tradition
Just Like Nonna Used to Make Tommaso Antonino Aiello produces pasta sauces that taste like Calabria WRITTEN BY PHILIP DEVENCENTIS PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS PEDOTA
The fleshy scarlet red fruit that grows on avine is , to practically everyone , nothing more than a tomato .
But to Tommaso Antonino Aiello , aresident of Wayne , it is away of life . He makes his own pasta sauce from scratch before jarring it and selling it by the caseload to area markets and to friends across the country and throughout the world . Only the choicest fruit — itisafruit , right ? — will plop into his commercial-grade pot that he uses to prepare four sauce varieties at akitchen onUtter Avenue in Hawthorne .
What sets Aiello ’ ssauce apart from the competition is not only the ingredients , hesays , but the history . His recipe is afamily secret , he says , and it has been handed down for generations . It was brought to the U . S . when his greatgrandmother , Mariantonia Gatto Aiello , emigrated from Serrata , acommune in the Calabria region of southern Italy , in August 1929 , settling first with her husband in Newark and then in Nutley .
The label wrapped around each 24-ounce jar of Aiello ’ s sauce bears her likeness and her name : Nonna Mariantonia . “ I keep it as simple as possible , which is what my family always did ,” saysAiello , 31 , a2009 graduate of Wayne Hills High School and an alumnus of the prestigious LeCordon Bleu , acooking academy headquartered in Paris .“ This isn ’ t something that Ijust whipped up one day ,” hesays . “ This is deeply rooted in tradition .”
The original sauce has six ingredients : tomatoes , fresh basil , water , olive oil , sea salt and ground black pepper .
Aiello says heuses that as the base for his other sauces , which include arrabbiata , with crushed red chili pepper , and marinara , with garlic , grated carrots and onions . There isalso avariety with roasted eggplant and afifth variety being planned with porcini mushrooms .
He does not harvest his own tomatoes , but he says he is very particular about where they come from . He says he will only buy premium tomatoes , grown and canned by Stanislaus Food Products of Modesto , California ; the Golden State is , byfar , the leading producer of tomatoes in the nation .
“ THIS ISN ’ T SOMETHING THATIJUSTWHIPPED UP ONE DAY . THIS IS DEEPLYROOTED IN TRADITION .”
TOMMASO ANTONINO AIELLO
Aiello says hebuys the mega-sized tins , each weighing as much as 6½ pounds , from arestaurant supplier in South Hackensack . It is the closest he says he can get to aSan Marzano tomato , a variety of plum tomato originating from the highly fertile volcanic soil in the Sarno River valley of southern Italy .
“ If you can ’ t use aSan Marzano tomato ,” hesays , “ this is the next best thing . It ’ slike those tomatoes , but it ’ s grown in this country . And it ’ sjust as delicious .”
WORTH A SPECIAL TRIP
Aiello ’ scustomers appreciate his attention to detail — somuch so that they say they are willing to travel hundreds of miles to pick up acase or two , or three , ofhis sauce . Phyllis Bennett says she and her husband , Robert Bennett , drive from Southport , North Carolina , where the couple is now retired . They used to live in Wayne . She says they pick up acase of the sauce , which includes 12 jars , each time they visit this area . ( The true reason for their bimonthly visits back home is to see their extended family — itreally has nothing to do with the sauce . At least that is the story Bennett is going with .)
Family always comes before pasta sauce , but as Bennett would attest , they are perfect together . She even jokes how her Irish husband has taken astrong liking tothe authentic Italian blend . She says she was raised in aSicilian household in Elmwood Park , and thatAiello ’ ssauce rivals her late mother ’ s . “ It tastes homemade ,” Bennett says .“ It ’ ssuch acut above everything else in quality and taste . There ’ snoway that Icould ever use another sauce . I ’ d rather eat macaroni and butter .”
Word of the sauce is spreading in Bennett ’ s coastal community . She says she gave away several jars , and wooden spoons , to her neighbors as gifts for Christmas .
Meanwhile , the sauce conjures up decades-old memories for Cynthia Ramírez of Fayetteville , Arkansas . As amedic in the Air Force , Ramírez says she was stationed in Madrid , Spain , in the years leading up to the 1990 Gulf War . There was an immigrant family
22 MAY 2023 WAYNE MAGAZINE