I did the impossible - duplicated my great grandmother's recipe for Sicilian spaghetti sauce, something my family has tried for decades.
I always make my own pasta and sauce like she did, but I never could quite get that extra flavor hers had. She had a few secret ingredients, but over the years figured them out. But she did something as the last step that she never let anyone see, and took it to her grave.
Today, something occurred to me. I remembered the times I asked for her secret, and she always said put two and two together. That **** has driven the family crazy for decades. But tonight, a light bulb went off.
I was thinking about what I missed all those years, and realized that every time she made spaghetti, she also made stuffed artichokes. She boiled the artichokes first, but I realized I never saw her dump the artichoke water. So I boiled some artichokes, and as soon as I smelled the water I knew I had it nailed. I poured some into the finished sauce and stirred it in, and sure enough I finally did it.
People that don't have a huge cooking family like this have no idea how fun but aggravating it is to accomplish something like this. After I let it cool, I immediately bagged up what I wasn't using and distributed it to some relatives. When they tasted it, their reactions were priceless. I think they thought I sold my soul for the recipe
They all asked me if I was disappointed to crack it, since the mystery is solved now......hell no, that **** has driven me nuts since childhood, I'm glad I don't have to guess anymore
......and I didn't give a single one of those bastards the solution to the puzzle
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