have identified the area as a way to say the recipe was authentic Italian spaghetti.
When I looked at the map - initially what I saw was the Catharine Street that runs one way for a single block between Shuylkill Ave and Captains way. I missed the much longer part of Catharine Street that ends a block over and a block North at Grays Ferry Ave. Mistakes happen: I wasn't looking for a street that splits and starts and stops.
@@M19pickles The famous 9th Street Market (aka Italian Market) generally ranges from Christian Street to the north and Washington Avenue in the south. (Catharine Street was just north of Christian Street, FYI.) It's still a combination of brick-and-mortar shops and fresh produce and food sold from tables in the auto-free parking lane. (There are shading roofs over the tables to keep shoppers, sellers and the food happy.) In the 1930s, it certainly was an Italian residential area. My father, whose parents were from Italy's Abruzzi region, lived a few blocks from the market. The area's residents have changed over the century and each new immigrant population brought with them their own ingredients and food -- Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Mexican, etc. -- while Italian ones are still there as well.
Catherine Street is not a very short street. It basically runs across the entirety of Philadelphia from the Delaware river to the Schuylkill river, a length of about two and a half miles. The importance of Catharine Street as it pertains to this recipe is that most of it would have been in the Italian neighborhood. It crosses through the Italian Market which runs north and south on 9th street.
@jimbrennan1181 & @GlenAndFriendsCooking you’re both correct. The other half of Cathrine Street, across the Schuylkill, spans Southwest Philadelphia from Baltimore Avenue to Cobbs Creek.
@@CamWM Thanks! When I looked at the map - initially what I saw was the Catharine Street that runs one way for a single block between Shuylkill Ave and Captains way. I missed the much longer part of Catharine Street that ends a block over and a block North at Grays Ferry Ave.
Modern white mushrooms were actually first discovered as a random mutation in a Philadelphia mushroom farm. In the 20s. So not only fresh mushrooms. But the new hotness.
Since you said to tell you the story, I'll add to the comment I left below. My grandmother lived on the 700 block. On the corner, was a little corner grocery story owned by her son, my uncle Emmet, who was also my Godfather. There is an art museum on the block, and the rest is residential. The neighborhood is Italian American, and we spent every Sunday with my grandparents as well as all the big holidays. We had some type of pasta every Sunday. We called the tomato sauce "gravy." And, after eating the pasta, we had the meat cooked in the grave and a salad. I do not ever remember the gravy being made with bacon. The pork that was used was usually spare ribs, which they first broiled in the oven and then cooked in the sauce for many hours along with meat balls and brociole.
I love this comment, Anthony. My Italian Family settled in West Virginia. My mother always used english roast and stick pepperoni. That is the only meat. Oh, and she had a tuna fish spaghetti recipe that was great. My family never used pork only just the stick pepperoni and never used bacon or pancetta. She also never used mushrooms, ground beef (only in the form of meatballs) -- never ground beef in the form of browned and drained. I never had hamburger spaghetti until after I was married.
It's quite possible that the original recipe called for guanciale, or pig's cheek, which would have been traditional Italian. That was most likely not available at the time, and is honestly hard to find even today. Ironically, both Di Bruno Bros. and Claudio's on 9th St. carry it, and I can't find it anywhere else in a city of 1.567 million people.
They probably would have used pancetta or guanciale if it was available (‘depending on cost) but bacon was most likely cheaper and easier to come by during this time.
In the '70s, mom and dad would take me to Catharine Street to eat at Walt's King Of Crabs. 2nd and Catharine. Red and white gingham table cloths, wooden mallets. Best seafood I've ever had.
Grew up watching my aunts use their table meat grinder. They used it for so many things...even in the 1980's. Fond memories....grinding nuts for cookies and nutbread. That spaghetti recipe seems very homey. It looks delicious.😊😊
In the 80s I took guitar lessons from the guy who played guitar in the house band at Palumbos. He was an older guy and he'd show up in a trench coat, black suit, black hat, driving a Lincoln. I didn't know what was significant about Palumbo's at the time but I'm glad now that my mom always paid him promptly. 😀
I love the comments from the Philly folks! I grew up in Philadelphia. It had several nicknames. The city of brotherly love, the city of homes and not least, the city of neighborhoods! Everyone was and is proud of their little slice of Philadelphia with its own bit of history, cuisines and celebrations. Philadelphia was and is the original quintessential American melting pot. So, I'm not surprised that Catherine Street shows up with its own spaghetti recipe!
As an Italian American, i am intrigued by this recipe because of the bacon. I'm actually going to try it. As to the scarcity of spices : what is readily available today was almost unattainable back then. When I was young boy my parents had to grow sweet basil ourselves. You couldn't buy it. We planted it in old tomato cans ( canned plum tomatoes were also hard to find) placed in any sunny spot we could find in Brooklyn . We froze whatever we didn't use and were sure to harvest seeds for next years crop. Though Sunday "gravy" often boasted whatever spices we could garner regular sauce was indeed plain. It's only the bacon that gives me pause,but you probably couldn't get italian sausage back then either.
I've watched pasta grannies make spaghetti by hand. No machine extrusion there! They were not as thin as today's boxed pasta. It might take 20 minutes to cook the dry version of that...
That was my thought as well, nobody outside of Italian neighborhoods would know what Pancetta was or would be able to get it, so they most likely substituted bacon into the recipe.
Very good point! Pancetta, or more likely guanciale, was probably not available at the time. On the other hand, the word "bacon" could have been used to describe either one as most recipes from that time weren't really that specific.
That occurred to me as well. It’s a lot like a recipe I have for a meat sauce that doesn’t have much for seasonings. The flavor comes from the pancetta as well as ground beef and ground pork and a good amount of wine. Salt, pepper and a grating of nutmeg at the end. Great with rigatoni.
