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Excerpt From SUNDAY SAUCE by Daniel Bellino
Big Paulie: “Don’t put too many onions in the Sauce Vinny!”
Vinny: “I didn’t Paul. I put 3 small onions, that’s all.
Johnny Dio: “3 Onions? How many cans of tomatoes did you use?”
Vinny: “Two.”
Johnny Dio: “That’s too many onions!”
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After the scene in The Godfather with Clemenza showing Michael how to make “Sauce,” and the construction of the Timballo in Big Night, the prison dinner scene in Goodfellas is one of the most famous of all. Johhny Dio is cooking up Steaks, as Big Paulie slices garlic razor thin and lectures Vinny on how many onions go in the “Sauce.”
Myself, I like to use a good amount of onions just like Vinny, who is played by Goodfellas director Martin Scorsese’s father Charlie. When it comes to “Gravy” aka Sunday Sauce, a.k.a., or simply “Sauce,” there are almost as many different recipes and versions as there are cooks who make them. You can make yours according to your own taste and family tradition and put more or less onions and garlic, with Pork Ribs like mine, or not, with Sausage, Meatballs, and Braciole (the most popular), or just with Sausage & Meatballs like Clemenza’s Godfather Mob War Sauce. Just make it good. Use one of the recipes in this book, as a starting point and alter it to your own taste if you like. “Basta e Mangia Bene!”
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