Spaghetti with sweet butter and ketchup. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. As far back as I can remember….ohhhhh somewhere around 1953 in Brooklyn, N.Y., this was a dish my grandmother Hazel and my “Aunt” Sadie would make for me, my brother Paul and everyone else.
My granddaughter Emma’s favorite since is…hmmmmm…guess what?
To this day, some people just can’t imagine the taste…and when I ask if anyone wants some, I get the age old response of “Ewwwww” or “Arrgghhhh”.
“Did you ever taste it” I ask?
No!
So how do you know you won’t like it?
I was in Los Angeles last week and whipped up a quick batch of my famous sweet butter and ketchup for Alan and his son, Cooper. You never saw 2/3 of a pound of spaghetti, 5 Tbsp of butter and ohhh, about 8 ounces of ketchup disappear so fast.
Alan asked why do they even bottle spaghetti sauce while Cooper was in non stop sweet butter and ketchup heaven, as the pics above will attest.
Two more converts.
While getting a haircut recently by my buddy Eddie, he proceeds to tell me about how he and his 3 brothers were brought up on elbow macaroni made with Velveeta cheese and Campbells tomato soup. An hour later, my waiter Ben at Vincent’s in Carle Place proceeds to tell me about his father who thrived on spaghetti with Velveeta cheese and Ketchup.
I even remember many years ago…while raving about my butter and ketchup recipe, my dentist Artie raved right back about his spaghetti with cream cheese and ketchup.
We’ll call her Nancy P. After reading this entry, she confessed for her love of spaghetti with sauce and Velveeta cheese…AND… placing dollops of cream cheese in her tomato soup.
Sounding familiar?
I guess as strange as it sounds, these recipes to some degree, were borne out of necessity long ago. They thrived for many years and it is now my pleasure to share them with you. Remember…if you never tasted it, you can’t knock it.
Wanna see unusaul, wierd and strange recipes…just Google them.
Alan asked why do they even bottle spaghetti sauce while Cooper was in non stop sweet butter and ketchup heaven, as the pics above will attest.
Two more converts.
While getting a haircut recently by my buddy Eddie, he proceeds to tell me about how he and his 3 brothers were brought up on elbow macaroni made with Velveeta cheese and Campbells tomato soup. An hour later, my waiter Ben at Vincent’s in Carle Place proceeds to tell me about his father who thrived on spaghetti with Velveeta cheese and Ketchup.
I even remember many years ago…while raving about my butter and ketchup recipe, my dentist Artie raved right back about his spaghetti with cream cheese and ketchup.
We’ll call her Nancy P. After reading this entry, she confessed for her love of spaghetti with sauce and Velveeta cheese…AND… placing dollops of cream cheese in her tomato soup.
Sounding familiar?
I guess as strange as it sounds, these recipes to some degree, were borne out of necessity long ago. They thrived for many years and it is now my pleasure to share them with you. Remember…if you never tasted it, you can’t knock it.
Wanna see unusaul, wierd and strange recipes…just Google them.
Not everyone has the technique…so here it is. Follow it explicitly and you will become a convert.
*About 10 oz of thin spahgetti or vermicelli…or really any shape you like
*About 5 Tbsp sweet butter (I love Plugra or Land O Lakes)
*About 8-10 ounces of Heinz Ketchup
* 2 tsp kosher salt
* slice butter into pats so it can melt quickly when added to pot in last step
*Boil at least 4 quarts of water and when water starts to boil add 2 tsp kosher salt
*Immediately add pasta & cook until soft..not mushy and not, in this case, al dente…which is the way one MUST cook their pasta normally
*Drain pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of pasta water
*Immediately add butter and reserved water to pot to melt butter…add pasta immediately and cook over medium heat stirring quickly for about 30 seconds
*Remove from heat, add room temperature ketchup, stir quickly for another 30 seconds and serve. Wanna add more ketchup on top, be my guest
*Remove from heat, add room temperature ketchup, stir quickly for another 30 seconds and serve. Wanna add more ketchup on top, be my guest
*Thats it…Yum City
An aside: Ketchup does not need to be refrigerated. For everyday use, it will also taste much better at room temperature. .
One more thing…
There are sooooooooo many strange recipes in this world. Strange or unusual, however, is relative.
If you have any doubts at all, GOOGLE “Strange Recipes”!
If you have any doubts at all, GOOGLE “Strange Recipes”!
Check out the tomato bread below made with butter. Sound familiar?
Moral of the story…and you’ve heard it before…
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
Mangia Baby!
Bert
Please feel free to comment.