My family is from Philadelphia and my great grandparents lived on Catherine St. Their house was right at the border of the traditional Italian Market district, though my family is not Italian, lol. The Italian Market area sits right above Washington Ave, which is generally considered the border of the South Philadelphia neighborhood, which has had a large Italian American presence.
My great-grandparents lived on Catherine St several blocks in off of Broad St. That is right in the heart of the Italian Market. My great-grand mom was friend with Anna Giordano of Giordano Brother's Italian Market.
I used to live one block below Catherine at 12th and Montrose, a couple of blocks away from the Italian Market on 9th. Best pasta I ever had was from Palizzi on 12th. I live in Tennessee now and am enjoying the Philly memories. Thanks for this!
What an odd coincidence ! I was having lunch today with my brother and his wife, and she asked me about my recipe for meat sauce. I don't typically follow one; but I described what I did. And then I see this ! I sent her the link. I like that this sauce looks almost thick enough to stand on. I hate watery sauces; but this one looks delicious.
My great-grandparents lived on Catharine, and near Broad St. probably around the time of this cookbook too. My other grandparents lived on Castle Ave on the other side of Broad St. Small world isn't it. Now where is my Pat's Steak?
lmao. this is such a shock to see my specific neighborhood mentioned in your video, i've lived on catherine many times. I'm a proud south philadelphian and been a fan of yours since the coke videos :)
Hi Glen I have two grinders that were my Grandmothers. They have different sized dies you can use. Fine is basically paste, medium is sort of minced, large is sort of fine chopped and if you leave the die off it's sort of course chopped. They make great sausage and ground beef.
We used the medium grind for burgers and meatloaf, but preferred the largest for hamburgers gravy and spaghetti sauce. Also largest for grinding raw fish, usually suckers, for fish cakes. The fish cakes had small amount of milk added along with onion, salt and nutmeg and then was beaten with a wooden spoon until it was a very sticking together mass. Then fried in our huge cast iron pan. They were so good!😊😊😊❤❤
My great aunt Laura Lovecchio who was not Italian was married in 1928 to Sonny Lovecchio. She learned to cook from Mama Lovecchio in Utica, N.Y. . Her sauce was almost exactly like this one. She insisted it was the real way to make sauce. Once in a while instead of the steak she would use pork chops or ribs! It was good, but different from most spaghetti sauces. Love old cookbooks and your show.
I mentioned to my grandmother, born early 1930s era in western Pennsylvania, that I had seen multiple videos about older recipes, ones from her childhood timeframe, that had much longer cooking times for pasta. Her response was that she does remember pasta being cooked to a much softer level, even by the families of Italian heritage, than it's normally cooked to today.
Catherine Street goes 2/3rds of the way across Philly from Grey’s Ferry to maybe Bella Vista. It is just south of South Street. That area, on the one end, in 1932 was (and still is) heavily Italian. Also, just outside of Philadelphia is the Mushroom capital of Avondale/Kennett Square which was started by Italians. So fresh mushrooms is correct. Other than the mushrooms, this is very much what a 1932 Italian American spaghetti recipe looks like. The bacon adds fat to the lean, inexpensive steak. Sub the cut up steak for ground beef and it’s what I grew up eating from my Sicilian grandmother (who ironically grew up in the 30s across the border from where you live now). I am sure she used steak when she was younger, and often added hard boiled eggs as they were the least expensive protein.
Another thing to note about Catherine Street, and the other surrounding streets (Catherine was probably just chosen because the person that the recipe came from lived there - it could have been named for plenty of other streets), is that it falls below the original street grid layout of Philadelphia which was designed by Thomas Holme in 1682. It was outside of the main city grid where immigrants settled because they could not afford to live within the city proper.
Thank you so much for showcasing this recipe. This is the heart of the beautiful Italian culture in South Philly. South Philly home of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team( who by the way are on a winning streak right now and have the classiest uniforms in baseball) SouthPhilly was and is as Italian as you can and these days along with other wonderful cultures the amazing Italian market is still in South Philadelphia as well as the beautiful italian catholic heritage. Really sppreciate your channel
I’m from Philadelphia and lived in or near the city most of my life. Catharine Street is at the northern edge of South Philly, which was overwhelmingly Italian back then. It still has a lot of Italians but not quite as many as other nationalities have also moved in. It’s very possible the recipe had fresh ingredients since the Italian markets are nearby and still there (think Rocky running through the food stands in Rocky I). Catharine Street is also notable as it is the birthplace of Larry Fine of Three Stooges fame. Larry was born and raised around 2nd and Catharine. The area now is fairly gentrified and known as the Queen Village section of Philadelphia. It has many fine restaurants and shops.
wild! my great grandparent had their family home at 9th & Catharine. It runs thru Little Italy in South Philly. Basically, this is a meat and veg ragu. It would have been scraps, day olds, left overs, unused bits that could not, and should not, be wasted; wasted food is wasted money. Thanx for bringing this recipe to life in the most awkward way possible. My Nonna is rolling over in her grave but I enjoyed every minute of your awesome video. Thanx for posting
My Grandmother was from Depression-era South Philadelphia (not Italian or Catherine Street) and she cooked a very similar dish which she called "American style Spaghetti."
Believe it or not, my great great great grandmother did live on Catherine St. The entire block were Italians from Paternopoli, in the Province of Avellino in southern Italy. The Pescatore family took up most of those row homes you spoke of. Variations of that recipe (although not exact) have been passed down in my family for 7 generations now. Its a good, easy, and cheap midweek dinner. It feels more of an Americanized version of back home gravy. Thanks for the vid.
My mother said, 'grew up in Philly'; you made a Philly Ragu and it was not uncommon to use less desirable beef-cuts like flank, and trim. Many do not know about the Lancaster county tomatos, nor the Maryland Mushrooms, York down to Oxford and over toward Cumberland Md. She stated a little heavy on the bacon, remembers 50/50 and it was a celebration of tomatos, mushroom w/ meat added for growing kids and workers. And your addendum is correct river-too-river w/ my GGMa raised on Green Lane. Fun video!
