The Original Chef Boyardee Spaghetti Dinner

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  • Опубликовано: 8 май 2024
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Комментарии • 4 тыс.

  • @joaovitormatos8147
    @joaovitormatos8147 Месяц назад +7042

    As someone who was born outside of the USA, the most confusing part of American culture was founding out chef Boyardee was a real person while Denny from Denny's wasn't

    • @justwhistlinpixie
      @justwhistlinpixie Месяц назад +464

      And that Betty Crocker want a real person!

    • @mcfarofinha134
      @mcfarofinha134 Месяц назад +369

      I've noticed that most of the time, the simpler the name, the more likely it ain't a real dude. Denny, Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima, etc.

    • @joshuakim5240
      @joshuakim5240 Месяц назад +266

      The weirdest part about American restaurant, food brand, and franchise names is that it's a coin flip for if said name is based on a real person/founder or if it's just a made up mascot name.

    • @FabulousKilljoy917
      @FabulousKilljoy917 Месяц назад +237

      As someone who was born inside the US, I had no idea chef boyardee was a real person until this very moment (this very video)

    • @ThePapaja1996
      @ThePapaja1996 Месяц назад

      Or a ww1 German aircraft hero@@joshuakim5240

  • @Lieutenant_Dude
    @Lieutenant_Dude Месяц назад +1337

    Boiardi’s story during the depression and war was so wholesome. The man really believed in his food, so much that he started growing his own ingredients in the factory and encouraging farmers to grow more tomatoes for him. He’s such a cool guy.

    • @Wolvenworks
      @Wolvenworks Месяц назад +86

      It’s probably a lot cheaper too to buy directly from the farmers than thru wholesalers, given the scale of tomatoes needed.

    • @pinchevulpes
      @pinchevulpes Месяц назад +45

      “Anyone can cook “ 😂😂😂❤

    • @SplatterInker
      @SplatterInker Месяц назад +3

      Yeah... can't imagine he could import most of that after the US dollar crashed.

    • @PatrickDKing
      @PatrickDKing Месяц назад +12

      You mean up until the point where he sold the company to an outfit that changed all the recipes into mass produced chemical laden garbage food?

    • @benn454
      @benn454 Месяц назад +87

      @@PatrickDKing So that he wouldn't have to layoff all of his employees. What the company did after his death is not his fault.

  • @TheJOKEY-bk5gc
    @TheJOKEY-bk5gc Месяц назад +427

    I have an original 1950 jar of Chef Boy-ar-dee meat sauce with the full list of ingredients.
    It's net weight is 8 ounces and the ingredients are as follows:
    Tomato puree
    Water
    Onions
    Beef
    Carrots
    Mushrooms
    Salt
    Wheat flour
    Cornstarch
    Beef fat
    Crackermeal
    Sugar
    Spices
    It came concentrated and the instructions recommend diluting it as desired by adding half a sauce bottle of water and then heating until it reaches a boil.

    • @GamingGardevoir
      @GamingGardevoir Месяц назад +33

      Interesting. Also I have the book with Uncle Hector’s sauce recipe in it: the recipe did not include meat, mushrooms, or carrots. It was a pure marinara sauce.
      There was a Bolognese sauce recipe that had those in it though, it was used with rigatoni or as a layer in lasagna (with béchamel sauce instead of ricotta cheese for the alternate layer)

    • @user-ut7wz7mh2r
      @user-ut7wz7mh2r Месяц назад +20

      How long have you had it? Do you think it's still edible? okay let me rephrase that - anything is technically edible once. Do you think it's still PALATABLE?

    • @ShadowsandCityLights
      @ShadowsandCityLights Месяц назад +2

      Make a video of it, please!

    • @lornbaker1083
      @lornbaker1083 Месяц назад +6

      but what are the spices!~? thats the IMPORTANT PART~! WHAT WAS HIS SECRET SPICE BLEND!?

    • @GamingGardevoir
      @GamingGardevoir Месяц назад +11

      @@lornbaker1083 "spices" for this would be Black Pepper as well as Basil and/or Nutmeg

  • @enigma9971
    @enigma9971 Месяц назад +114

    The man was a hero who wore an apron rather than a cape. Awesome story!

    • @mattyt1961
      @mattyt1961 Месяц назад +11

      A cape is just apron worn backwards

    • @spankynater4242
      @spankynater4242 Месяц назад +4

      He wore a cape, but since he was a foreigner, he got confused about which way it went.

  • @indyfan9845
    @indyfan9845 Месяц назад +2225

    I grew up in the town with the original Chef Boyardee factory. He opened it in the middle of Central Pennsylvania so he could have access to fresh tomatoes. I used to see his nephew and his nephew's wife at my work at the grocery store.

    • @chrisjas3129
      @chrisjas3129 Месяц назад +47

      U r one very blessed person. Ty for sharing your story. 😊

    • @karaamundson3964
      @karaamundson3964 Месяц назад +20

      *BONA FIDE!!!*

    • @tigergraffiti1684
      @tigergraffiti1684 Месяц назад +67

      I was born in the town he was born in. Piacenza, Italy

    • @nashhartley3675
      @nashhartley3675 Месяц назад +14

      Hell yeah. NEPA stays winning.

    • @xx-yd5mm
      @xx-yd5mm Месяц назад +10

      i'm assuming you also tasted his actual handmade sauce. if you did, could you maybe cook this recipe and tell us if it's the same sauce?

  • @markfergerson2145
    @markfergerson2145 Месяц назад +562

    I guess I’m now Officially Old.
    I grew up in the 1950s with that boxed spaghetti dinner with the cans of sauce and Parmesan cheese. My mother didn’t pry the lid off the can, instead she used a churchkey can opener to punch several holes in the lid so that it acted like a shaker.
    And yes, it was pretty darn good to eat.

    • @MoondustManwise
      @MoondustManwise Месяц назад +22

      What's a churchkey can opener? Is that the pokey thing my grandma has on the fridge? I could never figure out how to use it

    • @JenniferKlumpp
      @JenniferKlumpp Месяц назад +50

      @@MoondustManwise Yeahp, that's a church key. The rounded end is for opening bottles, the pointed end is for putting holes in cans. On the underside there's a little 'hook' that you place under the rim of the can and use as a lever to poke the sharp point into the top of the can. For liquids, you make two holes, a smaller one on one side to let air in, and a larger directly opposite to pour the liquid out of.

    • @deborahdean
      @deborahdean Месяц назад +14

      We had it in the '60s too. I think we probably had it at least once a month.

    • @jonesnori
      @jonesnori Месяц назад +20

      The original church key opener was shaped more like heavy wire curved to fit bottle caps, and was the form named "church key" for its resemblance to old keys. The form Jennifer describes is a bit more recent but still many decades old. I've never seen a real church key opener, but I've had a couple of the later form for years. I can't remember the last time I used the pokey end, though. I vaguely remember cans of tomato juice that had to be opened that way, with the big and little openings as described.

    • @markcollins2666
      @markcollins2666 Месяц назад +5

      @@MoondustManwise, it has a triangular pointed edge, used for poking holes in cans, or opening bottles. It was called a "church key", because old timey church keys, for opening the massive main doors, could do the same thing, if manipulated correctly. Buck up the small lever at the base firmly to the can, and push down.

  • @andrewberardinelli1749
    @andrewberardinelli1749 Месяц назад +91

    Sugar is added to tomato sauce not just to sweeten it but to lower the acidity of the tomato. But you can do the same thing with carrots which are much healthier and complement the sauce much better.

    • @The_Gallowglass
      @The_Gallowglass 26 дней назад +4

      which is where the sofrito comes in

    • @iamgermane
      @iamgermane 20 дней назад +1

      Chef Boyardee Spaghetti used to have orange colored sauce until someone (me I hope) complained and got heard!

    • @krisshaw9464
      @krisshaw9464 15 дней назад

      No

    • @JenA-dj3kf
      @JenA-dj3kf 14 дней назад +1

      I came to say this. That sweetness he's tasting is partially the tomatoes but the carrots are pulling a lot of weight there

    • @andrewberardinelli1749
      @andrewberardinelli1749 14 дней назад

      @@krisshaw9464 yes!

  • @erinzeb
    @erinzeb Месяц назад +96

    This was awesome. My dad has told me for years that Grandpa's go-to dinner for himself and his three boys whenever Grandma was out for the evening was Chef Boyardee's spaghetti dinner and iceberg wedges. That was back in the late '50s into the '60s.

  • @PokhrajRoy.
    @PokhrajRoy. Месяц назад +2684

    3:14 If a clove of garlic falls into a pot and there’s no one around to hear it…

  • @Pattilapeep
    @Pattilapeep Месяц назад +852

    My Dad had a small food stand near the Simmons Mattress Company in Bayway on the Elizabeth & Linden border in New Jersey, selling sandwiches, coffee tobacco goods, bottled sodas & ice cream, et cet. During WW2, he remained open 24 hours, having helpers come in to run the place, as the mattress factory had switched over to 24 hour war production items (one of which was the bazooka). He was awarded a medal that had a large letter E on it for his work toward the war effort. He was blind, so he was more than happy to contribute in the only way he could. I still have the medal.

