Original Recipe Sicilian Succo (Meatballs & Sauce)

I was born in a small mining town in southern Illinois. The village had a predominate Italian population. Spaghetti was a staple part of their diet. The red marina sauce that they poured over the spaghetti was called succo. This was a time before air conditioning, and all the windows in their houses wee wide open during the summer time. If your nostrils caught a whiff of their succo cooking would make your taste buds dance. If that caught a whiff of their home made cheese, they would dance even harder. To taste a plate of this delicacy was a real thrill. My best friend was Italian, and we did our homework together. I had occasion to sample this delicious morsel frequently. When my friend’s mother placed a plate in front of me and said “mange,” I immediately became fluent in Italian. Over the years, I have craved this taste. I looked everywhere for a recipe, but there was none anywhere. I couldn’t have asked her for a recipe because she didn’t have one. She couldn’t explain to how to make it because she couldn’t speak English. She had brought the recipe from Sicily in her memory. I recalled some of the ingredients. I found a recipe site on the net that if you fed the ingredients it would construct recipes using these ingredients. I got close but not close enough. With the help of some Italian friends, I was finally able to construct a recipe of the greatest spaghetti in the world. This recipe is the fruits of my labor. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Note from UnknownChef86: This is a recipe I adopted in 2006.

• Ready In: 4 hrs 45 mins
• Serves: 20

Ingredients

• For the sauce

• 4  garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 (29 ounce) cans Italian-style tomato sauce
• 4 (6 ounce) cans Italian-style tomato paste
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley (one teaspoon dry parsley may be substituted)
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh basil (one teaspoon dry basil may be substituted)

• For the meat balls

• 2  lbs ground beef
• 1  lb ground pork
• 1  cup  dry  Italian style breadcrumbs
• 1  cup  grated parmesan cheese
• 1  teaspoon garlic powder
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley (one teaspoon dry parsley may be substituted)

Directions

1. In a heavy sauce pan mix together garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, parsley and basil.
2. Bring sauce to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer.
3. In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, ground pork, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and parsley.
4. Shape into balls the size of a golf ball.
5. Try to make 40 meat balls.
6. In a skillet, fry meatballs in hot olive oil until brown.
7. Combine the sauce mixture and the meat balls and simmer over low heat for another four hours.