From Goodfellas (1990)
Prison Sunday Gravy
Reconstructed
In the movie
Theatrical
- Doing a stretch inside, the crew keeps a real Italian kitchen going — Vinnie works the tomato sauce, Paulie slices garlic razor-thin so it dissolves into the pan, and Henry narrates the whole loving operation
Ingredients
Steps
- Slice the garlic as thin as you possibly can — the crew's whole trick is garlic cut fine enough to melt into the oil rather than fry. Warm the olive oil gently and add the garlic, letting it soften and dissolve without browning.
- Add the onions and cook low and slow until soft and sweet.
- Turn up the heat and brown the veal, beef, and pork in batches, seasoning as you go. Keep the pork restrained — it's there for background depth, not to take over.
- Deglaze with the red wine and let it cook down for a minute.
- Crush the tomatoes in by hand and stir everything together. Bring to a bare simmer.
- Cook low and slow for two to three hours, stirring now and then so nothing catches, until the meat is falling-apart tender and the sauce is deep red.
- Tear in the basil near the end. Serve over pasta, with the meat either folded through or plated alongside.
In the movie
Henry's narration turns a prison sentence into a food show. The wiseguys smuggle in real ingredients and run a proper kitchen, and Henry lingers on the details: Paulie doing the garlic with a razor so it liquefies in the pan with a little oil, Vinnie arguing over how much onion belongs in the sauce, another guy on the steaks. It's a reconstruction — the film narrates the technique rather than publishing a recipe — but the meats, the hand-crushed tomatoes, and that impossibly thin garlic are all on screen and in the voiceover.