Is this normal?

[HIU8]

MIL made spag sauce and meatballs and sent it home with DH a few weeks ago. It was frozen. I defrosted it and we ate it for dinner one night (DS, DD and DH ate it. I would not touch it.) It had a HUGE bone it in. DH said MIL put it in there for flavoring. I was completely grossed out. I have never heard of doing that in spagetti sauce before. Plus, I thought it made the sauce smell really bad. Just wanted to know if I'm missing something and this is how to make sauce.

[chlobo]

What kind of bone? My grandmother used to put pork, including bones, into her sauce sometimes.

[Melaine]

Weird...never heard of it. I mean, I guess it makes sense, like a ham bone flavors soup, but it would be weird to find it in spaghetti!

[niccig]

I wonder if it was a ham bone? I don't make sauce that way. I would also have taken it out prior to freezing..just for the space reasons.

If it was frozen soon after making, thawed and cooked correctly then it would have been fine to eat.

Taste wise - well that's subjective.

[HIU8]

It smelled like ham. Needless to say, we do not eat ham or ham flavoring of any kind in our house. I was totally appalled. I dislike ham of any kind in the first place. MIL's cooking leaves a lot to be desired.

[SummerBaby]

Is your MIL of Italian descent? My mom and grandmother (Italian) usually use pork to flavor meat sauce, and after cooking all day, the meat will fall off the bone, leaving just the bone in the sauce. You should obviously remove the bone before serving, but perhaps she forgot.

[LMPC]

Thanks for conjuring up nice memories of my grandma for me :thumbsup: She used to put pork chop bones in her sauce....YUMMY!!! I would have taken it out before freezing too...just because it takes up so much space. She used to leave her's in ...even when freezing.

[WolfpackMom]

It smelled like ham. Needless to say, we do not eat ham or ham flavoring of any kind in our house. I was totally appalled. I dislike ham of any kind in the first place. MIL's cooking leaves a lot to be desired.

Then just dont eat it (which you didnt as you said). I have heard of putting a bone in sauce and stocks so I don't think its abnormal. I know you dont love your MIL (from previous posts) but it was nice of her to send home sauce and meatballs with DH imho.

[HIU8]

MIL's MIL was italian. So that is where she must have learned it. totally foreign to me. I was never taught to cook with ham, pork or any part of a pig. So it really does not sit well with me. Plus we are kosher and MIL knows this. I think that part is what bothers me the most. Had I known I would have told MIL to not include the bone, or would have had DH take it to my sisters house (they are not kosher).

It was nice of her to send food home. Although most of what she makes does not taste good to me. I allow the kids to try her food and they can form their own opinion (when we go to see her). I basically starve when we visit her (I honestly do not like her cooking).