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Economical Sauce
Take one-half of an old onion and chop it up fine. Take one small carrot, wash it, scrape it, and cut it into transverse slices; do the same with a stalk of celery, some parsley, and one fresh or canned mushroom. Then take a slice of ham (raw if possible), fat and lean, about four fingers wide and one finger high. Chop it up fine, and put it into a medium-sized saucepan with one tablespoon of butter. When the ham is colored, put in the chopped-up vegetables, one clove, salt, and pepper, and stir constantly, allowing the vegetables to cook thoroughly but not to burn, which will destroy the taste of the sauce. It should be a golden color. A little red wine may be added if you have it, but this is not necessary. Then add four fresh tomatoes, cut into several pieces, the skins removed, and the seeds taken out. Allow these to cook in the sauce until they sputter, then add a little water (or bouillon if you have it), allow it to boil for a few moments more, then take it off the fire and pass it through a sieve or fine colander, pressing hard so that all will pass through. If it is too thick after straining, add water or bouillon, and put it back and allow it to boil again a few moments. This sauce can be used for macaroni, gnocchi, left-over meat, egg, etc. The success of the sauce depends upon the proper frying of the onion in it.
A soffritto-based tomato sauce built on a scrap of ham rather than a piece of meat worth roasting — hence "economical." The whole thing turns on the initial frying, which the author says outright at the end.
- The hinge: colour, not charThe onion, carrot, celery and ham should go golden and soft over medium-low heat, 10-15 minutes, stirring. Any browning past gold turns bitter and the sieved sauce will carry that bitterness right through.
- "Half of an old onion"Probably a cured storage onion rather than a spring onion, though the text does not say. Half a medium yellow onion, about 3 oz.
- The ham measurement"Four fingers wide and one finger high" is roughly a 3 x 1 inch slab; thickness is unstated, so the weight is a guess, perhaps 2-3 oz. Unsmoked pancetta or raw prosciutto trimmings with fat attached are closest to what was meant; a slice of cooked deli ham gives a much thinner result.
- TomatoesFour fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded, is about 1 lb prepared weight. Out of season, a 14 oz tin of whole peeled tomatoes, drained of most of its juice, does the same job.
- The cloveOne whole clove is assertive in this quantity. Fish it out before straining if you want it milder, or leave it in and press only the pulp through.
- StrainingA food mill fitted with the medium disc does in a minute what the original asks you to do with a sieve or colander. A fine-mesh sieve works but you must press hard -- the carrot is the stubborn part.
- Consistency and liquid"A little water or bouillon" means enough to loosen, perhaps 1/2 cup, then reduce briefly. The finished sauce should coat pasta rather than pool under it.
- YieldAbout 1 1/2 to 2 cups, enough to dress a pound of macaroni or gnocchi for four.
This is a household version of the sauce Italian cooks call *sugo* or *salsa* built on a *battuto* — the finely chopped onion, carrot, celery, parsley and cured pork that, once fried, becomes a *soffritto*. The economy is in the ham: a few ounces of fat and lean, chopped so fine it disappears, standing in for the braising meat that a Sunday *ragù* would demand. Simple Italian Cookery (1912) was written by Antonia Isola for American readers at a moment when Italian food in the United States is often said to have been still largely confined to immigrant kitchens, and the book's insistence that wine and bouillon are optional — "if you have it" — tells you it was pitched at cooks with modest larders. The closing sentence, that everything depends on frying the onion properly, is the piece of advice that matters most here.