You must have come across innumerable types of breads like garlic bread, brown bread, milk bread, fruit bread and so on but you might not have heard about the tomato bread.
This bread retains the tangy flavor of tomato and deeply reminds you of your favorite tomato soup that you had always ordered first in the starters. Besides tomato, you can also savor the excellent taste of cloves, butter and brown sugar.
if you are italian like me this is a HORRIBLE way to cook. a bad thing for your health!! butter and ketchup with pasta isthe worst thing you can make in italy
Thank you for your comment.
Agreed butter is not good for your health…however two things that make food taste good are fat and salt.
Agreed as well there are many ways to make food taste good without fat and salt.
EVOO is one good fat…and most…if not all…recipes in my blog contain EVOO as the primary fat.
That said…this recipe was " born out of necessity".
Back in the early 1950's there was no such thing as bottled spaghetti sauce…and pasta was made by many non-Italian families with ketchup and among other things, tomato soup.
Cheeses and/or butter was blended into ketchup and/ or tomato soup…again….with many variations.
Italian families were always making their
Sunday "gravy" in this era and for many years prior…but not the non-Italians Americans.
Today it's a dish I prepare every now and then because it brings back pleasant memories and I just happened to acquire a powerful taste for it.
If you review the other blog entries, I'm sure you will find many of my other recipes to your liking.
You might say my tastes have developed after almost 60 years.
Either way, your comments and input are appreciated.
That, after all, is also the American way.
Mangia Baby!
Bert
YumO! My mom used to make spaghetti, butter and ketchup when I was young, I just remembered it a few months ago and now I have it about once a month! For the Italian commenter, I'm sorry but Italian food isn't healthy either! Actually olive oil is just as toxic as other oils when you cook with it! The only way it's safe and healthy is if its drizzled onto food, once you heat it to sauté onions, or other items forgetaboutit…so please spare us!
Oh Bert! What a delight finding you has been. I grew up with spaghetti and ketchup as a traditional family dish. My Russian immigrant grandmother made it for her daughters and the one who was her mother made it for me! To this day, it is my go-to crappy day comfort food!
However, our recipe does not add any pasta water, and we put a shameful amount of butter back into the heavy stockpot in which we boiled the spaghetti and then we squirt the ketchup all over, stirring with a fork to get that butter and ketchup distributed properly into the golden orange color and then we walk away and let it "burn" a little to get these golden (to black) crispy bits which we mix back in and crown portions of this dish with. Depending on how much crispy you got, was how much Mom loved you that night!
I have perfected this comfort dish, that up until today I thought only I ate and only when I was alone, by burning some and then redistributing the pasta on the bottom of the pot to burn more and repeating this until I have the perfect balance of soft and tender with crispy and fried!
YUM! And thanks for making me feel better about this dish – and myself – you took the shame out of my comfort food for me!
I'm German, and it still sounds revolting!
Hello Germany…
actually my grandfather was from Hamburg…so we have one thing in common.
"Sounds" revolting…perhaps…
However have you ever tasted it?
I think you would be shocked if you knew how many recipes today ffrom some very well known chefs include ketchup.
Eitherway…
Thank you much for your comment.
Hello Germany…
actually my grandfather was from Hamburg…so we have one thing in common.
"Sounds" revolting…perhaps…
However have you ever tasted it?
I think you would be shocked if you knew how many recipes today ffrom some very well known chefs include ketchup.
Eitherway…
Thank you much for your comment.
Hello Germany…
actually my grandfather was from Hamburg…so we have one thing in common.
"Sounds" revolting…perhaps…
However have you ever tasted it?
I think you would be shocked if you knew how many recipes today ffrom some very well known chefs include ketchup.
Eitherway…
Thank you much for your comment.
This was one of my favorite meals as a kid- the only thing I'd add to it is grated cheese. Perfect!
I guess a lot of kids in northern europe grew up this way but here in the States it seems to be a big no no.
I still can't get used to spaghetti sauce, I think it is pretty horrible (unless home made) and people are just missing out 🙂
I'm spanish and this seems extrange and grose to me. Maybe it is tasty but I prefer pasta with tomatoes olive oil onion and garlic all cooked and proceseed into sauce and maybe a litte bit of pepper. This will never be that level of tastiness. And making that sauce for me worths the time you spend on it. But nice recipe if it matches your tastes it's simple and quick.
I'm spanish and this seems extrange and grose to me. Maybe it is tasty but I prefer pasta with tomatoes olive oil onion and garlic all cooked and proceseed into sauce and maybe a litte bit of pepper. This will never be that level of tastiness. And making that sauce for me worths the time you spend on it. But nice recipe if it matches your tastes it's simple and quick.