It wasn’t every Sunday, but on those special Sundays when I was growing up, the smell would sometimes hit you before you got out of bed. Aromatic sauteurs, loudly searing meat, crusty bread being cut with serrated knives: you knew it was going to be a Sunday Sauce Sunday.

Sunday sauce is known for its extremely long simmering time, tantalizing people with the smells until it’s time to eat. It’s one of the most aromatic sauces you can make. The pungent smell of seared meat permeates the tomatoes, creating a richer, more deeply colored sauce than your typical tomato-based dishes like marinara.

Many of these “red sauce” dishes have their roots in southern Italy, although Sunday sauce isn’t as common in Italy. One food blogger, Rockin’ Kitchen Sicily, says his mother used to make a similar sausage and meat sauce when she was growing up in Palermo, so while it’s not common everywhere in Italy, it’s really taken off in America.

Due to the long cooking time, it was common to start the sauce in the morning, and a late lunch/early dinner around 2 or 3 pm was the vibe in many families. Although it takes a while to simmer, this sauce is very quick to make, freezes like a charm, and, despite what "Italians Mad at Food" has to say, is very adaptable to your personal taste.