The spaghetti sauce my family makes is fairly similar to this. I think I have seen a similar recipe in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook too.They use a relatively small amount of chili powder, which I think enhances the beefy flavor. Will look in the old books to find it again, since it’s an old cookbook recipe too. Don’t know the story of how my grandmother came across it. IIRC, it is described as an American meat sauce. Oh, I have occasionally run across dried pastas that seem to need a much longer cooking time than the usual few minutes. Not sure of their purpose, but they definitely stand up to prolonged cooking times like the one in this recipe.
Some of my relatives were from Philadelphia born around 1930. And I can personally attest to the fact that their spaghetti was so egregiously overcooked, it more resembled noodles from Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. So the 20 minutes boiling time for the pasta was definitely correct. Anytime we visited auntie Mabel, spaghetti bloated to the thickness of macaroni was for dinner.
Glen I love your videos. They are the best. I saw the other recipes on that opened page looks great also. This cookbook looks very interesting. Do more of them Great job. Your are a very interesting man
I checked in my late, very French Canadian, mother in law's cooking notes and her spaghetti sauce recipe is the same in every way the same, except for the garlic. She did not use garlic. She did mince here own meat in a crank grinder and everything. She was born in 1930s rural Québec. When you put the sauce stating that you needed more, her answer would have been no. The sauce was lumpy and sparse, and she would have said you put in too much. And no she never set foot in Philadelphia. The furthest south she ever went in the US was Mass.
I wonder if the as far south as Mass would have been here in Fall River visiting relatives. We had a very large French Canadian wave of immigrants in the early 1880's during the depression there, and my descendants likely stole a bunch of factory jobs here from the Irish as we were lower in the pecking order LOL We even had a religious riot here when the Irish Bishop installed a new priest in the French Catholic church that the Vatican had to squelch! My grandmother made gortons almost until the day she died about 4 years ago, and you can get still get it in local markets.
@@deementia6796 In her case, yes it was Fall River. But chain migration from the 1880s to the 1930s, made it so people from one place in Qc would all go to the same place in NEng. Not going to do the course lecture here, but the rivalry btw Irish and FC was entirely orchastrated by factory owners in order to drive salaries down. And anti Irish riots were prevalent before FCs showed up. Anyway, the point here is that there was a non-Italian way of doing a spaghetti sauce in the Maritimes and the Eastern sea board and the intense circulation of people btw Eastern Canada and NE explains it.
I'm surprised you haven't run across that technique for mixing flour on to the cooking ingredients like that before. It's very common in my experience - never clumps, never undercooks. A great, tried-and-true technique.
Why? What does flour do for tomato sauce? Genuinely curious bc spaghetti is my comfort food. Born & raised in the deep American South but love trying pasta dishes from all cultures!
Steak in 1932? My grandmother raised 11 kids in West Phila and any meat was an absolute luxury. Plenty of pasta and pasta e fagioli with bread, lots of bread!!
Ralphs Italian restaurant is on 9th and Catherine and its the oldest Italian restaurant in the country i believe so maybe thats where the recipe is from.
My dad was born in 1922 and grew up in South Philadelphia, not far from Catharine Street, in the area known for its wonderful Italian Market. Since Catharine Street spanned from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River (as others have pointed out), I'll bet this recipe is from the large Italian area east of Broad Street. His parents were from the Abruzzi region of Italy but others were from southern Italy and Sicily. My grandmom made a sauce (never called it gravy, that I noticed, unlike other South Philadelphia Italians) that may have been similar. I don't remember the specifics, unfortunately. I assume the original recipe used Italian cured meat from the Italian Market but the recipe was altered to use bacon, which was available everywhere and was probably cheaper than traditional cured meats. Thanks for this! Made me wonder more about my grandmom's recipes. Safe travels, Glen and Julie!
We must be close to the same age lol! All my mother ever used was canned mushrooms. I remember being taken to a fancy steakhouse when I was in college and we had sauteed mushrooms on our steaks. First time I'd ever had a fresh mushroom. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I went home and made them for my folks and they couldn't believe the difference.
Love the old cookbook show every Sunday morning! While this recipe doesn’t make claims to be Italian I find it interesting that this is specific to Catharine Street. There’s a locally well known open air market in south Philadelphia called the Italian market which begins at 9th Street and Washington Avenue. It runs north on 9th Street for a few blocks towards Catharine Street. I haven’t been there for a long time, however, I do know it’s not many city blocks from Washington Ave to Catharine St. Out of context the map makes it appear to be many streets away from Washington Ave, but quite a few of these streets are more like alleys. Have a look at street view on Google maps and you’ll see what I mean;-)
I would love that book . Authentic south philly fire ! I'm well aware of Catherine St . It runs through the world famous Italian Market . RI P . Cuz . Ellie .
Here's a trick I've learned from working at an Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills a long time ago for cooking spaghetti, so it turns out awesome: Cook the spaghetti, drain it, stick it in the refrigerator, and to reheat it, just dunk it into boiling water for a few seconds. It makes causes it to have a really great texture.
i use to work at an italian rest back in the mid 80's... the "villa donna", this is the way we did the noodles... prepped the cooked noodles by weight and wrapped on a serving plate and refrigerated... when a order came through took out the noodles and dumped them in a collander and pot already close to a boil..pulled them out in 30-45 seconds and served.. very good food there, lots of things homemade...etc... miss it
A typical immigrant area at the time with trolley’s running and delicious food cooking in the kitchens ! I am happy to see that you spelled Catharine Street correctly !
That’s pretty cool, thanks for sharing. I live in South Philadelphia, not in the Italian market area, but around 2nd street. I don’t think I’ve seen Italians make their sauce (they call it gravy) this way, but I can tell you-when they make their sauce, it smells so good! You can smell it walking by the homes❤
Heyyyy Catharine Street! The best trick or treating street in the area lol. This sauce is like a quick weeknight version of Sunday sauce or gravy in Philly. I think it's fair to say if you grew up eating Sunday gravy, your family has a quick version like this recipe here. I use meatball mix, most grocery stores in the area have ground veal, pork, and beef in one package. So I use that for my quick sauce.