    • @buffys3477
      @buffys3477 Месяц назад +48

      Your dad sounds like an amazing person.

    • @kyrab7914
      @kyrab7914 Месяц назад +21

      I have no idea how he made food, but that is v sweet

    • @congriofrito
      @congriofrito Месяц назад +41

      @@kyrab7914 its not the same being blind and being incapacitated. People adapt at overcoming their difficulties.

    • @JReyes624
      @JReyes624 Месяц назад +21

      What a cool story. Thank you for sharing it with us! It's always fascinating to learn the different ways people contributed during the war, even if they couldn't be the ones fighting. I'm glad the government took the effort to formally thank him.

    • @JustThinkForYourself
      @JustThinkForYourself Месяц назад +17

      You're Father was a hero. Please, always remember that.

  • @sherribrtn
    @sherribrtn Месяц назад +47

    I remember the first time my mom made a Chef Boyardee pizza and my brother and I were fascinated with the yeasty smell of the dough as it was rising on the back of the stove top; that was probably 60 years ago but I remember that first bite of pizza and nothing has ever tasted so exotic and delicious! We lived in Tennessee then and it was hard finding those food products, too.

    • @tintioz3281
      @tintioz3281 17 дней назад +1

      I used to make this in the 70's with my grandma and my mom. Not sure when they stopped making the kit. If I found it now I would definitely buy it and make it again. Great memories and it was delicious!

    • @WendyHopper
      @WendyHopper 14 дней назад +1

      We had Appian Way pizza, which I now realize was probably a rip off of Chef Boyardee pizza kit. :D

  • @danderson4740
    @danderson4740 Месяц назад +46

    I'm a life-long Clevelander and had no idea Chef Boiardi lived and worked here. How cool! And, today, Big Italy has become Little Italy. Such a cool place to see.

    • @Kerithanos
      @Kerithanos Месяц назад +6

      As a fellow Clevelander I was curious about this - Wikipedia says that his restaurant was at East 9th and Woodland Avenue. Now those streets no longer intersect but I bet you they did before the freeway came through - right at the Central Interchange, where I-90 and I-77 meet. Of course, that's nowhere near Little Italy, so I did a little more research, and found this tidbit from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:
      "BIG ITALY was Cleveland's first major Italian settlement and the center of the city's produce markets. In the late 1890s, Italians settled in the HAYMARKET along Woodland near the city center. [...] As the neighborhood of Big Italy deteriorated, residents moved to better housing in Collinwood, LITTLE ITALY, Kinsman, and Fulton Rd. The Italian population of Big Italy fell from a high of 4,429 in 1910 to 1,300 in 1940 and 180 by 1960."

    • @danderson4740
      @danderson4740 Месяц назад +1

      @@Kerithanos Wow! That's really interesting! I love local history. Thank you! 🙂

  • @Aroused_mortician
    @Aroused_mortician Месяц назад +541

    That was really cool he found a way to not lay any one off, you don't hear about people caring for employees like that anymore. Really awesome of him.

    • @adde9506
      @adde9506 Месяц назад +37

      Too bad that selling it ultimately led to the recipe being changed to what it is now. Which is terrible if you don't have nostalgia for it.

    • @dianegron
      @dianegron Месяц назад +8

      Bob’s Red Mill has also a wholesome story on how Bob benefited his employees. Check it out. 😊

    • @mediawarrior5957
      @mediawarrior5957 Месяц назад +12

      @@adde9506 they sold the throwback cans a few years ago, the taste was far better

    • @juanelorriaga2840
      @juanelorriaga2840 Месяц назад +4

      Different time people had souls and cared about people more than their money

    • @electrictroy2010
      @electrictroy2010 Месяц назад +14

      @juanelorriaga2840 NOPE industrialists were just as heartless back then. The unions arose in late 1800s because most factory owners were Not as kind as Boyardee
      .

  • @yoda5565
    @yoda5565 Месяц назад +424

    I am 65 years old, when I was young my father would make a Chef Boyardee pizza for dinner on a Saturday night back in the early 1960's. It gave my mom a break from cooking, and I learned how to make pizza with my Dad. I remember the one box kit and can of dried parma' cheese. You'd mixed the dough and let it rise. Spread the dough by hand on a cookie sheet until you got a nice thin crust, 14" pie and it was good. Luckily I grew up in the Philadelphia area where Pizza was "King" and fast food chains had yet to proliferate. So as times got better, so did the pizza, but the most enjoyable pizza I ever had was the Chef Boyardee pizza my Dad and I made.

    • @harpintn
      @harpintn Месяц назад +11

      I am just 6 younger than you are. We used the same pizza kits when I was a kid, but making the pizza was more of a family project.

    • @FireMrshlBill
      @FireMrshlBill Месяц назад +5

      We were still making it in the 90’s (I’m 38). Though my mom would buy extra Parmesan to shake on it to at least cover the top. My parents never did frozen pizza when I was growing up, it was either a pizza kit when we were young and the budget was tight, or order out from a pizza shop. Last time I made one was in college about 20yrs ago. I think they have since changed the kits to not include Parmesan and different dough, etc.

    • @jimbroaudio
      @jimbroaudio Месяц назад +4

      They still sell those kits - my dad and I make those pizzas every so often as well. Some of the best pizza sauce you can get. Even if I make everything else from scratch, I’ll still buy those cans of sauce for my own pizzas. (I’m 29 by the way)

    • @Tailstraw_xD
      @Tailstraw_xD Месяц назад +4

      There's nothing quite like nostalgia to.season your food with

    • @justenbenally522
      @justenbenally522 Месяц назад +2

      I wish I grew up in the 60s

  • @amberdusts
    @amberdusts Месяц назад +33

    My dad used to make the pizza with just the kit only, and to this day it still is a nostalgic taste. They don't have the parm anymore but if you buy something like 4c brand that doesn't use cellulous powder, it tastes the same

    • @user-ut7wz7mh2r
      @user-ut7wz7mh2r Месяц назад

      The way that parmesan cheese has been bastardized by additives like cellulose is Criminal

    • @monhi64
      @monhi64 Месяц назад

      Idk cellulose doesn’t have any flavor so you should be good either way. It does add a texture though if it’s in high enough a proportion

    • @user-ut7wz7mh2r
      @user-ut7wz7mh2r Месяц назад

      @@monhi64 I'm not complaining about a flavor, I'm complaining about paying for cheese and getting wood pulp

  • @kelleykidder7787
    @kelleykidder7787 Месяц назад +43

    I love Anna Boiardi's cookbook. The Bolognese sauce is amazing.

    • @GamingGardevoir
      @GamingGardevoir Месяц назад +5

      I’ve yet to make the bolognese, I did make Hector’s sauce though and really enjoy it. Max appears to have made a hybrid of the two to approximate the canned sauce

  • @joanmurphy-tr2kb
    @joanmurphy-tr2kb Месяц назад +553

    As distant relatives of the Boiardi family, my grandparents were also from Piacenza. The sauce I grew up on and that I was taught to make, is essentially the same as Chef Hectors (Only difference being that my grandmother also added a few pats of butter to the sauté along with the olive oil and garlic always made its way into the sauce!) The sweetness comes not only from the tomato’s, and the slow cooking, but also from the carrots. Great presentation. Thank you!!!!!!

    • @shoshanahbush7723
      @shoshanahbush7723 Месяц назад +34

      I was guessing that (since carrots get very sweet when cooked). Thank you!

    • @polarbearsaysyummy5845
      @polarbearsaysyummy5845 Месяц назад +3

      🐻‍❄️🐻‍❄️🐻‍❄️🐻‍❄️😍😍😍😍

    • @poephreak33
      @poephreak33 Месяц назад +8

      Came here to say it was the carrots... good stuff

    • @donedeal2057
      @donedeal2057 Месяц назад +3

      Did you ever go to the mansion in maryland?

    • @rudolphvalentinoconnection8298
      @rudolphvalentinoconnection8298 Месяц назад +3

      We put some raisins into the gravy!

  • @caffiend0o
    @caffiend0o Месяц назад +799

    Excellent. Sweetness comes from the carrots btw. Same thing works for chili and broth for soup. The sweetness from the carrot is not overwhelming and not out of place

    • @Corrodias
      @Corrodias Месяц назад +42

      Both that and tomato are pretty sweet. On that note, it's pretty common to have some carrots in hot sauces, and I don't really like that because it makes them unsuitably sweet for many uses. 😅 In a sauce like this, though, I am sure it works great.

    • @tazandalsoalastname
      @tazandalsoalastname Месяц назад +17

      ​​@@CorrodiasI just made a giant batch of hot sauce with carrots in, and i usually cut it with quite a lot of vinegar and oil so it keeps longer, and that can balance out the sweetness. Sometimes I mix it with Mayonnaise and that works too. I like it because you get hit with the flavor before you get hit with the heat.

    • @hrodga
      @hrodga Месяц назад +74

      You actually get sweetness from the onion, too. They're not super high in sugar, but there's more than most people realize, and it really comes out when you cook them.

