Pelotas A La Portuguese
“This serves from six to eight people and is my favorite dish.” -John Philip Sousa, Chicago Tribune, July 23,1916
From The Stag Cook Book: Written For Men By Men, by C. Mac Sheridan, 1922
Sauce: One quart can of tomatoes. Put in kettle on top of stove, simmer or let boil slowly for one and a half hours. Add pepper, salt, two onions cut in fine slices, four allspice and four cloves. The cloves and allspice to be added after it starts to boil. After two and a half hours add the meatballs.
Pelotas (meat balls): Two pounds chopped beef; add one onion, chopped fine, two cups bread crumbs, a little parsley, salt and pepper. Make into meat balls about the size of a plum. Put into sauce and cook slowly one and one-half hours. This makes fully three hours’ slow boiling for the sauce.
To sauce, add three bay leaves one hour before taking off the stove.
Spaghetti: Use a package or a pound of spaghetti; not macaroni. Have a large pot of boiling water with about one tablespoonful of salt. Slide the spaghetti into the water. Do not break it. Boil exactly twenty minutes. Must be tender, not tough nor doughy.
Serve spaghetti on large platter, pouring tomato sauce over it. Serve pelotas on smaller platter, allowing a small quantity of sauce to remain on them. Serve grated Parmesan cheese on side. Use a piece of cheese to grate, not bottled cheese.