My husband found what he called a rolladex. I called it a recipe box. But it is a ten recipe box with a bunch of hand typed with a type writer index cards with some titled recipes and non titled recipes. Some recipe labeled cards from back of sugar boxes. And somethings dated from 1962. Some point I need to organize them. But a fun trest to find.
I was born and raised in Italy, and I still own my family home there. NO Italian puts oregano in their pasta sauce. Only for Pizzaiola. I know the Italian food has been mostly Americanized, but if you want authentic, no oregano. This recipe is not bad. I have had it before. Thanks for posting.
Probably around 9th or 10th and Catherine St.'s which is right in the heart of the Italian Market... Many good old places are still there. Namely, Ralph's Italian which dates back to that era...
I don’t live on Catherine Street but I am from Philly. Never heard of this recipe. I am cooking it right now, I had to add Italian seasoning to it. It was bland. But I will try it again. Thanks
Sooo, Glen, I was bored clicking through channels, and low and behold, I happened to see a picture of you, and I found out you have a cooking show on I food tv. I feel like I'm probably the only person who didn't know that. Theirs also other chefs on there that I love to watch. So, in case you didn't know about his cooking show, and you have a smart tv, down load I food tv. Hope you enjoy. I
I'm not a pork fan... so I make my "normal" spag bol sauce with mince beef, but, a few years ago I saw a recipe that called on the traditional pork/beef mix of mince, but then also included about 6 middle bacon rashers, as well as a quarter cup of milk. I still wasn't tempted to try the pork mince... but I did follow the recipe in terms of bacon and milk, and - I loved it! (My wife -not so much) I now always put at least a splash of milk into my spag bol... And if I know there's some bacon handy, occasionally I'll chuck some in as well.
Looks good. I had the absolute best Carbonara I've ever tasted in my life at a tiny little joint across the street from the PHLX many years ago. OMG, it was sooooo good. This one looks worth a try. Making red sauce is an open door. Put in whatever you like. Here's my best secret. Great Value (Walmart) Ctushed Tomatoes are awesome as a base. I stopped buying the expensive imported tomatoes afew years ago. Don't laugh until you try it kids. Pro Tip: always put a tablespoon of sugar in your sauce, no matter what. It makes the red pepper flake and garlic a tad more mellow. To really brighten the sauce up, I always add a bunch of FRESH finely chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley right before service.
Alright - I got the street wrong when I was looking at the map. It happens.
I wanna check google maps now
To explain for those who don't want to read through all the comments looking for the explanation.
Philadelphia's Catharine Street is a long street that crosses the city from one river to the next and contains the Italian neighborhood of the time. The street also either had the Italian market on the street or the market was just off the street (comments were mixed on the issue) so it is possible that visitors may have tried the spaghetti in the market and wanted to make it at home. The cookbook may also have identified the area as a way to say the recipe was authentic Italian spaghetti.
When I looked at the map - initially what I saw was the Catharine Street that runs one way for a single block between Shuylkill Ave and Captains way. I missed the much longer part of Catharine Street that ends a block over and a block North at Grays Ferry Ave. Mistakes happen: I wasn't looking for a street that splits and starts and stops.
When I become perfect I will call you Glen, so don't wait by the phone.
@@M19pickles The famous 9th Street Market (aka Italian Market) generally ranges from Christian Street to the north and Washington Avenue in the south. (Catharine Street was just north of Christian Street, FYI.) It's still a combination of brick-and-mortar shops and fresh produce and food sold from tables in the auto-free parking lane. (There are shading roofs over the tables to keep shoppers, sellers and the food happy.) In the 1930s, it certainly was an Italian residential area. My father, whose parents were from Italy's Abruzzi region, lived a few blocks from the market. The area's residents have changed over the century and each new immigrant population brought with them their own ingredients and food -- Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Mexican, etc. -- while Italian ones are still there as well.
Catherine Street is not a very short street. It basically runs across the entirety of Philadelphia from the Delaware river to the Schuylkill river, a length of about two and a half miles. The importance of Catharine Street as it pertains to this recipe is that most of it would have been in the Italian neighborhood. It crosses through the Italian Market which runs north and south on 9th street.
Yes as I replied to an earlier comment: I may have gotten the street wrong.
@@GlenAndFriendsCookingyou didn't get the street wrong. Catharine street is in the Italian Market, it's just not a short street.
Thank you. I came to the comments just to find out about this street.
@jimbrennan1181 & @GlenAndFriendsCooking you’re both correct. The other half of Cathrine Street, across the Schuylkill, spans Southwest Philadelphia from Baltimore Avenue to Cobbs Creek.
@@CamWM Thanks! When I looked at the map - initially what I saw was the Catharine Street that runs one way for a single block between Shuylkill Ave and Captains way. I missed the much longer part of Catharine Street that ends a block over and a block North at Grays Ferry Ave.
I live on Catherine street, I love this, Go Phillies!
Southeastern Pennsylvania is the mushroom capital of North America, so fresh mushrooms were readily available in Philadelphia in the 1930's.
This is also true! Long live Kennet Square!
Modern white mushrooms were actually first discovered as a random mutation in a Philadelphia mushroom farm. In the 20s. So not only fresh mushrooms. But the new hotness.
@@ryubot4000 That's interesting! Do you know what kind of mushrooms they were growing before that?
I grew up right by a mushroom factory in reading and it always smelled like cookies baking
@@Christopher-wm8vc haha yeah. My dad used to roll the windows down when we drove through mushroom country just to mess with us.
