Heat pot or dutch oven over medium high heat for 1 minute.

Add oil to pan and heat for 30 seconds.

Add ground beef and flatten as much as possible. Do not stir. Sear one side until golden brown, flip and sear other side. Break up into pieces and cook until no pink remains.

Drain off liquid if needed.

Add onions, celery and carrots; cook until softened and onions are translucent, about 3-5 minutes.

Add garlic and mushrooms; cook another 2-3 minutes.

Add Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and sugar. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add tomato paste, beef stock, red wine or red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Mix well and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low simmer, cover and let cook for 60 minutes to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. The longer you can let it cook, the more flavorful it will be.

Taste and adjust seasoning. Every batch will be different so taste and adjust salt, sugar, wine, seasoning, etc.

If sauce is too thick, add reserved pasta water. It will thin the sauce, but due to the starch from the pasta, it won't separate into a watery pool.

Serve with shredded Parmesan cheese on top.

Bring water to boil in big pot. Lots of water will help prevent sticky pasta.

Add salt to water to flavor the noodles. Do not add oil as this will prevent sauce from sticking to pasta once it's cooked.

Measure 2 oz or 56 g of dry spaghetti for each person - more if you have big eaters! See full blog post for more about measuring spaghetti.

Add spaghetti to boiling water and stir right away to separate the noodles.

Boil uncovered for 6-8 minutes or as indicated on your package.

At 6 minutes, lift a noodle out of the pot to feel and taste for desired doneness. Al dente is when pasta is tender but firm. If you like it softer, cook slightly longer. Pasta will soften a little while resting.

Keep 1 cup of cooking liquid for use in spaghetti sauce, then drain the rest.

Lightly and quickly loosen the pasta by jostling in the strainer. Toss with half the sauce and serve as an assembled dish with grated Parmesan on top. Or, serve sauce and spaghetti separately with shredded Parmesan on the side.