A classic dish
Today’s a holiday, and I decided to mostly take a break from writing about politics.
You know what’s going on, anyway, right?
So I want to provide a thread about something entirely different: one of the favorite dishes of my youth, spaghetti and ketchup.
Not like this, no!
The delight of my childhood was a different thing entirely: the spaghetti cooked not too hard or too soft, and then bathed in butter and just enough ketchup to give it a mild reddish-brownish tint after being heated and stirred patiently for many minutes till it had transformed itself into an indescribable thin and dryish coating that was incredibly savory.
More like this:
My mother didn’t cook it, alas. But the mother next door, who was my honorary mother and at whose home I ate many a lunch, did. And it turns out that I am not alone in having spaghetti and ketchup as an ambrosial culinary memory.
This post has been a long time coming. I first thought of writing about spaghetti and ketchup a year and a half ago. The wheels of the blog grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine.
Depression era dish?
Not kidding: I’m going to make this for dinner tonight. Sounds like comfort food, which is my favorite kind of food.
The Japanese have omelette with rice and ketchup. Same concept I suppose.
“… but they grind exceedingly fine.”
Especially if they grind some fine parmesan to go on top.
Now I’m hungry. I think I’ll hit some sort of buffet.
I once read that Richard Nixon’s favorite lunch was ketchup on cottage cheese.
As a lazy teenager I came up with “mock pizza,” which consisted of ketchup and oregano on a saltine cracker.
On occasion I have reverted to a quick snack – microwave an egg and add ketchup.
As for spaghetti, my mother’s Scots-Irish spaghetti was to die for. But no ketchup in it.
The Chinese also have “student fried rice” which is basically some chopped scallion, and an egg pancake (sliced into thin strips) and then ketchup used as the “seasoning” to give the whole thing flavor.
Why is it called “student fried rice”? Because it is cheap – something that students can afford.
After stir-frying the scallion; add the cold, cooked rice; add the sliced egg pancake; and as the rice is re-heated just squirt enough ketchup to give it a nice pink color as you finish stir-frying. It is rather tasty; so, I will definitely try this favorite dish from your youth, Neo, it sounds rather tasty too.
The grandmother of a friend used to mix spaghetti noodles with Campbell’s condensed tomato soup instead of red sauce.
Looks like canned spaghetti, but has to taste better.
I used to like ketchup on a baked potato. No more. Slather that baby in butter, baby. Too bad they are a rare treat for this carbo avoiding nutrition nut.
It’s actually rather unusual, isn’t it, that our tastes don’t move a lot unless we force them.
I’ll give the spagred a try instead.
Speaking of eating, if this comes true, I’m going to ask for some crow on that plate along with the spaghetti.
http://www.examiner.com/article/mitt-romney-will-run-2016-and-crush-the-opposition
Ugh!
My friend in grade school used to eat ketchup sandwiches for lunch. Wonder bread and ketchup. She was also the only girl I knew whose mother had a job outside the home.
We walked home from school for lunch (uphill both ways) and I was lucky to have had a mother who would have a great lunch ready for me. Happy was the day when egg salad or meatloaf sandwich was on the menu. I didn’t even mind deviled ham.
Ketchup, or “Red Lead” as we Swabbies called it. It was ever present in Navy mess halls and the Officer’s mess as well. The powdered eggs and other dehydrated foods carried aboard ships had a long shelf life, but were as tasteless as cardboard…….except for ketchup. We used it on just about everything.
When you got back from a deployment and went back on fresh food, it was like manna from Heaven.
I love a recipe for Chana Masala — chick pea curry — that uses ketchup. You saute onions and garlic, add a cinnamon stick, 6 cardamom seeds and a few cloves and let that get fragrant, throw in a tablespoon of curry powder and stir for a minute, and then add 2 or 3 tablespoons of ketchup. That’s the substitute for the masala. You let it reduce to a thick paste and then put in 2 cans of chick peas, and simmer for 15 minutes. Chop up a bunch of cilantro and stir that in just before serving. Serve it on basmati rice with chutney.
It’s quick and easy and tastes absolutely authentic.
Lizzy Says:
September 1st, 2014 at 8:36 pm
The grandmother of a friend used to mix spaghetti noodles with Campbell’s condensed tomato soup instead of red sauce.
My mother used to do this with shells. Cook them as dente as you like, add some butter and a can of Campbell’s.
talk about ambrosia
That’s some Freudian dish for a burnt out noodle.
Yuck! I can’t imagine liking that dish since I didn’t grow up eating it and have no nostalgic feelings for it.
I had the good fortune to marry a Filipina in my 40’s. One of the things she introduced to me was sweet chili sauce sold in most oriental stores. I’ve become a convert. There aren’t many foods that can’t be improved with the addition of a dollop of sweet chili sauce. I especially enjoy it on the lumpia and fried shrimp that she cooks.
Food Nazi:
If someone cooked it correctly, and then fed it to you without telling you what was in it, I think you wouldn’t be able to guess. And you might even like it, who knows?
Anything’s possible, but that’s about as likely as your having a political reconversion, writing about what a great president Obama is, and his only fault is that he’s not progressive enough.
Food Nazi:
Ah, but you clearly have never tasted a properly cooked Spaghetti con Ketchup.
I could eat it neo, with a generous dousing of freshly grated parmesan cheese .
I think of spaghetti as more of a fall and winter food. I like it with a spicy mean sauce that I make. Which includes lots of tomato sauce. And yes, some grated Parmesan cheese. Because that just sets it off.
J.J., my Dad was on the refrigerated stores ship USS ALDEBERAN AF-10. He kept some of his paperwork, and I have looked through hold diagrams. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around 50 tons of ketchup. I have seen the WWII USN Cookbook. The recipes are for 100 servings. The one for scrambled eggs stays with me. You start with 4 gallons of scrambled eggs. The Navy recommends that you cook them in bacon grease. The Navy admits that the scrambled eggs are very exciting, so they recommend that you add either 32 pounds of cooked, crumbles sausage, or 32 pounds of cook, crumbles bacon, or 32 pounds of cubed ham. 8 pounds of shredded cheddar is also believed to be a good idea. That is not a recipe, that is pornography! The cocoa recipe sounds wonderful, but I am not sure what I would do with 8 gallons of cocoa.
For “very exciting”, please read “not very exciting”
JJ: “The powdered eggs and other dehydrated foods carried aboard ships had a long shelf life, but were as tasteless as cardboard”
I recall only 1 chow hall that served us powdered eggs and I agree, they were gross – mildly gross in the beginning and worse over time. After that, real scrambled eggs were a pleasure.
“I like it with a spicy mean sauce that I make.” I make a mean spicy sauce.
SCOTTtheBADGER, your description of USN recipes bring back memories. 🙂 Yes, we always had lots of cured meat – bacon, sausage, and sometimes ham. 50 tons of ketchup sounds about right. It was a major food group aboard ship.
neo,
ketchup on pasta?
i think you should leave the recipes to Megan McArdle.
My Dad told me sories of how the Hobos would raid the condiments in the cafeteria during the depression. They would fill their cups with hot water for the tea, make a soup with ketchup, and thicken it with saltines. Never have tried it.
Ewwwwwww!!
I say again:
EEEEWWWWWWWW!!!
But here in Mexico, I have seen people put ketchup on pizza. Frequently. Sowaddayagonnado?
Papa Dan,
In my youth, I made a version of that hobo dish: Ramen thickened that way with corn chips.
It was good.