Since you said to tell you the story, I'll add to the comment I left below. My grandmother lived on the 700 block. On the corner, was a little corner grocery story owned by her son, my uncle Emmet, who was also my Godfather. There is an art museum on the block, and the rest is residential. The neighborhood is Italian American, and we spent every Sunday with my grandparents as well as all the big holidays. We had some type of pasta every Sunday. We called the tomato sauce "gravy." And, after eating the pasta, we had the meat cooked in the grave and a salad. I do not ever remember the gravy being made with bacon. The pork that was used was usually spare ribs, which they first broiled in the oven and then cooked in the sauce for many hours along with meat balls and brociole.
I love this comment, Anthony. My Italian Family settled in West Virginia. My mother always used english roast and stick pepperoni. That is the only meat. Oh, and she had a tuna fish spaghetti recipe that was great. My family never used pork only just the stick pepperoni and never used bacon or pancetta. She also never used mushrooms, ground beef (only in the form of meatballs) -- never ground beef in the form of browned and drained. I never had hamburger spaghetti until after I was married.
Yes, this is basically a Bolognese sauce brought from the Old World. My great- grand parents lived in the same area.
Bacon: America's favorite spice!
It's quite possible that the original recipe called for guanciale, or pig's cheek, which would have been traditional Italian. That was most likely not available at the time, and is honestly hard to find even today. Ironically, both Di Bruno Bros. and Claudio's on 9th St. carry it, and I can't find it anywhere else in a city of 1.567 million people.
In the south we call them hog jowls. Cured and smoked far superior to bacon
In the southern states we call them hog jowls. Cured and smoked far superior to bacon
They probably would have used pancetta or guanciale if it was available (‘depending on cost) but bacon was most likely cheaper and easier to come by during this time.
Americans need to stop this
A recipe from an old cookbook and a “what was on sale” mashup. This is as close to a perfect Sunday episode as it can get for me.
In the '70s, mom and dad would take me to Catharine Street to eat at Walt's King Of Crabs. 2nd and Catharine. Red and white gingham table cloths, wooden mallets. Best seafood I've ever had.
Loved Walt’s. Their crabs were better than the ones I’ve had on the Chesapeake. It must have been the garlic.
Splash of the pasta water never hurts👍👍
824 Catherine St was the location of Palumbo’s Restaurant, which boasted celebrity diners such as Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio.
A lot of South Philly mobsters hung out there.
I was wondering if that area had any Italian influences. Thanks for sharing 👍
Grew up watching my aunts use their table meat grinder. They used it for so many things...even in the 1980's. Fond memories....grinding nuts for cookies and nutbread. That spaghetti recipe seems very homey. It looks delicious.😊😊
In the 80s I took guitar lessons from the guy who played guitar in the house band at Palumbos. He was an older guy and he'd show up in a trench coat, black suit, black hat, driving a Lincoln. I didn't know what was significant about Palumbo's at the time but I'm glad now that my mom always paid him promptly. 😀
@@carnacthemagnificent2498
😊
I love the comments from the Philly folks! I grew up in Philadelphia. It had several nicknames. The city of brotherly love, the city of homes and not least, the city of neighborhoods! Everyone was and is proud of their little slice of Philadelphia with its own bit of history, cuisines and celebrations. Philadelphia was and is the original quintessential American melting pot. So, I'm not surprised that Catherine Street shows up with its own spaghetti recipe!
also "The City of Brotherly Shove"
I like your style man. Old recipes are the truth.
As an Italian American, i am intrigued by this recipe because of the bacon. I'm actually going to try it. As to the scarcity of spices : what is readily available today was almost unattainable back then. When I was young boy my parents had to grow sweet basil ourselves. You couldn't buy it. We planted it in old tomato cans ( canned plum tomatoes were also hard to find) placed in any sunny spot we could find in Brooklyn . We froze whatever we didn't use and were sure to harvest seeds for next years crop. Though Sunday "gravy" often boasted whatever spices we could garner regular sauce was indeed plain. It's only the bacon that gives me pause,but you probably couldn't get italian sausage back then either.
Glen - we want a picture of your collection of old cookbooks! 😊
After watching Pasta Grannies, that looks closer to real Italian sauces they cook there. I suspect the bacon subs for pancetta.
I've watched pasta grannies make spaghetti by hand. No machine extrusion there! They were not as thin as today's boxed pasta. It might take 20 minutes to cook the dry version of that...
That was my thought as well, nobody outside of Italian neighborhoods would know what Pancetta was or would be able to get it, so they most likely substituted bacon into the recipe.
Very good point! Pancetta, or more likely guanciale, was probably not available at the time. On the other hand, the word "bacon" could have been used to describe either one as most recipes from that time weren't really that specific.
That occurred to me as well. It’s a lot like a recipe I have for a meat sauce that doesn’t have much for seasonings. The flavor comes from the pancetta as well as ground beef and ground pork and a good amount of wine. Salt, pepper and a grating of nutmeg at the end. Great with rigatoni.
My family is from Philadelphia and my great grandparents lived on Catherine St. Their house was right at the border of the traditional Italian Market district, though my family is not Italian, lol. The Italian Market area sits right above Washington Ave, which is generally considered the border of the South Philadelphia neighborhood, which has had a large Italian American presence.
My great-grandparents lived on Catherine St several blocks in off of Broad St. That is right in the heart of the Italian
Market. My great-grand mom was friend with Anna Giordano of Giordano Brother's Italian Market.
I used to live one block below Catherine at 12th and Montrose, a couple of blocks away from the Italian Market on 9th. Best pasta I ever had was from Palizzi on 12th. I live in Tennessee now and am enjoying the Philly memories. Thanks for this!
"Just smile and nod" is one of my regular refrains!
What an odd coincidence ! I was having lunch today with my brother and his wife, and she asked me about my recipe for meat sauce. I don't typically follow one; but I described what I did. And then I see this ! I sent her the link.
I like that this sauce looks almost thick enough to stand on. I hate watery sauces; but this one looks delicious.
