Cary Mason with The Mason Jar Canning and Home has made a career out of canning and has become a fan favorite at local and regional farmers markets. One of her most loved products is her grandfather Vic's Spaghetti Sauce. We learn the story behind this family recipe.
Tell us about your grandfather’s heritage and how this became a tradition.
Victor “Vic” Eugene Trask, Jr. was a second-generation Italian immigrant. His mother, Maria Vales emigrated from Serramonacesca, a small village of farmers and shepherds in the mountains of the Abruzzo region of Italy. They settled in Bristol, Rhode Island where she met Victor Trask, Sr. I have to think that Maria had quite a bit of influence on Vic and his cooking.
Vic served in the Navy during World War II in the Pacific theater and retired as a Colonel in the US Army. One time, he coached me how to peel potatoes correctly as this was his job on the Navy ship – he peeled hundreds of pounds of potatoes for the mess hall and I was struggling with roughly six!
Right after Vic retired, he and Big Mama were moving back to Huntsville permanently from Rhode Island. They were on their drive back when I was born and didn’t know I had made my entrance into the world until they got to Huntsville.
When we spent the night at Big Mama and Vic’s, Vic would usually be in the kitchen cooking while we finished homework. I remember several times being told to stop my homework so we could watch Wheel of Fortune, this was an informal competition with both sets of grandparents.
What is your first memory of your grandfather cooking spaghetti?
I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have Vic’s spaghetti really. It was the first meal I wanted seconds of, one I almost demanded each time we spent the night with Big Mama and Vic.
He made so much at one time, in huge stockpots, then would freeze portions of it so it was a much quicker meal when we would spend the night. It was a day long process for him to make. I remember a few times; he and Big Mama would eat something else while he made spaghetti for us. To me, that’s pure love. While I know we ate things other than spaghetti at their house, I cannot remember a single other thing.
What was your favorite part?
It’s a toss up between the smells and flavors. I remember this being the dish I just had to know how to make. Having it made you want to cook and learn how to cook well.
The part in Ratatouille where Anton Ego tries the titular dish and is immediately transported to the warmth and comfort of his childhood home and mother’s arms – Vic’s is that to me, it immediately takes me back to the best parts of my childhood. A single bite of Vic’s red sauce and macaroni, Mom’s cheesy chicken, or Nannie’s banana pudding can instantly right the wrongs of any day to me – they are comfort and caring in culinary form.
Cooking is sharing a part of yourself with everyone else, Vic not only did this with friends and family but instilled a sense of culinary curiosity in me and made me want to learn how to share that as well.
What type of noodles did he use?
He was extremely specific about this. In fact, he refused to call it spaghetti sauce because he did not use spaghetti noodles. One afternoon, he picked me up from school and I excitedly asked if we were having spaghetti that night. He replied, “No, we’re having macaroni” so I kind of sulked but figured his macaroni and cheese is probably good too. Then the lesson came, when we sat down to eat it was spaghetti but made with macaroni noodles! So, he just called it red sauce and macaroni, and he had to go to the Post eXchange on Redstone Arsenal to find these specific noodles because they are not the elbow macaroni used for mac & cheese.
I can still find straight macaroni noodles periodically and always make a point to stockpile a few bags. And I still call it spaghetti sauce.
What were unique methods he used that were different?
People often ask me “What’s special about Vic’s” when browsing at a market. That is a very difficult question for me to answer. On paper, it could be anyone’s spaghetti sauce but the way he made it was just – different.
He layered the flavors, beginning with Italian sausage, meatballs, or ground beef, usually a mix of pork and beef browned off leaving the coveted frond on the bottom of the stockpot. Then onions and garlic, even though he used fresh onions and garlic he used powdered of both along with oregano and basil, fresh or dried depending on availability. Then he added the tomato paste, so it would cook down in the rendered fat and release the essential oils to make the sauce really bloom.
He would use a combination of fresh and canned tomatoes, again depending on availability, and (surprise!) only liked a specific kind of canned tomatoes that once again could only be found at the Post eXchange on Redstone Arsenal. Now, when I am replicating Vic’s, I use canned San Marzano tomatoes and roast fresh Romas when in season.
Then everything got put on low and kept at a simmer for hours, until everything was just exactly perfect – according to me.
How can people find Vic’s Spaghetti Sauce?
I sell pints and quarts of Vic’s through The Mason Jar – Canning & Home. You can find us at local markets such as The Market at MidCity, Bailey Cove Farmer’s Market, N.E.A.C.A. craft shows, and online at TheMasonJarHSV.com.
We are also on The Huntsville Food & Farm Hub each week through mid-December.
How did The Mason Jar begin?
It started as a hobby or a way to fill some time after we moved back to Huntsville from Germany, and I had completed my graduate degree. It kept snowballing until I had a nice stockpile started then I stumbled on cottage food laws. I got all of my certifications and started the website in August 2021. We started markets the following year, and its grown every year since.
What are your favorite products?
Any of the nostalgic products: Vic’s spaghetti sauce, Mom’s Tomato Jam, Mom’s Pickled Beets, Sis’s Salsa, I just found some pawpaws to do Nannie’s PawPaw Jam, a German Chocolate Cake Jam that was another grandfather’s favorite cake we made him each year for his birthday. Anything with a touch of sentimentality to it, that reminds me of the love and memories I grew up with.
Where can we find TMJ?
We are winding down the weekly markets with Bailey Cove Farmer’s Market on Saturdays and The Market at MidCity on Sundays. We have several big holiday markets coming up with N.E.A.C.A. craft shows, Cullman Oktoberfest, Lake City FallFest, Mentone Fall Festival, the Holiday Market at MidCity, Lobsterfest, Huntsville Christkindlmarkt, and Lowe Mill’s Winter Solstice Market.
Online, you can find us at TheMasonJarHsv.com and on The Huntsville Food & Farm Hub each week through mid-December.