[1 - 1] Today we're back in the kitchen for
[1 - 4] another episode of our then versus now
[4 - 6] series where I show you guys how I used
[6 - 8] to make some of my most popular recipes
[8 - 10] back in the day versus how I would make
[10 - 12] it now. Today we got baked spaghetti on
[12 - 14] the menu. Meet me in the kitchen. Let's
[14 - 15] make it happen. All right, guys. Back in
[15 - 17] the day when I was about 18 years old, I
[17 - 19] had my very first apartment and I lived
[19 - 21] off of baked spaghetti. We used to do
[21 - 24] two in a foil pan. I'll make two foil
[24 - 27] pans worth and I would eat it all week.
[27 - 28] Wouldn't recommend that now. All right.
[28 - 30] All right, the original recipe is super
[30 - 32] simple. We're using what I used to use,
[32 - 35] which is Ragu spaghetti sauce. Not the
[35 - 37] best spaghetti sauce on the market. If
[37 - 38] you want to use something that's a
[38 - 40] little bit more complex, a little bit
[40 - 41] more flavorful, I would go with
[41 - 44] something like Ryos. I also did a whole
[44 - 46] episode on all of the different pasta
[46 - 47] sauces at the grocery store. You can
[48 - 49] check that out if you want to. Today,
[49 - 51] we're keeping it tried and true, though.
[51 - 53] OG Ragu is going to get the job done. We
[53 - 56] got Italian sausage. We got ground beef.
[56 - 58] We have cheddar, which is not at all
[58 - 60] authentic to spaghetti, but that's what
[60 - 62] I used to use. Mozzarella, onion, bell
[62 - 64] pepper, and of course, the spaghetti
[67 - 71] pasta. You won't buy the peppers pre-diced.
[74 - 74] Um, I I think no, because they're more
[74 - 83] expensive pre-diced.
[84 - 84] All right, guys. So, after all the prep
[84 - 87] work is done, dicing the peppers, dicing
[87 - 89] the onions, grating your own cheese,
[89 - 90] it's time to go ahead and actually start
[90 - 93] cooking. Now, back in the day, I never
[93 - 95] grated my own cheese. We did that today.
[95 - 96] Typically, that would have been
[96 - 98] pre-shredded from the store. We're using
[98 - 101] 80/20 ground beef and some mild Italian
[101 - 103] sausage. This is optional. If you don't
[103 - 106] eat pork, guys, you can go ahead and uh,
[106 - 108] you know, use turkey or just all ground
[108 - 110] beef is cool, too. Going to add a little
[110 - 114] bit of oil to our pan. One pound each of
[114 - 116] sausage and ground beef. I think back in
[116 - 118] the day I used to use the links more
[118 - 119] often, but this is what they had at the
[119 - 121] store today. This is what we're going
[121 - 123] with. Going to get this in here, cook
[123 - 125] it, add in the peppers and the onions,
[125 - 128] and then basically build our pasta
[128 - 137] sauce, courtesy of [Music]
[137 - 140] [Music] ragu. All right, as the uh meat is
[140 - 141] cooking, we're going to go ahead and
[141 - 143] season it up some. We got about a
[143 - 145] tablespoon or so of Italian
[145 - 148] seasoning. Use my allpurpose, which was
[148 - 151] still in the R&D phase back then. Salt,
[151 - 153] pepper, garlic, onion powder, things of
[153 - 155] that nature. Back in the day, I kind of
[155 - 158] just used whatever we had. A lot of
[158 - 160] onion powder, a lot of garlic, salt,
[160 - 162] pepper, you know, the
[162 - 165] basics. Little extra salt cuz my AP is
[169 - 169] And then we're going to get in there and
[169 - 172] just give this a good
[172 - 175] mix. Break it
[175 - 177] up. I don't think I really was dicing
[178 - 180] much fresh garlic back in the day. And
[180 - 181] this was before they had the garlic
[181 - 186] paste that I use now. So, garlic powder
[188 - 190] go-to. Going to give this a mix. And
[190 - 195] we're going to add in our rag goo.
[207 - 207] drop. And then you can clean this out.
[217 - 217] that. That's good cup size for back in
[217 - 219] the day right there. Give it a mix. Let
[219 - 221] this simmer. Add a little sugar. Season
[221 - 224] to taste. Good to go. All right, guys.
[224 - 225] So, we're going to add a little sugar,
[225 - 227] which in hindsight is absolutely
[227 - 229] ridiculous when it comes to ragu cuz
[229 - 231] it's already sweet. Uh, but we're going
[231 - 232] to add some cuz that's what I used to
[232 - 235] do. And then you guys know what this is.