I love it! I used to live at 3rd and Catherine, but now I am a few blocks away. I will be trying this!
My great-grandparents lived on Catharine, and near Broad St. probably around the time of this cookbook too. My other
grandparents lived on Castle Ave on the other side of Broad St. Small world isn't it. Now where is my Pat's Steak?
lmao. this is such a shock to see my specific neighborhood mentioned in your video, i've lived on catherine many times. I'm a proud south philadelphian and been a fan of yours since the coke videos :)
Hi Glen
I have two grinders that were my Grandmothers.
They have different sized dies you can use. Fine is basically paste, medium is sort of minced, large is sort of fine chopped and if you leave the die off it's sort of course chopped.
They make great sausage and ground beef.
I remember using one to grind beef when my mother was making and canning mincemeat, and ring bologna for baloney salad, among other things.
I have a couple of them too. I have a cookie attachment for it that my husband's grandmother brought from Germany. We use it every Christmas.
We used the medium grind for burgers and meatloaf, but preferred the largest for hamburgers gravy and spaghetti sauce. Also largest for grinding raw fish, usually suckers, for fish cakes. The fish cakes had small amount of milk added along with onion, salt and nutmeg and then was beaten with a wooden spoon until it was a very sticking together mass. Then fried in our huge cast iron pan. They were so good!😊😊😊❤❤
My great aunt Laura Lovecchio who was not Italian was married in 1928 to Sonny Lovecchio. She learned to cook from Mama Lovecchio in Utica, N.Y. . Her sauce was almost exactly like this one. She insisted it was the real way to make sauce. Once in a while instead of the steak she would use pork chops or ribs! It was good, but different from most spaghetti sauces. Love old cookbooks and your show.
I mentioned to my grandmother, born early 1930s era in western Pennsylvania, that I had seen multiple videos about older recipes, ones from her childhood timeframe, that had much longer cooking times for pasta. Her response was that she does remember pasta being cooked to a much softer level, even by the families of Italian heritage, than it's normally cooked to today.
Could it be that it made the meal more filling?
Same here. And I still cook it softer. Don't like that 'raw' feeling in the center.
Amazing how much of a difference an open window with natural light can make a rustic pasta look really delicious.
The natural light looks great!
Catherine Street goes 2/3rds of the way across Philly from Grey’s Ferry to maybe Bella Vista. It is just south of South Street. That area, on the one end, in 1932 was (and still is) heavily Italian. Also, just outside of Philadelphia is the Mushroom capital of Avondale/Kennett Square which was started by Italians. So fresh mushrooms is correct. Other than the mushrooms, this is very much what a 1932 Italian American spaghetti recipe looks like. The bacon adds fat to the lean, inexpensive steak. Sub the cut up steak for ground beef and it’s what I grew up eating from my Sicilian grandmother (who ironically grew up in the 30s across the border from where you live now). I am sure she used steak when she was younger, and often added hard boiled eggs as they were the least expensive protein.
Another thing to note about Catherine Street, and the other surrounding streets (Catherine was probably just chosen because the person that the recipe came from lived there - it could have been named for plenty of other streets), is that it falls below the original street grid layout of Philadelphia which was designed by Thomas Holme in 1682. It was outside of the main city grid where immigrants settled because they could not afford to live within the city proper.
My great grandfather lived at 19th and Catherine. Even during Prohibition the census records record him as being a saloon keeper/bar tender.
It’s the heart of the south Philadelphia Italian neighborhood
Thank you so much for showcasing this recipe. This is the heart of the beautiful Italian culture in South Philly. South Philly home of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team( who by the way are on a winning streak right now and have the classiest uniforms in baseball) SouthPhilly was and is as Italian as you can and these days along with other wonderful cultures the amazing Italian market is still in South Philadelphia as well as the beautiful italian catholic heritage. Really sppreciate your channel
Wow, looks pretty hard to make but would be delicious...the ultimate spaghetti!
I’m from Philadelphia and lived in or near the city most of my life. Catharine Street is at the northern edge of South Philly, which was overwhelmingly Italian back then. It still has a lot of Italians but not quite as many as other nationalities have also moved in. It’s very possible the recipe had fresh ingredients since the Italian markets are nearby and still there (think Rocky running through the food stands in Rocky I). Catharine Street is also notable as it is the birthplace of Larry Fine of Three Stooges fame. Larry was born and raised around 2nd and Catharine. The area now is fairly gentrified and known as the Queen Village section of Philadelphia. It has many fine restaurants and shops.
wild! my great grandparent had their family home at 9th & Catharine. It runs thru Little Italy in South Philly. Basically, this is a meat and veg ragu. It would have been scraps, day olds, left overs, unused bits that could not, and should not, be wasted; wasted food is wasted money. Thanx for bringing this recipe to life in the most awkward way possible. My Nonna is rolling over in her grave but I enjoyed every minute of your awesome video. Thanx for posting
That whole idea of covering the garlic and onion in bacon before frying sound intriguing. Gotta try that.
When I was kid in the 60's, we asked what was on sale....meaning what's for dinner!
My Grandmother was from Depression-era South Philadelphia (not Italian or Catherine Street) and she cooked a very similar dish which she called "American style Spaghetti."
Believe it or not, my great great great grandmother did live on Catherine St. The entire block were Italians from Paternopoli, in the Province of Avellino in southern Italy. The Pescatore family took up most of those row homes you spoke of. Variations of that recipe (although not exact) have been passed down in my family for 7 generations now. Its a good, easy, and cheap midweek dinner. It feels more of an Americanized version of back home gravy. Thanks for the vid.
Gorgeous kitchen.
My mother said, 'grew up in Philly'; you made a Philly Ragu and it was not uncommon to use less desirable beef-cuts like flank, and trim. Many do not know about the Lancaster county tomatos, nor the Maryland Mushrooms, York down to Oxford and over toward Cumberland Md. She stated a little heavy on the bacon, remembers 50/50 and it was a celebration of tomatos, mushroom w/ meat added for growing kids and workers. And your addendum is correct river-too-river w/ my GGMa raised on Green Lane. Fun video!
