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There are many ways to elevate spaghetti sauce to give it more flavor, but one suggestion may make you question everything. Did you know some cooks add cocoa to their sauce? Yeah, it’s the secret ingredient that a lot of cooks swear by, so we asked a chef with Sicilian roots about his thoughts, and the answer may surprise you.
Tasting Table asked Chef Billy Parisi if adding cocoa to spaghetti sauce for a bolder flavor is a good idea. “I’m a bit of a traditionalist, so I would not do that,” he says. “My Italian grandmother may have smacked me if I would add it to my spaghetti sauce, but my Italian Aunt Pan would for sure try it.”
Chef Parisi, whose grandparents were from Terrasini, Sicily, shared another recipe that uses cocoa as a secret ingredient when explaining how it could help elevate spaghetti sauce. “However, just like when finishing a Texas Chili with a bit of chocolate, it absolutely can create more complexity in the sauce and deepen the flavors of the beef and tomatoes, making it richer,” he says. “The texture could slightly thicken, but not change. You may also get a slightly darker colored sauce.”
While Chef Parisi may not be willing to chase his spaghetti sauce recipe and add cocoa powder to it, he certainly isn’t stopping anyone else. “If you are looking to enhance those specific flavors to make them stand out more,” he suggests, “then definitely do it.”
More ways to elevate spaghetti sauce
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Cocoa isn’t the only surprising ingredient that can be added to spaghetti sauce to give it a deeper flavor. There are several ways to add some unexpected flavor to the sauce, so naturally, we asked Chef Parisi for some ideas.
“I would first take the time to ensure the beef had a good Maillard on it by searing it well before cooking it in the sauce,” he explains. “That Maillard flavor would only increase with the addition of cocoa. Next, I’d make sure to use tomato paste so that those tomatoey flavors would be enhanced. I like a really tomato-forward sauce.”
The Maillard reaction Chef Parisi is referring to is the browning or searing of the meat, which is the reaction between the amino acids and simple sugars in the meat when cooked. It’s that tasting brown crust that forms when you cook meat just right. He shared a few other things to add to the sauce that would elevate it, even adding to the complexity of the cocoa powder in one case. Chef Parisi suggested adding basil and finishing the sauce with some butter.
“Serve the sauce with a dollop of ricotta or mascarpone, as it would be enhanced by the cocoa in the spaghetti sauce,” he added. Or, the cook could add “a slight hint of cinnamon [which] would also be good in a bolognese as well.” One secret ingredient that Chef Parisi didn’t suggest putting in spaghetti sauce that you might want to consider is coffee. It would add richness to the flavor profile along the same lines as cocoa.
Dining and Cooking