    • @RyllenKriel
      @RyllenKriel Месяц назад +18

      San Marzano tomatoes from Italy are naturally nicely sweet. I almost never make a pizza anymore without them. They are my favourite tomato in the world!

    • @buckaroobonsaibuddy7
      @buckaroobonsaibuddy7 Месяц назад +8

      I just knew there would be a smarty pants in the comment section that had to point out that carrots are sweet

  • @ninjacrumbs
    @ninjacrumbs Месяц назад +23

    I was born in 75. Last generation latchkey kid. My childhood was awesome subjectively, but objectively, very messed up. Parents divorced; an absent father, but as my brother, who was a f**** arse to me and tormented and beat me in our youth (we get along great now!!) said to me - when we were much older - that every family has a story. That resonates with me till this day to understand family dynamics, offering empathy, and the is NO leaving it to beaver!! The Boyardee family was my go-to. Alone, with only a can opener, I could only rely upon the Chef to nourish me with cold, canned pasta as, being under 9 years old, the stove was something I didn`t understand, nor touch. I STILL see every 80s Boyardee label!!

  • @jeromemckenna7102
    @jeromemckenna7102 Месяц назад +6

    It is always fun to see an old recipe come out really well. I am old enough to have seen commercials with Hector Boiardi.

  • @mymonopolychannel
    @mymonopolychannel Месяц назад +436

    Hi Max, as a kid in the 1970s the pizza boxes were still available and I remember them. Now, keep in mind, this was not rich people food, we were poor and it was cheap, and I'd never had any other pizza experience at that time. The crust came out thin but not light, the sauce kinda became a part of it (little moisture left), and the predominant flavor was the parm. No cheese-pull on that one, but I liked it as a kid. I had nothing better with which to compare.

    • @cartoonistaaronhazouri
      @cartoonistaaronhazouri Месяц назад +31

      Grew up in the 80s and 90s and it was in regular rotation at our house. My dad hated it!!

    • @Htfsik
      @Htfsik Месяц назад +26

      My mom would sprinkle cooked ground beef on top.
      We did have a small chain of good Italian restaurants in San Diego at the time. (50’s and 60’s). The seven Pernicano brothers had each opened up a resturaunt using their mother’s recipes. Darned good pizza. But on a house painters wages it was a special occasion to go. So we had a lot of Chef Boyardee when I was growing up.

    • @jlpeters8576
      @jlpeters8576 Месяц назад +10

      I think you should have used quotation marks around "Parm." Your description was otherwise perfect. 😄

    • @notalizardperson
      @notalizardperson Месяц назад +12

      @@cartoonistaaronhazouriKids these days don't know how good they have it. When I was their age we had to travel an hour each way to the nearest pizza hut, in the back seat of a car that was falling apart despite the fact it was only a couple years old, no entertainment other than torturing your siblings and getting yelled at by your parents. The other options were frozen pizzas that were terrible, soggy bake-at-home fresh pizzas from the meat case, or the chef boyardee or some other brand shelf-stable kits. I can understand why everyone is overweight these days. Most of the food we eat today hadn't been invented yet.

    • @ronpfeiffer9157
      @ronpfeiffer9157 Месяц назад +7

      We loved them

  • @theresathalken373
    @theresathalken373 Месяц назад +377

    I really enjoyed this episode! I live in the province of Piacenza; the story is that Chef Boiardi returned to Italy in his old age and built a summer home out in the country, across the River Trebbia from the village where I live. The style of spaghetti sauce is very typical of this area, and as everyone else has said, the carrots and the onions are what gives it that sweetness. Thank you for your always meticulous research!

    • @WinstonSmithGPT
      @WinstonSmithGPT Месяц назад +7

      You cook a ragù for less than an hour? With mushroom?

    • @theresathalken373
      @theresathalken373 Месяц назад +8

      @@WinstonSmithGPT I've never tried this particular recipe but apparently it works

    • @jc4jax
      @jc4jax Месяц назад +7

      from what I have learned online (Alton Brown) I thought Italians thought Americans were strange putting meat sauce on spaghetti instead on wider noodles or shaped pasta that held the sauce better like penne. Is it common to use spaghetti for meat sauces in parts of Italy?

    • @Lunch_Meat
      @Lunch_Meat Месяц назад

      ​@@jc4jax I can't answer from personal experience, but can perhaps offer a glimmer of info from family experience. One branch of my family is 4th generation Italian American and we are very fortunate that we still have connections and roots in "the old country" with family from both sides coming and going off and on throughout the generations. The old country parts of the family are absolutely shocked about how the new world parts of the family do family dishes. A lot of the time, things like sauce recipes have stayed the same, mostly, with only certain things like the type or cut of meat changing, and oftentimes, the type of pasta changes. From what we have gathered, this has a lot to do with the great depression and WW2. Making use of what was cheap and available changed things up. As my rural Oregonian Italian American family members put it "where we are, you got two choices of noodle. Macaroni or spaghetti. You got four choice of meat. Ground beef, ground pork, ground chicken, or ground venison. Don't like it? Tough."
      PS my uncle makes a killer venison bolognese, which you would never see in Italy.

    • @jacqueschouette7474
      @jacqueschouette7474 Месяц назад +10

      The River Trebbia!! The site of one of Hannibal's victories and Rome's defeats.

  • @cloudninetherapeutics7787
    @cloudninetherapeutics7787 Месяц назад +3

    Great job on the website, Max. The canned Chef Boyardee just can't compete with making it yourself. Removing the tomato seeds which add a bitterness that I never liked so I've always removed them, adding carrots, also something I've done and it really does make a difference, makes for a much better flavor. And butter on the noodles with the cheese, a long time favorite with or without the sauce.

  • @retronostalgio
    @retronostalgio Месяц назад +6

    Love stuff like this. I'm the granddaughter of Greek immigrants, and I've lived in Ohio all my life (I know I've seen a Chef Boiardi cookbook lying around at someone's house at some point). I think it's cool seeing ethnic cuisine and family recipes morph over the years. We definitely have at least one family tomato sauce recipe that took some investigating/translating to recreate with what's available today in terms of ingredients (and figuring out what great-grandmother meant by "a little spoon" of this and "big spoon" of that, for example haha).

    • @retronostalgio
      @retronostalgio Месяц назад +2

      Also, as far as I know, pizza that has only grated Romano cheese sprinkled on top of tomato sauce is known as "old world" style, at least in my area. It's really delicious imo, especially when used with a "breadier" kind of pizza crust.

    • @junkerburn2341
      @junkerburn2341 Месяц назад +2

      ​@@retronostalgioi had a trip to Italy with my grandparents back in 2019 and i had pizza like that when there! just bread, sauce and a nice amount of garlic on top. id do anything to have a pizza like that again, so simple but so good. seems like the perfect midnight food.

  • @SteinGauslaaStrindhaug
    @SteinGauslaaStrindhaug Месяц назад +223

    3:19 Tomatoes passed through a sieve this way is called "passata di pomodoro" in Italian; (it's essentially tomato puree that isn't concentrated; you probably could even use tomato puree with some added water).
    So you might be able to find a can or carton of Passata and skip the breaking your spatula step completely.

    • @TheRedKing247
      @TheRedKing247 Месяц назад +24

      Alternatively throw together a 28oz can of Crushed Tomatoes and a 6 oz can of tomato paste, and you're in flavortown.

    • @SuneSkeel
      @SuneSkeel Месяц назад +15

      Ahhh, so that is what passata is. I often see it next to the canned tomatoes and pure. Thanks for the tip. I'll try that next time I'll cook pasta with a tomato sauce.

    • @bartomand3681
      @bartomand3681 Месяц назад +17

      If you are going to use a passata, I recommend you search the ingredients to get one that is only Tomatoes and salt (and basil if added), try and avoid the ones that add sugar or stabilizers. I find that Mutti is the best.

    • @markantony3875
      @markantony3875 Месяц назад +2

      @@bartomand3681 Yes, can't go wrong with the Mutti passata!

    • @jessiethedude
      @jessiethedude Месяц назад

      I like living on the edge

  • @John_Fugazzi
    @John_Fugazzi Месяц назад +216

    I really appreciate the fact that Max puts as much work into the history part of the presentation as he does for the cooking and seriously researches his subjects like a professional historian.

    • @GamingGardevoir
      @GamingGardevoir Месяц назад

      Something slightly off: the published recipe for Hector’s sauce didn’t include meat, mushrooms, or carrots. It was simply the greatest marinara sauce I’ve ever made. Max’s recipe took liberties with adding the ingredients of the canned sauce

  • @wendyhubble1383
    @wendyhubble1383 26 дней назад +2

    I adore these videos and am so glad I found this channel. As a person raised in a Sicilian household, I am not going to lie-I love Chef Boyardee. Learning a bit of the history made me smile.

  • @justgivemethetruth
    @justgivemethetruth Месяц назад +6

    I still have cans of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti and meatballs for a quick meal if I have nothing else. They are very cheap and tasty too. I loved it as a kid, but then again I like Vienna Sausages and Beenie-Weanies too. Totally fascinating story.

