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My New Favourite Pasta Sauce
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K1052
Elite Member
Yes. I always get a strange aftertaste from them too. Muir Glen generally seems to be about the best general purpose canned tomatoes widely available.
nakedfrog
No Lifer
I'm pretty sure the Prego I buy only costs $2 to begin with, and they taste different (I only like one flavor, as I discovered when it was unavailable for a time and I tried a few of their others).
zinfamous
No Lifer
Hunts and most other common brands don't use proper sauce tomatoes, either...which is why they are very acidic, and probably why ghastly Americans have this savage habit of adding sugar to their sauces. It's revolting.
You do need to start with the proper ingredients...so you should only be using San Marzanos when making a sauce. Blends work, too, but San Marzanos should be your featured tomato. ..but they are also more expensive. Cento is generally easy to find in most places, and they sell canned San Marzanos...though they aren't the best brand.
You know, I never know what this brand is called, but it's primarily the one I use:
They are found in "fancier" grocery stores and a lot of small, specialty euro-centric markets. I think Whole Foods carries them. ...usually the most expensive overall, but it's really important to start with good ingredients. One shouldn't skimp on the tomatoes.
I usually use a can of the whole peeled, and one of the crushed, in various volumes. I guess it's preferred to only ever use whole peeled (because you know there is very little added), but it's a brand I trust and adding crushed potatoes helps to thicken the sauce (no one should ever need to add tomato paste, for example)
snoopy7548
Diamond Member
It's actually spelled San Marzano, not San Marzano. Geez.
lxskllr
No Lifer
Umm... I think I need to step up my appointment for new glasses,
sdifox
No Lifer
¿Que?
LOL wut?
Fritzo
Lifer
Please let this sound like this: "Ohhhhhh MAMAMIAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Fritzo
Lifer
What if I told you....
You can make 2 qts of a sauce out of a can of whole tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and a few other common ingredients in about 30 minutes (or several hours of simmering if you really want it good)?
I do this, put some canning jars in the dishwasher on high heat and then can the sauce for any occasion.
You can make 2 qts of a sauce out of a can of whole tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and a few other common ingredients in about 30 minutes (or several hours of simmering if you really want it good)?
I do this, put some canning jars in the dishwasher on high heat and then can the sauce for any occasion.
ponyo
Lifer
I thought I bump this thread because I've been enjoying Rao's sauce lately and eating lot of spaghetti. I used to make my own and freeze it but now I don't need to. This stuff is so close to the homemade sauce I make, I'm willing to just use this instead of making my own. Making my own is way cheaper but Rao's is so much more convenient since I can just open new bottle anytime I need it. Good stuff.
WelshBloke
Lifer
Olive oil in pan, 3 or 4 anchovies out of a can, crush some garlic and sizzle until anchovies break apart.
Add tin of tomatoes or passata, add splash of balsamic vinegar, bay leaf, black pepper and a dried chilli.
Simmer until the oil goes red.
K1052
Elite Member
Been making the Hazan sauce weekly these days to cut down on the meat consumption. Simple and great.
Captante
Lifer
I agree Rao's is the best jarred sauce but it's pricey unless you catch it on-sale or happen to have a Stew Leonards nearby. For some reason they have jumbo jars of Rao's marinara for about the price of regular size in normal grocery stores near me.
My second favorite is Victoria which can frequently be had for $3.99 a jar on sale. Another very good choice is Paesana however it's on the expensive side as well.
Having said all that, my best home-made sauce smokes anything mass-produced!
😉
ponyo
Lifer
Costco is the cheapest place I've found for Rao's. I bought bunch during Christmas holiday when they had the $2.50 off sale. It was like $8.50 for 2 jars after the discount. So $4.25 a jar. It was limit 2 so I bought the limit every time I visited Costco and stocked up.
https://hip2keto.com/raos-marinara-sauce-costco/
Tell me your secret sauce! I'm always looking for something better! I can't wait to visit Italy and eat pasta there. I love Italian food.
Captante
Lifer
Never tried/noticed this brand ... will keep an eye out. 🙂
I have literally 20 different pasta sauce recipe's lol .... gotta be more specific! 😉
And yeah USPS just delivered my shiny new (retardedly overpriced too lol) 3080 FE... I'll be "away" for a bit sorry!
😀
Fritzo
Lifer
Wife hates anchovies. We like a mixture of 1 lb of 90% ground beef and an opened Italian sausage.
Fritzo
Lifer
I keep all of my recipes in Google Keep 🙂 Here's my pasta sauce in annoying blog format:
2 lbs pounds ground beef or mild Italian sausage
some olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz cans whole tomatoes (san marzano style tomatoes if you can find them!)