[235 - 237] Green top parmesan. Going to add a
[237 - 239] little bit of that to our sauce and then
[239 - 243] save the rest to add to our plate of
[243 - 245] pasta. Turn the heat down a bit. Mix in
[246 - 249] that parm. Going to add a little saltiness
[249 - 250] parm. Going to add a little saltiness from the
[250 - 253] parmesan. It's going to be good.
[253 - 254] Don't get your blood work done after
[254 - 256] this, but it's going to be good. All
[256 - 257] right, so once the pasta sauce is done,
[257 - 259] we're going to add the spaghetti, mix it
[259 - 261] together, put it in the foil pan, top it
[261 - 262] with cheese, pop it in the oven at 350
[262 - 265] for about 20 minutes until that cheese
[265 - 266] melts and everything comes together, and
[266 - 269] you got lunch for a week. All right, so
[269 - 270] one of the techniques that I've learned
[270 - 272] along the way is when you're browning
[272 - 274] ground meat in particular, you want to
[274 - 276] develop some crust. It's going to add
[276 - 278] color, flavor, texture, all that good
[278 - 280] stuff to your recipe. So, it's very
[280 - 282] important to get a good sear on your
[282 - 284] meat. I'm going to add a pinch of salt
[284 - 285] in here just to get the party started
[285 - 288] with the seasonings. We got some Italian
[288 - 289] seasoning. I got my buttery garlic
[289 - 292] pepper seasoning, that AP seasoning.
[292 - 294] Going to add a little garlic. Got plenty
[294 - 297] of flavor coming in our bors and garlic
[297 - 298] and herb cheese blend that we're going
[298 - 301] to put together. This is going to be a
[301 - 304] much more elevated version of the
[304 - 306] original. There's still hints of, you
[306 - 308] know, what I learned when I very first
[308 - 310] started making this that are made it in
[310 - 312] into this recipe, but for the most part,
[312 - 315] this is just a more refined version uh
[315 - 316] of me making baked spaghetti for years
[316 - 319] and years. So, this is what you want to
[319 - 321] see here. You got some nice color and
[322 - 324] crust developing. Again, that's going to
[324 - 326] add texture, color,
[329 - 331] important. All right, guys. So, the
[331 - 333] difference between store-bought sauce,
[333 - 335] something like ragu especially, and
[335 - 337] making your own tomato sauce is pretty
[338 - 339] significant. Like, for example, in the
[339 - 342] ragu sauce, there's no real tomato in
[342 - 344] the actual sauce. If you read the
[344 - 346] ingredients list, it's tomato puree and
[346 - 349] water, which kind of makes the sauce.
[349 - 351] For us, we're going to use actual San
[351 - 352] Marzano tomatoes, which they're
[352 - 354] naturally sweet. They're better for you
[354 - 355] from a health perspective, and they're
[355 - 357] more flavorful. They're more robust.
[357 - 359] Again, naturally sweet, a little bit
[359 - 361] acidic. It's going to be a lot better in
[361 - 363] a as far as the flavor profile goes. You
[370 - 370] add All right. So, we're going in with a
[370 - 372] tablespoon or two of good quality tomato
[372 - 374] paste. That's going to add some
[374 - 376] concentrated tomato flavor. And if
[376 - 378] you're using ragu, they would just add
[378 - 380] water to to the tomato paste, a tomato
[380 - 383] puree, not even really tomato paste. And
[383 - 384] that's kind of how they make their
[384 - 385] sauce. We're going to mix this tomato
[385 - 387] paste in. Kind of allow it to caramelize
[387 - 389] a little bit. It's going to add some of
[389 - 390] that concentrated
[390 - 392] flavor. And then we're going to add in
[392 - 395] our crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce.
[395 - 397] You could also delaze with a little red
[397 - 399] wine here, something dry like a cabernet
[399 - 402] or a merllo, uh if you want to, you
[402 - 403] know, really take it to the next level.