  • @shanedoe3462
    @shanedoe3462 Месяц назад +180

    We used to have the Chef Boy-ar-dee pizza when I was a kid (late 1970's). My mother would load it with so much ground beef, mushrooms and green peppers that we had to eat it with a knife and fork. It was more of a casserole than pizza. The parmesan came in a little silver tin with a peel-back foil lid and the dough was in one of those cardboard tubes that you used a knife to "pop" open, like the old style Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.

    • @melissadunton3534
      @melissadunton3534 Месяц назад +22

      Hmm…I wonder if the crust being in a pop can was a regional thing or if they changed it in the late 70’s? I grew up eating it as well, but the crust was a powder in a packet and you mixed 1/2 cup of hot water into it, put a bit of oil on the dough, cover with a kitchen towel and let it sit for 5 mins to rise. Then you pressed it onto your oiled pizza pan and voilà… freshly made pizza crust!
      They still have the kits, btw. And the dough is made the same way. I still buy them because it’s so nostalgic for me. ✌🏻😊

    • @kmbbmj5857
      @kmbbmj5857 Месяц назад +8

      @@melissadunton3534 That's the version my mom would buy where she had to fix the dough. And she always added meat. Could be ground beef, sausage, pepperoni, etc. And a big helping of cheese on top.

    • @melissadunton3534
      @melissadunton3534 Месяц назад +10

      @@kmbbmj5857 yes! My mom would always add other toppings and mozzarella too! Sometimes she would let each of us (kids) pick the topping we wanted and she would make one of each kind as well as one with just extra cheese…so we’d usually have 4 pizzas for the entire family. It’s so nostalgic for me. I still love to make pizza with the chef boyardee kits. ✌🏻😊

    • @user-ou4qh3bi6u
      @user-ou4qh3bi6u Месяц назад +5

      Oh yes, I love that pizza! The sauce is unmatched. ❤ Now I've got a craving 😊. I live in a hot region, but will get the oven on soon.

    • @harrietharlow9929
      @harrietharlow9929 Месяц назад +2

      @@melissadunton3534 My mum, too! Both the Pizza and the spaghetti dinner. It was always a treat. Thanks, Mum!

  • @user-xe6zb4bp6l
    @user-xe6zb4bp6l Месяц назад +219

    I had a major surgery back in November and your videos kept me company during my recovery. They were the perfect combo of being so entertaining and educational, but also short enough that my shorter attention span from the meds I was on didn't fight with me as much as with longer videos. Also, and I mean this in the best way possible, I didn't feel as guilty for falling asleep to them because I could always go back and re-watch them, where as with longer form videos I'd had alot of trouble finding where I left off. I fell asleep randomly alot post surgery, as to be expected. Thank you for these great videos and all the work and research you do to make them!

    • @angelinaduganNy
      @angelinaduganNy Месяц назад +10

      I hope that you feel better.

    • @eme7323
      @eme7323 Месяц назад +2

      hope you're doing well😊

    • @plastikk12
      @plastikk12 Месяц назад +1

      Hope you're doing better!

  • @bunnycrazygirl
    @bunnycrazygirl Месяц назад +4

    I’ve loved your channel for years now! I really enjoy when you make more utilitarian dinner recipes like this.

  • @asulisa9312
    @asulisa9312 Месяц назад +2

    my dad and i are incredibly different people but i’m so happy you make this show that we can bond over together ❤️ excellent work max

  • @user-si6ql8qy1k
    @user-si6ql8qy1k Месяц назад +271

    I actually met the chef while on vacation in Florida in the late 1950s. He and his family were down to earth, willing to talk to a young family while sitting on the beach, even giving suggestions on sand castle building. On another note, my mother in law came from the same area in Italy as the chef. She also made pizza with just sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. She always refused to add spices, meat or mozzarella. Thanks for another great episode.

    • @Gutslinger
      @Gutslinger Месяц назад +14

      In the 1950's. 😳
      So you're old enough to remember Hank Williams Sr being alive, and the news of his passing in 1953?

    • @JewishKeto
      @JewishKeto Месяц назад +2

      That’s so cool.

    • @douglasgraebner1831
      @douglasgraebner1831 Месяц назад +14

      That's basically "roman-style" pizza, aka foccacia with a bit of tomato sauce.

    • @aldouswastaken
      @aldouswastaken Месяц назад +5

      Why are you lying? It's not like this is a karma system

    • @soleclaw6521
      @soleclaw6521 Месяц назад +1

      I am actually very j right now. That's awesome!!😊

  • @MrMegaManFan
    @MrMegaManFan Месяц назад +562

    I love Max being just as much of a nerd as the rest of us with his Pokémon.

    • @vymuyi3061
      @vymuyi3061 Месяц назад +67

      It’s his husband Jose’s plushies actually! So he’s the real nerd here 🤣

    • @BorksmithandTheBeef
      @BorksmithandTheBeef Месяц назад +18

      They're adorkable

    • @liberalsockpuppet4772
      @liberalsockpuppet4772 Месяц назад +13

      Chef Bioardi, I choose you!

    • @Madeen1982
      @Madeen1982 Месяц назад +12

      They need to release a spaghetti meatball Pokémon. 😆

    • @lauraalbert3607
      @lauraalbert3607 Месяц назад +9

      Good to know I’m not the only one who came to the comments to see if Chef Pikachu was mentioned!😂🤌🏼💁🏼‍♀️

  • @user-ut7wz7mh2r
    @user-ut7wz7mh2r Месяц назад +4

    There are a lot of cooking channels on youtube, but yours is my absolute favorite. I love love love love the history lesson, and for some reason especially this one as someone who grew up in the 70s eating a lot of beefaroni. I will say though my current favorite is the mini ravioli with meatballs cuz it's a little sweeter, but Beefaroni is amazing

  • @HaruCharm
    @HaruCharm Месяц назад +1

    I just made this recipe with a few tweaks (no fresh basil handy). It was simple and delicious! Our toddler snarfed his plateful and cried when we took his plate away. He ate a second plateful too (he NEVER asks for seconds). We will definitely be making this again. Thanks, Max! Also, we just got your signed cookbook at last, it's BEAUTIFUL!

  • @DivideBy0YT
    @DivideBy0YT Месяц назад +458

    Hello! My dad jus recently died and we used to watch this show together all the time, and i wanted to thank you for making these videos and helping me stay on my feet. This video reminded me of him as he loved chef boyardee canned foods. Thank you for having this channel. Update: thank you for all the replies, literally crying because people are actually appreciating me for once! thanks.

    • @leyalaatasto9096
      @leyalaatasto9096 Месяц назад +30

      Deepest condolences for your dad's passing. May his memory be a comfort to you and the people who knew him ❤

    • @MudderGirl13
      @MudderGirl13 Месяц назад +8

      I am sorry to hear that 🫂❤️

    • @flonga1
      @flonga1 Месяц назад +6

      love u be well

    • @KissTheFatRat
      @KissTheFatRat Месяц назад +7

      May his memory be a blessing .

    • @achanwahn
      @achanwahn Месяц назад +6

      Sorry to hear of his passing. May he and your family be at peace 💐 🕊

  • @DoremiFasolatido1979
    @DoremiFasolatido1979 Месяц назад +557

    I once made a Bard in D&D that specialized in culinary arts rather than music or such.
    His name was Bo, of the prestigious family of chefs, House Yardee.
    It took 11 sessions before anyone figured it out, because I was very careful never to mention his birth name, surname, or his actual profession, all in the same session.
    That went on for a while longer, then we got mostly wiped, and decided to just start over.
    So I made a more traditional Bard...
    Doremi, of the famous troubadour family, the Fasolatidos. That one made it to 16 sessions before anyone caught on. I wasn't even careful about it. I just did my best Italian/Spanish accent at all times, and everyone just thought it sounded legit if I said it fast enough.

    • @LeChaunce
      @LeChaunce Месяц назад +82

      Totally stealing Doremi Fasolatidos for my own game -- the elves in my campaign world all have Spanish names and Inigo Montoya accents.

    • @chrisdonovan8795
      @chrisdonovan8795 Месяц назад +27

      I need players like you in my games.

    • @names_are_useless
      @names_are_useless Месяц назад +67

      GM: A Goblin Raiding Party is coming your way, what do you do!?
      BARBARIAN: Charge at them!
      RANGER: Shoot arrows at them!
      WIZARD: Cast Magic Missiles!
      BARD: Cook up a nice plate of spaghetti! They're probably just hangry.

    • @captainthorrek262
      @captainthorrek262 Месяц назад +12

      Loved playing a cook in D&D! Went Artificer (assuming 5e), but should have went your route with the Bard

    • @sallybanner
      @sallybanner Месяц назад +17

      ive been working on home brewing what i call a sandwich bard. did you use food to distribute buffs? do you hand out tje food pre battle or do you toss a meatball into the barbarian from 10 ft away 😂

  • @Casper.Raptorr
    @Casper.Raptorr Месяц назад +1

    I love your videos! I can watch them over and over and every time i'm inspired to cook something, even if it's not what's covered in the video. Thanks Max.