The spaghetti sauce my family makes is fairly similar to this. I think I have seen a similar recipe in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook too.They use a relatively small amount of chili powder, which I think enhances the beefy flavor. Will look in the old books to find it again, since it’s an old cookbook recipe too. Don’t know the story of how my grandmother came across it. IIRC, it is described as an American meat sauce.
Oh, I have occasionally run across dried pastas that seem to need a much longer cooking time than the usual few minutes. Not sure of their purpose, but they definitely stand up to prolonged cooking times like the one in this recipe.
Some of my relatives were from Philadelphia born around 1930. And I can personally attest to the fact that their spaghetti was so egregiously overcooked, it more resembled noodles from Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. So the 20 minutes boiling time for the pasta was definitely correct. Anytime we visited auntie Mabel, spaghetti bloated to the thickness of macaroni was for dinner.
Wow, this is fantastic. Guess I gotta try it since that's just a few blocks away!
Glen I love your videos. They are the best. I saw the other recipes on that opened page looks great also. This cookbook looks very interesting. Do more of them
Great job. Your are a very interesting man
I checked in my late, very French Canadian, mother in law's cooking notes and her spaghetti sauce recipe is the same in every way the same, except for the garlic. She did not use garlic. She did mince here own meat in a crank grinder and everything. She was born in 1930s rural Québec. When you put the sauce stating that you needed more, her answer would have been no. The sauce was lumpy and sparse, and she would have said you put in too much. And no she never set foot in Philadelphia. The furthest south she ever went in the US was Mass.
The garlic wouldn't have been traditionally Italian. They used it but in smaller volumes. Increasing the garlic was definitely an American thing.
Exactly how my mother in law made spaghetti....and she was from GrandFalls, NB.
I wonder if the as far south as Mass would have been here in Fall River visiting relatives. We had a very large French Canadian wave of immigrants in the early 1880's during the depression there, and my descendants likely stole a bunch of factory jobs here from the Irish as we were lower in the pecking order LOL We even had a religious riot here when the Irish Bishop installed a new priest in the French Catholic church that the Vatican had to squelch!
My grandmother made gortons almost until the day she died about 4 years ago, and you can get still get it in local markets.
My Grandfather (Mom's dad) was born in St. Tite Quebec. His name is George Ettienne Veillette.
@@deementia6796 In her case, yes it was Fall River. But chain migration from the 1880s to the 1930s, made it so people from one place in Qc would all go to the same place in NEng. Not going to do the course lecture here, but the rivalry btw Irish and FC was entirely orchastrated by factory owners in order to drive salaries down. And anti Irish riots were prevalent before FCs showed up. Anyway, the point here is that there was a non-Italian way of doing a spaghetti sauce in the Maritimes and the Eastern sea board and the intense circulation of people btw Eastern Canada and NE explains it.
Love recipes like this. Reminds me of variations of what me grandparents made decades ago when I was a kid.
Good Sunday morning! ❤
Excellent 😊
I got a recipe handed down via via from an Italian family & that contains bacon & grated carrot. It's good.
Looks really good! 😊
I wish you show a video on all of these wonderful libray of cook books.
Oh the interwebs and their opinions!
Thanks Glen for your light hearted and tasty offerings.
I lived at 9th and Catherine. Awesome.
Yo Philly!!! Represent!!! South Philly in the house!!!
This looks and sounds delicious,so I’m going to give it a try. Thanks for sharing😊
I'm surprised you haven't run across that technique for mixing flour on to the cooking ingredients like that before. It's very common in my experience - never clumps, never undercooks. A great, tried-and-true technique.
It’s also the old Swedish way of making a stew/sauce 😊
Why? What does flour do for tomato sauce? Genuinely curious bc spaghetti is my comfort food. Born & raised in the deep American South but love trying pasta dishes from all cultures!
⚘ Safe travels on your trip and above all .. HAVE FUN. 😊
Steak in 1932? My grandmother raised 11 kids in West Phila and any meat was an absolute luxury. Plenty of pasta and pasta e fagioli with bread, lots of bread!!
I would definitely try this one!
That looks really good!
The sauce looks very thick, so I start thinking that it would be good on a bun or a piece of toasted bread with some cheese 😊
Catherine Street is located in the Bel Vista ( Italian Market) section of South Philadelphia.
Ralphs Italian restaurant is on 9th and Catherine and its the oldest Italian restaurant in the country i believe so maybe thats where the recipe is from.
My dad was born in 1922 and grew up in South Philadelphia, not far from Catharine Street, in the area known for its wonderful Italian Market. Since Catharine Street spanned from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River (as others have pointed out), I'll bet this recipe is from the large Italian area east of Broad Street. His parents were from the Abruzzi region of Italy but others were from southern Italy and Sicily.
My grandmom made a sauce (never called it gravy, that I noticed, unlike other South Philadelphia Italians) that may have been similar. I don't remember the specifics, unfortunately. I assume the original recipe used Italian cured meat from the Italian Market but the recipe was altered to use bacon, which was available everywhere and was probably cheaper than traditional cured meats.
Thanks for this! Made me wonder more about my grandmom's recipes.
Safe travels, Glen and Julie!