[403 - 404] We're not going to do that today cuz
[404 - 406] we're trying to keep it relatively
[406 - 409] simple and uh you know, a lot of folks
[409 - 410] don't want to cook with wine and things
[410 - 411] of that nature. So, we're going to leave
[411 - 413] that out today. We're going to go ahead
[413 - 417] and mix in the tomato paste. Then go in
[417 - 420] with some good quality tomato
[420 - 423] sauce. And then our San Marzano crushed
[423 - 426] tomatoes that have a little basil in
[427 - 429] there. Going to give this a mix. Allow
[429 - 431] that to simmer for a good 45 minutes or
[431 - 433] so. Let the flavors really build and
[433 - 436] develop. Season to taste. The better
[436 - 439] quality tomato products you use, the
[439 - 440] less sugar you should have to add, if
[440 - 443] you use any at all.
[443 - 445] because the the cheaper products tend to
[445 - 448] be a little bit too acidic or bitter.
[448 - 449] And that's why people tend to, you know,
[449 - 452] add things like sugar, carrots, or
[452 - 453] honey, things like that to sweeten up
[461 - 461] sauce. Going to add a little pinch of
[461 - 463] sugar. Give that a good mix. Let it cook
[464 - 465] down a little bit longer. Then we're
[466 - 467] going to move on to our cheese mixture
[467 - 470] that I add similar to like a lasagna
[470 - 472] concept. Really, most baked pastas have
[472 - 474] something like that, like a ziti still
[474 - 476] typically would have like a ricotta
[476 - 477] layer to it. All right, folks. If you
[477 - 478] want to keep this a little bit more on
[478 - 480] the traditional side of things, you can
[480 - 482] omit the bors and garlic and herb and
[482 - 484] the sour cream and you can just use
[484 - 487] traditional ricotta. I like this blend a
[487 - 488] little bit better. It's more flavorful
[488 - 489] in my opinion. So, this is what we're
[489 - 490] going with. We're going in with one
[490 - 494] block or 5.2 oz of borsen garlic and
[494 - 495] herb cheese. If you haven't used this
[496 - 498] stuff yet, it's absolutely delicious.
[498 - 500] Great with a shakuderie board if you got
[500 - 502] some extra. Good as a little snack with
[507 - 507] crackers. Going in with that. Then about
[507 - 511] a/2 cup of sour
[513 - 513] cream. Going to begin to give that a
[513 - 515] mix. The only other ingredients we're
[516 - 517] going to add is some Parmesan cheese, a
[517 - 519] little bit of mozzarella, some basil,
[520 - 533] parsley, and then season to taste. [Music]
[534 - 535] [Music] All right. So, once we get our first
[535 - 538] layer of pasta in, it's time to go ahead
[538 - 542] and add our creamy cheesy
[542 - 545] layer, adding tons of
[545 - 548] flavor. The creaminess really plays
[548 - 551] nicely with the the pasta sauce, too.
[551 - 553] And if you want to really widen your
[553 - 556] back, you could add a little cheese
[556 - 558] layer right here. Little mozzarella,
[558 - 560] something to give you a little cheese
[560 - 562] pull. But there's plenty of cheese in
[562 - 564] this recipe already, so no need to
[564 - 570] overkill, unless you want
[573 - 573] to. All right, for the OG method,
[573 - 576] Wonderbread, butter, garlic salt. That
[576 - 578] was the original garlic bread right
[578 - 580] there before I started getting Texas
[580 - 584] toast. Just how we used to do it. Little
[585 - 587] butter bread for the razzledazzle. Little
[587 - 589] bread for the razzledazzle. Little garlic
[589 - 593] salt. And that, my
[594 - 594] friends, and eat that with your
[594 - 603] spaghetti. Take a regular bite
[621 - 621] go. Tastes about
[621 - 624] right. Only thing missing is like a a
[624 - 627] country croc butter. Eat it out of one
[649 - 649] that. I did this with a hot dog roll bun
[665 - 665] All right, for the new
[665 - 677] method. Smells much
[681 - 681] better. More layers of flavor. I like
[681 - 684] the bors in adds a nice touch. Not as
[684 - 695] sweet as the the ragu version.
[698 - 698] I haven't been eating carbs lately, so
[698 - 700] this is really hitting the
[700 - 702] spot. Let's see what the guys think. We
[702 - 705] should go dinner now. Hm. What you going
[705 - 708] to dinner now?
[708 - 710] This is better
[710 - 714] spaghetti. This is uh sweeter and kind
[714 - 717] of like hits the hits the nostalgic
[719 - 730] notes. But this is better for sure. [Music]
[730 - 731] [Music] Yeah, this one tastes completely
[731 - 734] different. You can tell I like both
[734 - 736] though. But which one you taking home
[736 - 739] with you? Only pick one. I can only pick
[739 - 742] one. I'm have to go this one. That one
[742 - 746] got like a lot more flavor.