  • @jamesb.6766
    @jamesb.6766 Месяц назад +3

    Honestly bro, u kinda motivate me to get info cooking, I love they way u display the ingredients, and display the way u cook it, I feel like I can actually cook it without looking it up, and while we wait I love the way u give a history debrief, I always enjoyed history, keep up ur amazing content bro!!❤❤

  • @billmcdonald4335
    @billmcdonald4335 Месяц назад +113

    Hector's boxed 'sketti' dinner was the very first pasta I ever tried. It was considered quite the thing back in the '60s. I was hooked on it from the get-go. I make my own sauce from scratch these days, but it's coz of Chef Boiardi that I have my life-long love of pasta.

  • @bradydomann3102
    @bradydomann3102 Месяц назад +69

    I’m from Cleveland, and my dad’s spaghetti is made almost exactly like this. He learned from his mom, I believe, who almost certainly ate at his restaurant in “Big Italy”!

  • @MainelyElectrons
    @MainelyElectrons Месяц назад +1

    Great video! Very cool to learn the history behind the man and brand. Also appreciate that you put the ad spot at the end of the video.

  • @TinaFahy-jx4om
    @TinaFahy-jx4om 26 дней назад +1

    I live in Milton Pennsylvania and used to work at "chefs" as we call it here. Hector also built a mansion for his wife here in Milton and of course its called the boardi mansion. The factory still stands but it is now owned by conegra. Hector also started the 1st. Tomato festival in 1977 which we still celebrate today.

  • @RebeccaRaven
    @RebeccaRaven Месяц назад +158

    I remember those little cans of parmesan cheese in the box. So cute.

    • @dreamcoyote
      @dreamcoyote Месяц назад +17

      Yeah, that sparked a few brain cells that hadn't been active in a long time :D

    • @dianasthings729
      @dianasthings729 Месяц назад +4

      That was before my time, I grew up with Beefaroni ...so good...

    • @miseentrope
      @miseentrope Месяц назад +7

      I had forgotten about them too. I bet you a penny there's still a can or three holding hardware in my dad's woodshop.

    • @ingridkeller9673
      @ingridkeller9673 Месяц назад +3

      Can you still buy a box of the original? With the spaghetti on one side, the sauce on the bottom, and the mini can of parmesan above it.

    • @gwennorthcutt421
      @gwennorthcutt421 Месяц назад +2

      im too young to know that version but that little can just scratches my brain in the best way.

  • @carolj2013
    @carolj2013 Месяц назад +86

    Growing up in a small Michigan farm town (sign still says "Village Limits" and there's not a single fast food restaurant) - "ethnic food" was the Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee pizza in the box, complete with the sawdust parmesan cheese in a tiny can. That and La Choy or Chun King vacuum sealed Chinese food with those crispy noodles! Great memories!

    • @DizzyBusy
      @DizzyBusy Месяц назад +4

      That's so cute!! Is the small Michigan farm town still a small farm town, or does it now have a Starbucks and a Dunkin' Donuts on every corner?

    • @carolj2013
      @carolj2013 Месяц назад +8

      @@DizzyBusy still Village Limits and still no fast food or Starbucks or DD. There's a Subway, and 2 bars (there were 3 back in the day) 2 mom n pop pizza joints a bakery/cafe and a "Dairy Den"! Still a tiny town!

    • @LatitudeSky
      @LatitudeSky Месяц назад +3

      The pizza kits in the box were so good. It was a special treat to make one. I used to think it wasn't much like "real" pizza but as an adult I realize simple pizza like that kit would make are the real pizza and the stuff just drowned in toppings are just junk food. I get it now.

    • @BC25citizen
      @BC25citizen Месяц назад +3

      Omg, La Choy chow mein noodles. Those were the special dinner in our house too! (We ate Boy-Ar-Dee and Campbells almost daily.) Needless to say, I grew up FAR from any coastal city.

  • @58limited
    @58limited Месяц назад +1

    I made this last night, the only ingredient I was missing was fresh mushrooms but I reconstituted some dried morel mushrooms in white wine instead. I used garden tomato sauce that I made last year and fresh basil as well as venison and beef blend ground meat. This is a really good, quick, easy to make meat sauce. Thanks for posting, you do a great job of bringing food history to life.

  • @rmj7
    @rmj7 Месяц назад +1

    I knew within milliseconds of you taking that first bite that I NEEDED to try making this. I rarely see such a genuine reaction like this from you, so this HAS to be beyond delish.

  • @thatcreepyfangirlstalkerch3572
    @thatcreepyfangirlstalkerch3572 Месяц назад +637

    I can't believe Max didn’t scoure the internet for a vintage can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti sauce.

    • @TastingHistory
      @TastingHistory  Месяц назад +978

      😂 I’ll leave that to SteveMRE

    • @haraldlorentzen40
      @haraldlorentzen40 Месяц назад

      Speaking of MRE's, is that something you may do one day? Would be interesting to get your take on MRE's.@@TastingHistory

    • @Stevonicus
      @Stevonicus Месяц назад +96

      I feel like Good Mythical Morning would probably try it

    • @ResinAlchemist2024
      @ResinAlchemist2024 Месяц назад +70

      ​@@TastingHistoryHaha I love watching SteveMRE's videos as well.

    • @Dieselbuilder
      @Dieselbuilder Месяц назад +14

      Spaghetti Sauce with meat is still available and still made using the original recipe according to their customer help desk

  • @PrinnieSophia
    @PrinnieSophia Месяц назад +105

    My father in law Mr. Ted who became the banquet manager of the Plaza got his start with The Boiardi brothers in 1929. He was the maitre d of the Persian Room first. He also managed Truman Capotes Black and White Ball. His uncle John Foglia was one of the investors in the Boiardi company. It was bought out by Kraft. Love your channel and never miss an episode.

    • @sabinegierth-waniczek4872
      @sabinegierth-waniczek4872 Месяц назад +17

      Really?!? Now I know from where the design and the setup of the product was familiar to me!
      I do not know if it is more widely known, but in Germany the brand Kraft sells a pasta product, prepacked with tomato paste, spices, and formerly a sort of grated cheese (I liked it, but too many people not, they now sell it for the same price without the cheese, which led me to return to making my own meals), ready in 9 to 12 minutes, box design VERY similar to the Boiardi carton.
      It is called Miracoli, and it was one of the cherished treats of my childhood! The original sauce was so delicious, but I never knew why. It took me years to determine what the secret ingredient of the spice and herb mix was, but it was really easy after I had a Bloody Mary - it's the celeriac salt, which since then I make myself to have it ready for tomato sugo!
      Until the ca. 2000s it was available in every supermarket, but since then - tumbleweeds. Maybe too many allergies, so that nobody buys it anymore... It is really useful if you can not get fresh celery or celeriac for any sugo, and luckily easy to prepare.
      Max does such a great job to teach and entertain his audience! And aftewards, something delicious to eat - what's not to love? The community here is s friendly and educated, I always learn so much new stuff, for which I am grateful!!! Have a nice week, and always eat well:-)

    • @breeabroderick1204
      @breeabroderick1204 Месяц назад +3

      i love food history thank you for your story

    • @sabinegierth-waniczek4872
      @sabinegierth-waniczek4872 Месяц назад +3

      @@breeabroderick1204Thank you for being interested and so kind! Food is also our on history, and often it triggers memories of happy moments - I for one am happy for this :-) Have a good day!

    • @WendyHopper
      @WendyHopper 14 дней назад

      @@sabinegierth-waniczek4872 There was celery salt in the spaghetti sauce? I have never heard of it. I love celery seed.

  • @richardsmith4187
    @richardsmith4187 Месяц назад +1

    Max What a great story about Chef "Boyardee" ! I ate tons of his products growing up and it was great. Enjoyed your recipe for his sauce and I will make it soon. Again amazing story and keep up your great work, as you tell great stories !

  • @kevinmccorkle7476
    @kevinmccorkle7476 Месяц назад +1

    The recipes are awesome, and the history is even better! Great video!

  • @blackdragon227
    @blackdragon227 Месяц назад +78

    That child-like smile of delight while you were chewing was so endearing. That was a face that says, "This tastes like childhood memories."

  • @EddyGurge
    @EddyGurge Месяц назад +137

    My dad was born in Milton, PA. I've actually seen Chef Boyardee at a parade about 50 years ago.

  • @henrynoel4223
    @henrynoel4223 Месяц назад +1

    I tried this with a couple of small modifications, and I must say, it was quite good. I used half a pound of ground chuck (browned separately, so I could drain the fat) and a 28-ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes, hand crushed. I'll be doing this again, and probably quite often, since it's so ridiculously easy to make!

  • @Carl_O.
    @Carl_O. Месяц назад +1

    Just discovered your channel and love it! I'm totally into foods from around the world and different times in history.

