The Story Of Sacred Sauce

For years, Joe Delano has been the culinary wizard of the Council, overseeing the hundreds of meals prepared by the Knights for its own members and for parish functions. He credits much of his expertise to what he learned from wife Elsie and his Mom.

Joe and a small cadre of brother Knights cooked thousands of meals for the St. Mary’s soup kitchen and carved hundreds of turkeys for the annual Missionaries of Charity Christmas luncheons.

In 2003, using this cooking experience Joe, Jake Dalton and Bob Keating began making and selling pasta sauces to raise money for various charitable activities of the Council. During the five years of active service making the sauces which many parishioners have come to love, the boys have made over 3,700 quarts of sauce and raised almost $19,000 from grateful, hungry parishioners. After taking out costs for the ingredients, charitable donations amounted to over $14,000.

To accomplish this, they spend over 26 hours each month shopping, cooking in Ryan Hall's kitchen and selling the wonderful sauces which cover the spectrum from plain marinara to home grown basil-based pesto along with healthy fat-reduced sausage and delicious vodka sauce. Joe cooks some of the specialty sauces in his home.

Once each month Jake, Joe and Bob can be seen outside the Church after all the masses selling the “sacred sauce.” It’s become tradition in some households to stop after mass and pick up Sunday dinner. If you haven’t tried a quart, you’re missing a marvelous treat.

Sacred Chefs

Jake and Joe with hungry parishioners...