Meat sauce and spaghetti is an American classic. Yeah, that’s right. It’s not Italian. They don’t serve this in Italy. Alton Brown explains it all on his Good Eats episode “American Classics IV“, which is where we got this recipe. Now, you may notice that the recipe states to remove the bacon from the pan for another use. The point is to just use the bacon fat for the recipe. Remove bacon? Sorry, Alton. We kept it in! I mean, really, why wouldn’t you? As they say, bacon makes everything better.
Eric’s Tips & Tricks for Good Eats Meat Sauce and Spaghetti
This recipe is very labor intensive and time consuming, so make sure you set aside a good 8 hours to make it. However, the results are definitely worth the time. I added a little crushed red pepper flakes to give it a little spice, but otherwise I followed the recipe to the letter.
Nel’s Notes
There are porcini mushrooms in this recipe and I didn’t know it. I HATE mushrooms. Eric tricked me. He hid them by chopping them up finely. And I didn’t even notice until I read the recipe afterward. Sneaky husband.
Eric prepared the meat sauce in the Lodge Enamel 6 Quart Dutch Oven, which he bought especially for this recipe.
Eating It
We both had one serving of meat sauce and spaghetti, which by this recipe is 16oz, and it was plenty.
Dinner Banter
Nel: “One can never have too much parmesan cheese. And a 16oz serving only has 718 calories. That’s a lot of food! The sauce is very rich and meaty. How long did you cook this?”
Eric: “About 8 hours.”
Nel: “So worth it!”
Eric: “Mmhmm.”
Nel: “Is there something spicy in here?”
Eric: “Yes, a little red pepper. I like to give my sauce a little kick.”
Nel: “It has a nice heat to it, not too spicy.”
Nutritional Info
Each serving is 16ozs.
718 calories per serving
60g carbs
32g fat
40g protein
1484mg sodium
17g sugar
Parting Thoughts
Eric: 
Nel:
Will we be making this again? You bet. Spaghetti is a household staple.
If you’ve tried the Good Eats Spaghetti with Meat Sauce recipe, please leave your tips, tricks, and comments below in our comments section. Also, if you’ve enjoyed this post, please share with your friends on social media.
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