We must be close to the same age lol! All my mother ever used was canned mushrooms. I remember being taken to a fancy steakhouse when I was in college and we had sauteed mushrooms on our steaks. First time I'd ever had a fresh mushroom. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I went home and made them for my folks and they couldn't believe the difference.
back in the 60s my mum brought mushroom stalks when in season
Love the old cookbook show every Sunday morning! While this recipe doesn’t make claims to be Italian I find it interesting that this is specific to Catharine Street. There’s a locally well known open air market in south Philadelphia called the Italian market which begins at 9th Street and Washington Avenue. It runs north on 9th Street for a few blocks towards Catharine Street. I haven’t been there for a long time, however, I do know it’s not many city blocks from Washington Ave to Catharine St. Out of context the map makes it appear to be many streets away from Washington Ave, but quite a few of these streets are more like alleys. Have a look at street view on Google maps and you’ll see what I mean;-)
❤for the CBC! I see you rocking the gear, my friend.🥃
Cool share
I would love that book . Authentic south philly fire ! I'm well aware of Catherine St . It runs through the world famous Italian Market . RI P . Cuz . Ellie .
Here's a trick I've learned from working at an Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills a long time ago for cooking spaghetti, so it turns out awesome: Cook the spaghetti, drain it, stick it in the refrigerator, and to reheat it, just dunk it into boiling water for a few seconds. It makes causes it to have a really great texture.
i use to work at an italian rest back in the mid 80's... the "villa donna", this is the way we did the noodles... prepped the cooked noodles by weight and wrapped on a serving plate and refrigerated... when a order came through took out the noodles and dumped them in a collander and pot already close to a boil..pulled them out in 30-45 seconds and served.. very good food there, lots of things homemade...etc... miss it
It’s in the heart of the Italian market community. South Philly
Looks good. I’d add some parsley on top when serving.
This looks amazing, I will be trying this
A typical immigrant area at the time with trolley’s running and delicious food cooking in the kitchens ! I am happy to see that you spelled Catharine Street correctly !
That’s pretty cool, thanks for sharing. I live in South Philadelphia, not in the Italian market area, but around 2nd street.
I don’t think I’ve seen Italians make their sauce (they call it gravy) this way, but I can tell you-when they make their sauce, it smells so good! You can smell it walking by the homes❤
There is an Italian restaurant on the corner of Catherine and 10th called Dante & Luigi's, Corona di Ferro, (est. 1899). This may be their recipe.
We went there back in the ‘70s .. loved it!
Years back I worked for a food distributor in North America, the sell by date was 7 days prior to the expire date of the meat product.
At that time Catherine Street went river to river. Many sections had brownstone row homes and were considered pretty posh neighborhoods.
Looks delicious. I have never added bacon. But sounds good😊
Looks like it has a great hearty texture too. I may give this a whirl.
My great-grandparents lived on Catharine St right off of Broad St many years ago. That is the Italian Market area.
Heyyyy Catharine Street! The best trick or treating street in the area lol. This sauce is like a quick weeknight version of Sunday sauce or gravy in Philly. I think it's fair to say if you grew up eating Sunday gravy, your family has a quick version like this recipe here. I use meatball mix, most grocery stores in the area have ground veal, pork, and beef in one package. So I use that for my quick sauce.
Yummmm. Sauce & cheese
This sauce sounds awesome!
so cool !
Can't wait to make this
Tuesday after work, no no, no, Wednesday is Prince spaghetti night!
😂
In the East End of Boston, per Prince Spaghetti's marketing team.
Ha! Yes! I remember that commercial
Anthony!!
Anthony!!!
I love the author of the book's disclaimer on "Oven Temperature". It can be found @3:15 in the video.
My husband found what he called a rolladex. I called it a recipe box. But it is a ten recipe box with a bunch of hand typed with a type writer index cards with some titled recipes and non titled recipes. Some recipe labeled cards from back of sugar boxes. And somethings dated from 1962. Some point I need to organize them. But a fun trest to find.
I was born and raised in Italy, and I still own my family home there. NO Italian puts oregano in their pasta sauce. Only for Pizzaiola. I know the Italian food has been mostly Americanized, but if you want authentic, no oregano. This recipe is not bad. I have had it before. Thanks for posting.
recipe calls for parsley, not oregano
Probably around 9th or 10th and Catherine St.'s which is right in the heart of the Italian Market... Many good old places are still there. Namely, Ralph's Italian which dates back to that era...
Oh. YUM! ⭐
We used a tabletop grinder screwed it to the divider from kitchen to dining. Mom used it a lot.
I don’t live on Catherine Street but I am from Philly. Never heard of this recipe. I am cooking it right now, I had to add Italian seasoning to it. It was bland. But I will try it again. Thanks
Looks very good!
This reminds me of my husband’s family recipe for Kentucky (Louisville area) chili. Usual chili recipe, but with spaghetti & a little more liquid.
Sooo, Glen, I was bored clicking through channels, and low and behold, I happened to see a picture of you, and I found out you have a cooking show on I food tv. I feel like I'm probably the only person who didn't know that. Theirs also other chefs on there that I love to watch. So, in case you didn't know about his cooking show, and you have a smart tv, down load I food tv. Hope you enjoy.
I
I'm not a pork fan... so I make my "normal" spag bol sauce with mince beef, but, a few years ago I saw a recipe that called on the traditional pork/beef mix of mince, but then also included about 6 middle bacon rashers, as well as a quarter cup of milk. I still wasn't tempted to try the pork mince... but I did follow the recipe in terms of bacon and milk, and - I loved it! (My wife -not so much) I now always put at least a splash of milk into my spag bol... And if I know there's some bacon handy, occasionally I'll chuck some in as well.
Looks good. I had the absolute best Carbonara I've ever tasted in my life at a tiny little joint across the street from the PHLX many years ago. OMG, it was sooooo good. This one looks worth a try. Making red sauce is an open door. Put in whatever you like. Here's my best secret. Great Value (Walmart) Ctushed Tomatoes are awesome as a base. I stopped buying the expensive imported tomatoes afew years ago. Don't laugh until you try it kids. Pro Tip: always put a tablespoon of sugar in your sauce, no matter what. It makes the red pepper flake and garlic a tad more mellow. To really brighten the sauce up, I always add a bunch of FRESH finely chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley right before service.
Looks good to me.
Thank u for sharing your recipe. Could you please tell me what brand of cookware, you are using.