Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our series dedicated to Filipino comfort food classics with a shot at the aptly named "Filipino spaghetti," inspired of course by the one and only version found at Jollibee's. Now, before we dive in, let's start by acknowledging that Filipino spaghetti is an incredibly divisive concept by its very nature. Many folks watching here I would guess have a lot of questions already. "What in the world is Filipino spaghetti?" "Dear god, is that a hot dog?" and "how much sugar is too much sugar in a bolognese sauce?" Fear not, y'all. I have answers to all of these questions, and more. A Filipino spaghetti is (at the risk of once again angering every single Italian on the internet) at its core, not too dissimilar to a pretty traditional bolognese sauce. It's a tomato based meat sauce with a foundation built on top of sofrito-based veggie elements, then slow simmered with aromatic spices like nutmeg and bay leaf, yielding a deep, rich, and flavorful sauce.
What makes it particularly unique however, is that the Filipino spaghetti iconically contains two (let's say) contraversial elements, the first being sliced hot dog, and the second being a half cup of white sugar, giving it the colloquial name "sugar spaghetti." So! This means for our version today, we'll be exploring fundamentally essentially, how to make a bolognese sauce, then followed by just. Every single way there is to anger people on the internet. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1/2 medium white onion
4 hot dogs
8 oz ground pork
8 oz 80/20 ground beef
2 cups beef stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
16 oz tomato sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup white sugar
1 lb spaghetti
cheddar cheese
nutmeg
bay leaf
olive oil
kosher salt
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
SMALL DICE the onion, set aside
SLICE the hot dog on a bias, set aside
ROLL the ground meat into golfball sized balls, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a dutch oven over medium low heat, then add 4 tbsp of olive oil
ADD the ground meat to the pot, then sear for 2-3 minutes, rotate, and sear for an additional 2 minutes
REMOVE the ground meat, then add the onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes until slightly tanslucent
ADD the hot dog, then saute for 2-4 minutes until fragrant
REMOVE the hot dogs and veggies, then add the ground meat back to the pot and use a potato masher to crush into a pebbly texture
ADD the tomato paste to the dutch oven surface, and saute for 1-2 minutes before combining
DEGLAZE the pot with the white wine, then add the tomato sauce, beef stock, and 1 cup water
ADD bay leaf and fresh grated nutmeg, then simmer for 2-4 hours covered
ADD the sugar and season with kosher salt to taste
BOIL a pot of water, then season with kosher salt and cook the pasta to package instruction
RESERVE 1 cup pasta water, then strain the pasta and combine with the simmered sauce
ADD the reserved pasta water as needed until a thickened sauce forms
FINISH with grated cheddar cheese