  • @gjosephmd2926
    @gjosephmd2926 Месяц назад +119

    Thank you for this wonderful throwback to my childhood. You see I DO remember those boxes of Chef Boyardee spaghetti when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was the highlight of our week. When you opened the can of sauce and cheese you could smell the wonderful aroma of freshness and the “love” that went into making that product. We couldn’t wait to put them all together and enjoy our Chef Boyardee spaghetti dinner. And…..you are absolutely correct the recipe for things like the Beefaroni and Ravioli have changed over the years and it tastes nothing like my taste buds remember them to be like when I was young. You see the olfactory part of our brain has the capacity to retain memories far better than almost any other part of our brain.
    Thank you again,
    Dr. George Joseph
    Dallas, Tx

    • @Redwhiteblue-gr5em
      @Redwhiteblue-gr5em Месяц назад +7

      So right, the beeforoni was pretty tasty back in the 60s. Now it’s not that good.

    • @andersonomo597
      @andersonomo597 Месяц назад +8

      Here in Oz we have our icons too - like Arnott's Shortbread which taste NOTHING like when I had them as a kid. It's death by a thousand cuts - a different production method, butter not the same, one sugar swapped out for another, and so it goes....... Sad, but reality. I grew up in Toronto, arrived in 68 when I was 11 and I remember Chef Boyardee was SUCH a treat - and Mum was from the Slovenian/Italian border and is still a bloody good cook at 97 LOL Oh the power of marketing!

    • @violetskies14
      @violetskies14 Месяц назад +4

      ​@@andersonomo597 it's the same in Britain. I miss when real butter was used in things and pop had real sugar.

    • @lasskinn474
      @lasskinn474 Месяц назад +2

      @@andersonomo597 even mcdonalds isn't as good as it used to be.
      the annoying thing is that the anti-corporates try to tell us that it gets more and more engineered to be addictive while it's just less so because they try to save money. like the cheeseburger, the cheese should go on it straight after the grill and if the patty waits for 20 minutes in some hotbox before that it just will not be as good. I never order cheese on a burger from bk because the recipe for that includes microwaving it to melt the cheese a little bit - and it doesn't even melt so whats the point! and there's never ready made burgers now waiting due to the hotboxing policy changes so it's slower to get the food(everything is assembled to order) while also affecting the taste negatively - and the restaurant floorplans are still bizarrely made as if you could get the food instantly after paying.
      they're also messing with soda tastes too - also not to save you but to just save their expenses, the sugarfree versions of sprite and others need a lot less. sure it's sweetness value whatever is the same but it doesn't taste the same and it doesn't feel the same, it doesn't bubble the same, it doesn't even flow the same without the mass of the sugar in it and it's effects on the surface tension etc, I don't want to drink them all day long it just needs to taste absolutely great for that one 0.33l bottles worth.

    • @GamingGardevoir
      @GamingGardevoir Месяц назад

      The main thing that killed Boyardee was replacing the ground beef with “textured soy protein”

  • @DOSBoxMom
    @DOSBoxMom Месяц назад +91

    I made pizza from those Chef Boyardee kits (or something VERY similar) as a newlywed in the early 1980s. Since we were on an extremely tight budget at the time, we'd add diced-up slices of American cheese if we couldn't afford shredded mozzarella, and would brown/crumble/drain 1/4 lb. of hamburger for a meat topping, since we couldn't afford pepperoni slices.

    • @AmyC37217
      @AmyC37217 Месяц назад +6

      My parents were fans of its competitor Appian Way because they still have and use the baking sheet.

    • @goldilox369
      @goldilox369 Месяц назад +11

      Aww, that's cheeseburger pizza, nothing wrong with that. My dad used to get the kits for us to help him with in the early 80s. We loved making the dough, pouring the sauce, sprinkling the cheese... They had their own distinct taste, but it was comforting.

    • @DavidHuffTexas
      @DavidHuffTexas Месяц назад +4

      @@AmyC37217 Oh man, Appian Way pizza kits! I haven't thought about those in decades. My Mom used to make those when I was a kid in the 1960s...

    • @elenacarr3712
      @elenacarr3712 Месяц назад +1

      ​@@DavidHuffTexasSame here. It was fun to help her stretch out the crust.

    • @BoSmith7045
      @BoSmith7045 Месяц назад +1

      So, how did it taste? I posted that it was probably my first pizza but I don't remember if it was any good.

  • @rioriggs3568
    @rioriggs3568 Месяц назад +11

    FOR YOUR INFORMATION : My family is from Piacenza and I can assure you, this is an Americanised version of a ragù alla bolognese. Typically in Italian cuisine, you either do a mushroom sauce OR a meat sauce. In Italy, mushrooms would generally be wild porcini (Boletus edulis) and not cultivated mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), especially in the Piacenza area where porcini abundantly grow. Also olive oil was not commonly used in the north of Italy when Ettore Boiardi left the country, they preferred lard or butter. To this day, my family prefers to use butter and flavorless vegetable oil (sunflower seed). Obviously not all pizzas (pizze) have mozzarella cheese. In northern Italy (even more in the Emilia-Romagna region), Parmigiano-Reggiano (aka Parmesan in America) is king. These folks didn't even know what mozzarella cheese was 100 years ago since it's from Southern Italy. There is no such thing as ONE SINGLE Italian cuisine, food is different in every region even every village. Some stuff has crossed all over the country (like pizza and panettone) but some haven't. NOTE : Barbetta Restaurant in NYC is specialized in Northern Italian cuisine therefore it would have made sense for Ettore to work there. But to be honest, having immigrated at such a young age I doubt he had that much knowledge about his home cuisine. Especially that home cooking was done (and still is) by the mom and possibly daughters not a 13 year old boy.

    • @anmous2891
      @anmous2891 10 дней назад

      How much butter/lard/oil would yoy use in replacing the olive oil in this recipe? It called for 6 tablespoons

    • @rioriggs3568
      @rioriggs3568 10 дней назад +1

      @@anmous2891 i typically do 1/2 oil (vegetable) and 1/2 butter. Yesterday I did a duct sauce (Ragù di anatra) and used duck fat and oil (vegetable).

  • @elsupremeo
    @elsupremeo 28 дней назад +1

    Man, the nostalgia. Thank you for this! Was going to cook steak today, but spaghetti a la Boiardi might be in order.

  • @clappesfam
    @clappesfam Месяц назад +36

    WV native here. Growing up you hear all of these great tales about the Greenbrier Resort. I would love to see a tasting the history from there. According to the Greenbrier historians, it was here that the Arnold Palmer first got its name from the golfer. Very fun.

  • @Chris-ut6eq
    @Chris-ut6eq Месяц назад +48

    "...it was the 50s and food was weird so they were lucky to have any pizza at all."
    I LOLed at this.

    • @azzythehero
      @azzythehero Месяц назад +4

      I'm surprised he didn't mention putting meat in lime Jello in the 1970s but I imagine that's a future episode

  • @bufordteejustice1119
    @bufordteejustice1119 Месяц назад +3

    I grew up in the 80s eating Chef Boy-ar-dee pizza kits. I love that cheap pizza. Thanks for sharing.

  • @1WolfFan
    @1WolfFan Месяц назад +1

    This is one of the first recipes I've seen you do, that I actively wanted to try. I enjoy hearing the history of things so much, and some of the recipes are similar to ones I've done. My current spaghetti sauce, is more of a "ground beef, tomato-based, veggie stew" that tastes good on any noodles, than an 'ordinary' meat sauce. But your response on how such a simple recipe worked got me intrigued. :) Thank you.
    And your website looks quite nice. I had a few years of web design training, and while the coding didn't stick, the design aspect did. Keep up the good work there, and thank sites like Squarespace that you don't have to worry as much about coding, as you use to in the 90's and 00's. lol

  • @tenia5319
    @tenia5319 Месяц назад +168

    Northern italian here, we actually use garlic in our cooking (at least, my family and my friends do) in what we call a "soffritto", which is a sort of base layer for many of our dressings. Also, chef Boyardee sauce sounds veeeeeeery similar to a "bolognese", with the addition of basil and mushroom, which are not part of the bolognese, if i'm not mistaken. Also also, love your show

    • @aiko9393
      @aiko9393 Месяц назад +6

      Soffrito is onion, carrot, and celery right? Or is that garlic?

    • @mercedesvelasquez8781
      @mercedesvelasquez8781 Месяц назад +15

      ​@@aiko9393soffritto recipe varies from culture to culture because my mom being Colombian she makes soffritto with cilantro, tomatoes, onion(either green or whatever kind of onion we have on hand) and depending on what we are making we also will throw in some tomato paste & tomato sauce but if aren't making a specific dishes that require that then pur saffritto is strictly what I first wrote in the beginning...

    • @IlastarothTayre
      @IlastarothTayre Месяц назад +5

      hell yeah! In my family we switch garlic soffritto and onion soffritto depending on the region the recipe comes from, I love how versatile and endlessly delicious a good soffritto is, makes every savory recipe better (family from Puglia, now 2nd generation in Turin)

    • @sparagnino
      @sparagnino Месяц назад +5

      E' praticamente il ragù montanaro, ma con il manzo al posto della salsiccia.

