A Homeowner Discovered a Family Pasta Sauce Recipe in His Garage That Dates Back to 1947

Time in quarantine has led many people to test or develop their skills in the kitchen, and one homeowner from Denver, Colorado, now has a new recipe to perfect. According to David, a medical laboratory scientist and a Redditor posting under the username "orestes77," he recently discovered an envelope labeled "spaghetti recipe" tucked behind a wall as he pulled down pegboards in his garage. And he doesn't think that it was just a coincidence. "From the spot it was placed and the way it was worded, I am certain it was left there for a future owner to find one day," David told TODAY.

The Redditor uploaded the recipe, which dates back to about 1947, to the Old_Recipes subreddit to share with other food enthusiasts. The ingredients themselves struck his attention the most: a gallon of chopped onions, five pounds of ground beef, half a cup of salt, and more. "It's interesting that it makes so much," David noted. "Was it for a restaurant?"

David found the name "Bill Engleman" on the pasta sauce recipe, and the writer appeared to give a number of instructions to make the pasta, including where he recommends buying tomato purée and also a "GL 0843" contact number (seemingly dating back to the 1940s) to call "if there is anything you don't understand." While the Reddit user appears to be making progress on understanding the origins of the recipe, he is still trying to figure out who tucked it in the pegboard in his garage (which could have been built before 1947) in the first place. "I don't know anything about the original owner of the house and Google searches came up empty," David explained. "I've tried to track down the market mentioned, 'Parnelli's just off 15th and Market,' but have had no luck so far. I've always wanted to try to track down more info and see if I can share the recipe with the descendants of the author on Ancestry.com or email it to them."

The homeowner hasn't tried out the recipe for himself yet, mainly because of the large quantity it makes, but he is enjoying the process of looking into where it came from. "I think people really liked the recipe because it had so many personal notes about preparation, like where to get the tomato sauce and the number to call with questions," he said. "It's like the recipe was written to a friend, but then tucked away for a random stranger to find in the future."