A lost sauce

[New York, February 15, 1971. Click for a larger view.]

I remember seeing Aunt Millie’s sauce in Brooklyn kidhood, on the shelf in Vinny & Rogers, the butcher shop where we bought our meat and poultry. When I went out on my own, I bought Aunt Millie’s out of deep nostalgia. Besides, it was a good sauce.

I was ready to scoff at this advertisement’s claim that Aunt Millie came in to check on the sauce, but there was indeed an Aunt Millie. Here’s a 1966 New York Times article about Carmella (Millie) and Salvatore Di Mauro, which makes clear that this 1983 commercial was reality-based. Salvatore died in 2006; Carmella in 2007. Heinz bought the Aunt Millie’s brand from Borden in 2001; by 2013 the brand was discontinued.

These days I make my own sauce, a long one (two-and-a-half to three hours) or a short one known as Coppola/“Godfather” sauce.

[Is that Zohra Lampert in the commercial? As for ortolan: I’m sorry I wondered.]