Uncle Bradie's Sauce

OK I don't call him Uncle Bradie as I didn't really get acquainted with my Uncle until I was a young adult.  Being an Air Force Brat we just never lived close enough.  Also when I was a kid he was a teenager.  He's only 9 years older than me.  Not much interested in a pesky niece.  He was too busy trying to become a rock star.  The younger nieces and nephews called him Uncle Bradie and I just thought it was funny and cute.  So, when I became aware of his sauce I called it Uncle Bradie's Sauce.

I got acquainted with this sauce when I first met my husband.  He was stationed at a base not far from San Francisco.  On my 2nd date with DH we went to an Aerosmith concert at the Cow Palace.  I drove to San Francisco and stayed the night at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  It was my Aunt who suggested I defrost some of Brad's Spaghetti sauce and have DH over for dinner before the concert.  We both thought the sauce was very good.  Next time I came to San Francisco I asked Uncle Brad for the recipe and he said he didn't have one.  So, I watched him make it and wrote the recipe down myself.  We've been having this sauce ever since.  That's been 25 years.

Uncle Bradie's Spaghetti Sauce

1 pound hamburger
1 pound ground pork
1 pound Italian sausage (taken out of casings)
1 pound sliced mushrooms
1/2 head of garlic, chopped
1 onion med. to large, chopped
6 cans of tomato sauce (8 oz cans or 48 oz)
2 cans of tomato paste (6 oz cans or 12 oz)
1 tsp of white pepper
3 bay leaves (Turkish)
1/2 bottle of Italian seasoning
2 tsp oregano
4 cups of Burgundy wine
1 T sugar

Brown all meats separately and drain the fat off.  Put in large pot.  Add remaining ingredients.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours.

First thing I do before starting the sauce is make some Italian seasoning.  This recipe uses a lot.  I usually have all the herbs needed already.  I put 2 tablespoons of each Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary and Thyme in a bowl and stir.  You can buy this premade if you don't have the ingredients already at home.

Then I begin browning the meats.  Here I'm browning the ground beef using my handy dandy mix n chop from Pampered Chef.  Makes short work of browning a lot of meat.

I'm browning the sausage IN the casing here for the first time in 20 years.  Uncle Brad had slices of sausage in his.  I thought I'd make it more like his.  I ended up not liking the large chunks of sausage in the sauce.  Reminded me why I do it differently.  So, let this be a lesson to you all take the Italian sausage from it's casing and brown it like you would the ground beef and pork.  The sausage mixes with the flavors of the sauce much better that way.

To save time while I brown all the meats I add the other ingredients to the big pot and start heating it up.  As the meats are browned I put them into the pot.

Here is the ground pork on it's way to being browned and ready for the pot.

Everything is together and simmering.  I usually make a double batch.  This sauce freezes beautifully.  This sauce also makes great lasagna.