    • @tenia5319
      @tenia5319 Месяц назад +2

      @@IlastarothTayre Yeah, i probably failed to communicate how "soffritto" is not really a recipe, per se, more of an umbrella term for a...process...? i guess...? it's just that garlic is pretty often a part of it.

  • @JubeiKibagamiFez
    @JubeiKibagamiFez Месяц назад +183

    17:20 The recipe called for onion and carrot? That's the natural sweetness, especially if the onion and carrot caramelize together. My nonna would do the same thing with shredded carrot in her sauce.

    • @WinstonSmithGPT
      @WinstonSmithGPT Месяц назад +18

      It’s a basic sofritto.

    • @RobertR3750
      @RobertR3750 Месяц назад +7

      I use celery and carrot instead of onion and carrot ( i hate onions).

    • @lrom5445
      @lrom5445 Месяц назад +4

      @@RobertR3750 Understandable, people's taste varies. Have you tried other varieties, like shallots? Not that it's a big deal, I have olive similarly.

    • @RobertR3750
      @RobertR3750 Месяц назад +2

      @@lrom5445I've heard of people using shallots, but have never tried them. I suspect I wouldn't like them either. You're right that people's tastes vary. Yesterday I cooked a ribeye to a perfect medium rare, the way I like it. It was wonderfully juicy and tender. I can't fathom why people prefer well done beef, ie dry and "burnt". But that's exactly what my sister likes. She's one of those "red phobic" people.

    • @JubeiKibagamiFez
      @JubeiKibagamiFez Месяц назад +3

      @@WinstonSmithGPT True, but my nonna only used carrot for a basic tomato sauce to sweeten it.

  • @renmuffett
    @renmuffett Месяц назад +3

    Looks wonderful! I know the carrots well cooked into the sauce will sweeten it since it will also make some dishes too sweet if too much carrot is added. Also basil is naturally quite sweet as well. Sophia Loren published her family's paste sauce recipe and calls for only fresh tomatoes, skinned, salt ,olive oil and lots of basil, cooking it at a simmer all day long. It's amazing.

  • @raynabors486
    @raynabors486 Месяц назад +1

    Thanks for another great video Max. You're content is wonderful.

  • @ditzydoo4378
    @ditzydoo4378 Месяц назад +58

    I took your advice and made it as you did use Anna's "Uncle Hectors tomato sauce". I was instantly transported back to my childhood. The flavor is phenomenal minus all that added sugar.

    • @MoondustManwise
      @MoondustManwise Месяц назад +3

      Love the derpy pfp

    • @ditzydoo4378
      @ditzydoo4378 Месяц назад +2

      @@MoondustManwise Thank you. I love your Luna pfp as well. ^~^

    • @GamingGardevoir
      @GamingGardevoir Месяц назад

      Anna’s recipe was marinara, Max doctored the recipe to match the description of the canned meat sauce

    • @ditzydoo4378
      @ditzydoo4378 Месяц назад

      @@GamingGardevoir while most Italian Tomato based sauces share ingredients, one of Marinera's key ingredients is Garlic. What sets Uncle Hectors sauce apart regionally is that it lacks Garlic.

  • @danielsantiagourtado3430
    @danielsantiagourtado3430 Месяц назад +328

    Chef Pikachu! That's SO cute and fitting! 🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳

    • @scaredofghosts6813
      @scaredofghosts6813 Месяц назад +10

      He has different chef pikachu too lol

    • @WyntheRogue
      @WyntheRogue Месяц назад +13

      It's always fun to see which pokemon in his videos will be his little kitchen helper.

    • @slwrabbits
      @slwrabbits Месяц назад +6

      ​@@WyntheRogue or horrified bystander watching their cousin be prepared for consumption

  • @ssnydess6787
    @ssnydess6787 22 дня назад +2

    Mom used to fix the "spagetti in the box" dinner every Wednesday as she worked as a reporter for the local newspaper. Single pan dinner in the electric skillet. To brown the burger, then add the can o' sauce, then the boiled pasta. And voila! Dinner for a family.

  • @juliahut
    @juliahut Месяц назад +1

    I tried this recipe! It came out drier than it should have because the 40 minutes cooking time made all the liquid evaporate. I also didn’t have fresh basil and substituted the dried stuff. Not the same. Overall it wasn’t a bullseye for me but I was glad to try it and will try it again. Thank you for sharing Max!

  • @Waldenpunk
    @Waldenpunk Месяц назад +45

    The tomato pie with just parmesan on top is a classic Neopolitan pizza, still served in New Haven, CT. at places like Frank Pepe's.

    • @Guy_GuyGuy
      @Guy_GuyGuy Месяц назад +6

      This. The first "pizzas" sold in the US were tomato pies like that. You can still get them in NYC and they're delicious even cold.

    • @TheQwuilleran
      @TheQwuilleran Месяц назад +3

      There is a small shop in Philly that makes the most delicious tomato pie if you happen to be up that way (i am not alone in my assessment so while the name escapes me, "everyone" knows the shop). What's a four hour drive for good pizza? 😅

    • @Guy_GuyGuy
      @Guy_GuyGuy Месяц назад +1

      ​@@TheQwuilleran Corropolese?

    • @TheQwuilleran
      @TheQwuilleran Месяц назад +1

      @@Guy_GuyGuy YES! yes. Thank you 🙇🏽

  • @BikerDaddy402
    @BikerDaddy402 Месяц назад +79

    My Dad always added shredded carrots to his sauce to sweeten it up. He'd throw a fit when people said they added sugar to their sauce.

    • @justanotheryoutubeaccount0
      @justanotheryoutubeaccount0 Месяц назад +8

      I put a little to cut the acidity. Not enough to change the overall flavor of my sauce.

    • @marinacosta8835
      @marinacosta8835 Месяц назад +9

      If you only want to cut the acidity, a tiny pinch of baking soda is all you need.

    • @andersjjensen
      @andersjjensen Месяц назад

      Sugar is for deserts and pastries. It has no place in hot food.

    • @Biospark88
      @Biospark88 Месяц назад

      But...we *like* it acidy in our house. Any kind of sweetener in the sauce just feels wrong to me.

  • @joetheman74
    @joetheman74 Месяц назад

    Fantastic video. Can't wait to try this recipe myself. Thank you.

  • @moloko4
    @moloko4 Месяц назад +1

    dude, I love your vids. please don't ever stop.

  • @samsonsilverhand5159
    @samsonsilverhand5159 Месяц назад +28

    The cross referencing of old and new family cookbooks to be true to the original recipe is super cool. Thanks for all your great work, Max!

  • @rionthemagnificent2971
    @rionthemagnificent2971 Месяц назад +50

    The sweetness also comes from the carrots. Its also why some brands of Jalapenos come with sliced carrots in alongside the peppers. Its to sweeten them while they're steam-sealed.

    • @sabinegierth-waniczek4872
      @sabinegierth-waniczek4872 Месяц назад

      Interesting, I have a batch of red Turkish peppers, maybe carrots grated with them break a bit of the spicy heat also, per enhanced surface -> dilution? Where are my lab goggles...

    • @SamBarge1
      @SamBarge1 Месяц назад

      Yes, I was coming to say that. We boil a carrot (whole, not cut up) in sauce if we need to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.

    • @sabinegierth-waniczek4872
      @sabinegierth-waniczek4872 Месяц назад

      @@SamBarge1I see from where you come - it is like adding a potato to overly salted dishes! It IMO depends which texture your sauce is desired to have. Grated carrot gives a bit of crunch to a sauce (and the fibers are probiotic), especially after long braising. Furthermore, the betacarotin/ lycopin mix (of which I want plenty in my sauce :-) ) is easier released into the liquid from smaller shreds/ concentrate, which I sautee in clarified butter with onions and garlic (to release the water AND oil soluble components) after browning the mincemeat.
      I freely admit that I am one of those who add plain sugar to tomato sauces, because I make them with concentrated tomato paste, the acidity of which will be too much for carrot confetti or a whole one to counteract.
      I can imagine that a whole transient carrot in a consommee would be great to balance out the taste! But I am often to hangry to make such a sophisticated dish -> Boiardi sugo for me, please.

    • @MissingmyBabbu
      @MissingmyBabbu Месяц назад

      @@sabinegierth-waniczek4872 I find that if you saute shredded carrots long enough they kinda disappear. Then again, maybe it's because I find texture in my sauces to be the enemy, so I try not to get any Chunkage in my servings lol

    • @sabinegierth-waniczek4872
      @sabinegierth-waniczek4872 Месяц назад

      @@MissingmyBabbuThis is the problem - nowadays energy is too expensive to let carrot shreds do the Houdini! Apart from this I am totally in your camp: Nothing better than a slooooowly simmered beef stew with equal amounts of meat and then transcendent onions *sigh* Let there be peace in the pots :-)))
      But if I really need a velouté texture, I grip my big bad blender and dechunk the gunk. Nonetheless this occurs rarely, because I can not bear the mouthfeel of products that are too finely grinded/ blended. Maybe it remends me too much of baby food or liquid sustenance for the infirm (where are the simple words when I need them?!? Non-native speaker h3ll...).
      It is a pleasure to get so much information and inspiration, I am so happy to have found Max and his channel and community!

