Pineapple in spaghetti & meatballs. Thoughts?

death penalty.

Tomatoes are already pretty acidic, and usually you're trying to mellow that out a little bit. You hear splash of balsamic sometimes, but that's more for some complexity than the acid.

The sugar wouldn't be bad, in moderation, but I'm thinking pineapple has a bit too much. If you added a bunch of pineapple for any reason, you'd have to bring it back into balance with other things. You're really departing from spaghetti and meatballs now, heading in an almost SE asian direction.

By the time it tastes good, it won't be very italian anymore. Probably one of the legit worst cooking ideas I've heard in awhile, I'm having a hard time thinking of a more ruinous ingredient to add to an italian-American red meat sauce.

You know, when you put it on pizza, there's usually ham and jalapenos too. Those are balancing elements, both very strongly flavored.

Straight to jail.

No.

just NO

I don't mind pineapple in dishes (and love it on pizza). They are commonly found in Cantonese and Yunnanese dishes as well for example, like Gulaorou (sweet & sour pork chops with chillies & pineapple). The acidity goes well with the sweetness of the BBQ-like sauce.

So I can see them harmonizing with meatballs in general. What I do take offense with are the spaghetti, I just don't think pasta in general is a good match for pineapple.

You're a monster, Jeff.

My wife is Vietnamese and there's a hot and sour soup that contains both chunks of pineapple and tomato along with pieces of meat/seafood. Your dish isn't all that crazy 😎!

Tried it, didn't quite work as expected.

I'd suggest mixing small chunks into the meatballs themselves rather than just adding to the sauce.

One of the reasons pineapple works on pizza (for those that like it) is the high heat of the oven toasting the pineapple. You won't get that same effect by adding it to a sauce. Adding it to your homemade meatballs means it can get seared in the frying pan when you precook them.

Or you could sear some pineapple slices before adding to the sauce.

No. Unless your meatballs are made of ground bacon instead of beef. Pineapple goes well with bacon, and fish, because the sweetness balances the saltiness of the meat. But beef isnt salty like that.

As an avid pineapple-on-pizza person, this is just untenable. Like sure, it'd be a similar flavor, but pizza is a vehicle for diverse, complimentary tastes. Spaghetti is spaghetti.

Yeah doesn't sound good, though pineapple can be good on pizza, might work. Anyway tomato sauce is one of my least favorite foods so I probably wouldn't eat it anyway. I actually love spaghetti, but not with tomato sauce. Gives me indigestion so now I'm averse to it. The one exception is pizza, I mean who doesn't love pizza. For some reason pizza never disagrees with me.