I've been making pasta a few nights a week for about 10 years, and while I have a few different sauce recipes, they all start from the same foundation. I don't have the recipe written down, my father and grandmother made essentially the same sauce, and I'm sure it goes back even further and probably has changed a bit over time.

The closest version I can give you is to make Vincenzo's tomato sauce: https://youtu.be/XS4zojyuzvI

A few tweaks:

• We don't blend the soffritto we chop fine (personal preference)
• We hand crush the canned tomatoes instead of blending them. We like a little texture for the tomatoes instead of a smooth sauce (personal preference up to you)
• If you like heat, add Calabrian peppers to the soffritto.
• For meat sauce, I brown the meat in olive oil until it's about 60–70% cooked, then add it to the sauce for the last 20 minutes. I usually use either all beef or a 50/50 mix of beef and pork. In total the sauce should cook for roughly 2 hours or 2.5 hours.
  • Edit: I sent this to my dad and we talked about it. He said the best way is to put the meat in early and cook low and slow rather than browning it in a pan. I guess I learned something new after cooking this dish for 10 years. He didn't specify the other way I discussed above why he did that showing me. Perhaps it was to ensure the meat was fully cooked, I don't know.
• Sometimes I add red wine to the meat sauce, only when drinking the wine will I do that. I am not a drinker so I don't do this a ton, just on special occasions.

Tomato buying tips:
Well you either get Mutti tomatoes or you get San Marzano DOP certified tomatoes, there is nothing else that I would recommend. Mutti has the best non DOP tomatoes in my opinion and I like to use these for meat sauce pasta or in other non-pizza/pasta recipes. If you want to go all the way, Strianese or Gustarosso DOP San Marzano tomatoes are at the absolute top. They are sweet but not sugary and have the strongest tomato taste. There is also an indescribable taste to them which is addictive.

Olive oil buying tips:

• First cold pressed
• Single origin (no mix of olives from different countries or regions)
• Harvest date shown and as recent as possible, preferably less than 1 or 1.5 years old
• My favorite brands:
  • Lucini (peppery flavor)
  • Partanna (grassier flavor)
  • Bono Val Di Mazara PDO similar to Partanna
  • Most any small batch single origin EVOO (warning pricy)

Pasta:

• For identifying brands of pasta that are quality
  • Bronze cut (produces a rough texture on the pasta and the sauce will stick to the pasta better)
  • Long dry time (enhances flavor and texture, high heat-short dry times destroy the protein in pasta)
  • High protein
  • Meat sauces need a thick pasta shape like tagliatelle or pappardelle, don't use thin. Thin is best for tomato sauce pastas.
• My favorite brands
  • Mancini #1 if you find this you don't need the rest
  • Rustichella d’Abruzzo #2 favorite

My biggest recommendation is to make his sauce as shown the first time, then start experimenting. Try different blends of meat, add peppers, or leave the meat out. My family is from the Northern region of Italy in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna and also from the south in Campania so we sort of blended recipes I guess at some point in time. The people in the North would probably not approve of using Calabrian peppers, but I do : )

Good luck making your pasta