  • @sharilarson6635
    @sharilarson6635 Месяц назад +1

    Thank You thank you thank you!!! THIS is the stuff of my childhood, my mother called me her spaghetti kid cause I ALWAYS wanted THIS!🤤🤤😋😋 Also I'm almost 68 years old so I did get to enjoy it like it originally was. I'm telling my daughter that this is what I make from now on, so thank you for the recipe. I have done other recipes I've watched on your show and will say I've never been disappointed 😊

  • @erikwhitney7403
    @erikwhitney7403 Месяц назад +1

    Followed the instructions and wow. This is really good. It is definitely for 8 oz of pasta. Won’t be enough for 16 oz. Love the idea of the butter and cheese mix on the noodles. Sieving tomatoes for the sauce tastes far better.

  • @PoppycockPrincess100
    @PoppycockPrincess100 Месяц назад +86

    Now I'm going to have that old Chef Boyardee jingle stuck in my head all day. 😆

  • @SundraTanakoh
    @SundraTanakoh Месяц назад +29

    I remember the boxed spaghetti sauce cheese combo as well as the pizza. My dad was a real chef and refused to eat them, but my mom, who could not cook, loved the boxed spaghetti and or pizza. As a result, today, as I am 72, I still love to make spaghetti, although I do make it all from scratch, except the spaghetti noodles which I get from Italy.

  • @strafenone
    @strafenone Месяц назад

    I love the simplicity of spaghetti which allows variation. I want to emphasize to anyone cooking it to experiment and always simmer the sauce thoroughly.

  • @tammie1078
    @tammie1078 Месяц назад

    I eat this stuff when I was a kid and now, it's one of my quick and easy go to.

  • @TheIronLiz
    @TheIronLiz Месяц назад +49

    “Do you like Chef Boyardee in a can? You do? Well you better let the poor guy out!”
    *cue Tim Curry in bad clown make-up ‘wa-ha!’ style laughing*

    • @melissalambert7615
      @melissalambert7615 Месяц назад +5

      Do you have Prince Albert in a can? Well, let him out. Old phone call prank.

    • @user-bt4vx2fe2f
      @user-bt4vx2fe2f Месяц назад +1

      You know it's a fantastic recipe. When you take the first bite and you are over the moon happy and people can automatically see how happy you are.

    • @jonc4403
      @jonc4403 Месяц назад

      @@melissalambert7615 How would you keep a penis piercing in a can?

  • @morganalori
    @morganalori Месяц назад +51

    lol, when I saw your face, Max, when you took that bite. The delight on your face made me interject out loud to the screen "Tell us how you really feel, Max" knowing it was going to be a wonderfully erudite expression of happiness. Thank you for taking us with you down the path of history.

    • @davidatovar
      @davidatovar Месяц назад +5

      Me too, he looked emotional, like he wanted to cry, at the same time, I got emotional about the memory and I'm writing this with tears in my eyes 😂 Tears of joy.

  • @paulahillier1390
    @paulahillier1390 Месяц назад +2

    Made it this week. It was delicious, and yes a few cloves of garlic did fall into the sauce. 😁

  • @JibberJabJones
    @JibberJabJones Месяц назад

    such a fun and amazing history. thanks max. they sound like decent trio of brothers.

  • @--Paws--
    @--Paws-- Месяц назад +48

    3:00 The script and narration in your videos is something I always seem to look forward, as much as the recipe in topic.

  • @lindajohnson5051
    @lindajohnson5051 Месяц назад +35

    The pizza was really good - late 50's, early 60's - we had a lot !! Making the crust was actually fun - of course, we always added a little ground beef and extra cheese - Thanks for the memories !!

    • @carolmelancon
      @carolmelancon Месяц назад +3

      I seem to remember the kits came with some fennel seeds, I loved it with the ground beef my mom would add. I need to do that again the next time I make pizza.

    • @lindajohnson5051
      @lindajohnson5051 Месяц назад +2

      If memory serves me right, it was the spaghetti dinner that had the small plastic bag with assorted spices - not sure I ever knew exactly what. My mom had her own sauce recipe and spaghetti dinners weren't much of thing at our home. Most of the time when we had either angel hair of the bigger noodles, it was with tuna and Campbell's mushroom soup. I still like that !! It was the pizza box that had a more prominent place in the cabinet. Mom and dad loved the prices as well. In the late 60's I was making it so much, the Crisco I used with the crust made my hands really soft !! Just love the memories !! Have a nice day@@carolmelancon

    • @sabinegierth-waniczek4872
      @sabinegierth-waniczek4872 Месяц назад +1

      @@carolmelanconGreat idea to add it to the minced meat, then you do something for your guts also (like in a salami finocchiata, very greasy, but the fennel helps to digest it...). I hope to remember it the next time I make pastizio or lasagna!

  • @doraima29
    @doraima29 20 дней назад

    Thanks Max for rediscovering Chef Bioardi's spaghetti dinner because I just bought their cookbook that was released by a niece who shared his Uncle's Hector's tomato sauce recipe in there. I had tried this recipes a few times, and it is quite surprising sauce because the sauteed onions and carrots are ingredients that makes this tomato sauce sweet. All of the ingredients are natural and there is no added sugar compared to the ones we ate in cans. I, too ate a bowl of Chef Boyardee;s meat ravioli or the Spaghetti- Os as a child. Great stories! Chef Boiardi was very successful as a chef in America.
    There are several recipes in the cookbook that I will try again to eat. This is a very simple tomato sauce for any pasta compared to Raio's Sunday Gravy dinner. It is a keeper in my recipe book.

  • @donaldhall8785
    @donaldhall8785 Месяц назад

    Great video! I'm old enough to remember the old recipe for the sauce. I'll have to try the recipe you have here, maybe bring back some memories.

  • @jaehaspels9607
    @jaehaspels9607 Месяц назад +21

    I remember those boxed spaghetti dinners. My Dad's wife had them in the house just for me because she didn't like spaghetti. I'm not sure how I discovered spaghetti but once I found it, it was and has always been my favorite dish. I also liked the canned ravioli and beefaroni. It was great in a school lunch box if you forgot to pack one the night before. All you had to do was open the can, dump it into a bowl w/ a leakproof lid and put in a spoon. I never ate it heated up. Boy, those were the good old days.

  • @vilena5308
    @vilena5308 Месяц назад +26

    As someone not from the US, and for whom all this is new, I wanted to express my appreciation.
    It's fascinating to learn about past through this lens, and I so enjoy your enthusiasm and detective work.
    Kudos! Health!

  • @Hortonscakes
    @Hortonscakes Месяц назад +11

    My German grandma made the most delicious "gravy". I make her version to this day every week. There's nothing better than a bowl of pasta! This is one of of my favorite episodes! Thank you! ❤️❤❤

    • @user-ut7wz7mh2r
      @user-ut7wz7mh2r Месяц назад +1

      I'd love the recipe if you feel like sharing!

  • @thejunkinpixie8031
    @thejunkinpixie8031 Месяц назад

    I can't wait to make this! Thank you!

  • @BulaBeanMachine
    @BulaBeanMachine Месяц назад +39

    I live near Cleveland so I have heard a few versions of the Boiardi story, the most plausible being parlaying his position at the Plaza into a head chef job at a small eatery in the Italian neighborhood, then bailing out of NYC for northeast Ohio, along with many thousands of other Italian immigrants. In my grandparents generation the population of cities like Cleveland and Youngstown (and our Ashtabula) took a very Italian shift and people wanted products they were familiar with, which fueled Hector's popularity along with other brands. Also, the Stop and Shop stores, that distributed the cookbook, can still be found in the area. - Thank you , Max, for a thorough and entertaining treatment of the subject, as always.

    • @DefendYoungstown
      @DefendYoungstown Месяц назад +3

      Its funny that, as a child, I took it for granted that he was just some made up mascot like Uncle Ben or the Borden cow. It was a trip when I first found out that he was not only a real guy, but a local hero!
      I wonder how much of his premade sauce was used in the making of Brier Hill style pizza?

    • @josephiarocci245
      @josephiarocci245 Месяц назад

      Props to you, from someone else who grew up in Bula (live in Euclid now)

  • @socanukincrazy9060
    @socanukincrazy9060 Месяц назад +22

    Sweetness comes from carrots which replace sugar, its a secret my Italian friend told me about. It is how I make my tomato sauces to this day.

    • @brockkomar4743
      @brockkomar4743 Месяц назад +1

      I was going to say the same thing.

  • @michaelb.42112
    @michaelb.42112 Месяц назад

    As a kid in Ann Arbor, Michigan I remember going to Bob's Big Boy and getting THE best spaghetti to me, and it reminded me of Chef Boyardee because of the meat sauce. Not meatballs, but meat sauce, crushed beef so to speak, and the texture and taste just makes me happy.

  • @stevenkirkman601
    @stevenkirkman601 Месяц назад +44

    Genuinely curious if Max has an entire room full of pokemon plushies, I swear I've seen dozens of different ones by this point 🤣