spaghetti with meatballs — United States

Spaghetti with meatballs is an Italian-American pasta dish pairing long spaghetti noodles with a tomato sauce and separately cooked meatballs, usually made from beef or a beef-and-pork mix. Though it draws on dishes from southern Italy where meat and pasta were served in smaller, separate portions, the combination of a full plate of spaghetti topped with large meatballs took its familiar form in the United States. It is reported as having taken shape among Italian immigrant communities in New York City, where cooks adapted dishes from home to the ingredients and appetites available in their new city. From there it spread through the first half of the twentieth century to become a fixture of Italian-American cooking nationwide, served in family kitchens, red-sauce restaurants and school cafeterias alike. To prepare it, ground beef is mixed with breadcrumbs soaked in milk, egg, grated cheese, garlic and parsley, then rolled into balls and browned before finishing in a tomato sauce built from crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic and herbs such as basil and oregano. The sauce and meatballs simmer together so the meatballs absorb some of the sauce's flavor, while spaghetti is cooked separately in salted water until just tender, then plated and topped with the sauce and meatballs. What distinguishes this dish from its southern Italian antecedents is scale and format: a full plate of pasta serves as the base for several large meatballs rather than a small portion of meat served alongside a light pasta course, reflecting the larger portions and different eating patterns of its American setting. Recipes vary widely by household and region in the choice of meat, the size of the meatballs, and how sweet or herby the sauce is made.