This meaty pasta sauce recipe has come to be my husband's FAVORITE red sauce. It's become my favorite as well. Each time I make it, I innocently think I've made enough to make two full meals. The flavors that come out of this sauce reach down to our inner child and make us ask "Please sir, may I have some more?" Sadly, we will eat up so much at dinner that there is just enough for a light lunch the next day. But oh what a lunch it is.
HERE'S ALL IT TAKES
Makes about 4 cups of red sauce, enough for a pasta dinner for four friends.
- 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 10 whole garlic cloves
- 2 heaping teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 pound fresh ground pork
- 1- 28 ounce can of San Marzano Whole Tomatoes
- 3/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
In a dutch oven over medium heat, melt bacon drippings. Add onions, garlic cloves, oregano and sage. Cook until the onions begin to soften, stirring constantly about 5 minutes.
Add in ground pork and continue to cook until meat has browned and there's no sign of pink.
Using a hand blender, puree the whole tomatoes until smooth. Pour sauce over cooked pork. Add salt and pepper. When tomato sauce begins to boil, REDUCE heat to medium low, cover with lid and simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and use with any pasta.
This sauce keeps very well in the freezer. It would be very handy to double this recipe and put up half the sauce in the freezer for a future meal.
Do you have to use bacon drippings? Could sub olive oil? I really don’t eat bacon very often and hate to have a lb go to waste? Thanks. I enjoy your recipes.
Hi Carol!
Oh certainly use olive oil if that’s what you prefer. The amount of oil is so little that it’s not going to make a difference in the taste of the recipe.
Because I oven fry bacon then put it up in the freezer, I don’t like to waste the free, clean oil that comes out of it. I like to store the drippings in the frig and use it in place of store bought oils.
That’s just me.
Use whatever oil you most like, it’s perfectly fine.
When you mention fresh ground pork, does this mean sausage or a particular cut of pork, like pork loin or pork butt, that one would grind at home in their food processor or meat grider? Thanks in advance for your reply, as I want to try this recipe ASAP.
Honestly, Josey, I’m not sure what cuts of pork were ground together.
I know a farmer that has a neighbor with wild hog traps. A couple of months ago, I called dibs on the next wild hog that was trapped. The neighbor is also a certified meat processor. Under the advice of my farmer friend, I had the neighbor processed most of the wild meat into pork sausage, and straight up, unseasoned, ground meat, saving out the ribs, loin and a few of pounds of ham steaks.
For this recipe, I used the unseasoned ground pork. It is very lean and tastes wonderful.
If I were headed to the butcher, I would look for the leanest cut of pork within a reasonable price and ask the butcher to grind it up for me.
I was wondering if you could use ground beef instead of pork? Quite frankly, the only “pork” I like is sausage.
Sure you could use ground beef, Rikki. I think the combination of
# 10 whole garlic cloves
# 2 heaping teaspoons dried oregano
# 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
cooked with the beef will work fine.
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