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 carrot- shredded
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste (skip this if you're going to cook the sauce for a long time)
3-4 teaspoons brown sugar (or more to taste at end)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano (double if using fresh herbs)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried basil (double if using fresh herbs)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (double if using fresh herbs)
2 bay leaves
2 cups beef stock
1 cup dry red wine (pinot noir, cab, merlot)
*OPTIONAL- 1/2 cup heavy cream (explained later)
*OPTIONAL- 3 Parmesan Cheese Rinds (explained later)
I spent a lot of time last year getting trying different sauce recipes, and every single one of them seemed “off”…too bitter, too salty, too tomato-ie (that a word?)…and the all seemed to be a lot of trouble for disappointment. After combining about 18 different recipes and techniques, this standard meat sauce hit all the buttons for what people expect in a good pasta meal: sweet, spice, savory, and freshness. For the herbs, I like to use fresh and mince up the oregano and basil, then leave the thyme and bay leaf whole and tie them together with a piece of string (called a ‘bouquet garni’ for you cooking geeks out there). That way you can let those leaves and branches soak in the sauce and easily remove them when done. You’ll want to cook this in a 6-8 qt pot or large double handled sauté pan (my favorite). You can run some canning jars through the ‘hot’ cycle in the dishwasher, and while the sauce and jars are still hot fill the jars to the brim with sauce, then screw the lid on tightly. As the sauce cools it should seal and preserve the sauce for a few weeks! This recipe will make about 4qts of sauce. The whole process should take an hour or so. It’s a great way to pass the time on a Sunday afternoon!
Method:
1) Season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat the pot on medium-high and add about 2 tbs of olive oil. Right when the oil starts to smoke, carefully add “pinches” of meat (do not add it in one big chunk). Try to cover the entire bottom of the pot with meat.
2) While the meat is cooking, add the onions, garlic, and carrot on top. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. DO NOT STIR- let the meat fry!
3) The secret to “fine” meat in sauce is to use a wooden spoon or spatula to constantly chop up the meat. As the meat cooks, it will release water. Keep chopping and mixing in those onions. Again- DO NOT STIR. Downward strokes only!
4) Eventually all of that water will evaporate and the meat will begin to caramelize. A lot of people “drain” their ground meat, and this is a mistake. What you’re draining is the water, and essentially what you have left is boiled meat. You need to let that water evaporate so the meat will actually fry. When the water is all gone and there’s nothing but clear oil left in the pot, stir in the wine and let it boil and reduce. It should turn into a syrup after a couple of minutes.
5) Move the meat to the sides of the pot to make a ‘volcano’. In the center, some of the oil will pool up. Add the tomato paste to this oil and fry it off for a couple of minutes. This removes the tartness and acidity of the tomato paste. It helps prevent ‘post-pasta bloat’..
6) Stir the tomato paste in to the meat, then add the salt, pepper, chili flakes, sugar, basil, and oregano (hold on to the thyme/bay leaves for now). Let this simmer for a couple of minutes.
7) Stir in the beef stock. Bring the stock to a rolling boil.
8) Stir in both cans of tomatoes. Let them come to a simmer.
9) Once the tomatoes are hot, use a potato masher to smash up the whole tomatoes. This adds texture to the sauce.
10) Add the thyme/bay leaves.
Cover the sauce and let it simmer for at least 15-20 minutes. If you have time, let it cook for an hour or two- the longer it simmers the better it gets! See that rim of tomato residue on the edge of the pan? That's tomato paste- keep scraping that off and it will thicken the sauce. For optimal flavor, cook the day before, let it cool, and then heat it up the next day.
If you want a Bolognese style sauce, add 1/2 cup of heavy cream (or milk will work). An old Italian-grandma trick is to add 3-4 Parmesan cheese rinds to the sauce as it boils. You can find cheese rinds in most grocery stores in their deli section. The rinds tend to stay whole, but add a nice salty/pungent taste to the sauce. You can remove them when you’re done cooking.
Enjoy!
ponyo
Lifer
Fritzo, your sauce recipe looks similar to the marinara sauce I used to make at the pizza/pasta restaurant I owned. I used to make gigantic batch and stirred the pot with boat paddle for hours.
At home, I prefer simpler sauce recipe. Like the one excellent recipe @WelshBloke posted. That's more my style at home.
At home, I prefer simpler sauce recipe. Like the one excellent recipe @WelshBloke posted. That's more my style at home.
WelshBloke
Lifer
Don't tell her (unless she's allergic), you can't taste the anchovies. They just give it a bit more of a savoury flavour.
MrSquished
Lifer
Yep. I have a jar of Rao's Roasted Garlic red sauce in my fridge right now. I rarely buy jarred sauce but when I do that's what I get. Whipping up a pasta sauce is easier than you think so I just do that most of the time.
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