Can we talk tomato sauce for a minute please???

B

barbara-in-va

Well-known member
My Italian mom made "spaghetti sauce" every Sunday forever. It was thick and rich and delicious and too strong for my non Italian friends who were used to sauce in a jar. I don't usually make her sauce because:

1. she used 2 large cans of tomato sauce and 2 large cans of tomato puree, neither of which I can find anymore

2. it is an all day project and involves a LOT of meat

I have tried any number of different tomato sauce recipes and always end up with something that splits, there is the watery stuff around the edges and the tomato stuff in the middle. Why does it separate?How can I make a good sauce that doesn't separate and is maybe half as good as mom's????

Thank you!!

 
Try using:

for the tomato sauce: chopped/diced/whole tomatoes in juice/puree, blend all to use in sauce.

For the tomato puree try (for each can) one tiny can tomato paste diluted with two cups warm water/ broth ( broth is better, see below). OR you can add the tomato paste to the tomatoes in my recommendation above.

For the tons of meat and the all day cooking time: I recommend hamburger (I usually use 1-1/4 lbs for a big pot o' sauce, about 6 quarts worth of sauce) about, 10% fat hamburger, brown in a little olive oil until VERY brown, just this side of being burnt--watch it very carefully! As soon as the burger is done, turn the heat waaaaay down, or better yet, take it off the heat until you are ready to add your other ingredients. You gotta make sure the stuff is browned well.

For ANY liquid in the sauce, use a good plain beef/chicken/met sauce. I try to can my own broth; sometimes it is pure chicken, sometimes pure turkey, sometimes it's just "meat" broth when I use a mix of bones from the freezer, but it is all good in the sauces. The "Better than Bouillon" brand of beef stock base works well here, but watch the salt in the rest of your sauce goods; I usually don't have to salt my sauce if I use a salted bouillon, plus if I use the paste stuff, it means I don't have to cook stuff down so long as there is less liquid added.

And yes, unless you can sit an watch the stuff all day, start it in the morning and let it cook down and evaporate that excess water so that your sauce will not be weepy. You can do this most easily in a crock pot, but bring all ingredients to a boil first then place in the crock pot and turn it on high. Instead of the crock pot's lid, I cover mine with an anti-splatter screen (like you use when frying on the stove) to help it evaporate.

I can do a quick sauce, but the quick sauces usually are weepy. When I do a long cook, they are really nice and thick.

Of course if your sauce is weepy, you can "cheat" by thickening it up with some cornstarch or flour. I have done this and it is OK! Just use enough to bring it together.

One last trick for adding some "oomph" to a sauce that just is not making it (but everything else is OK): add an ounce or two of finely minced pepperoni or good salami



smileys/wink.gif

 
Good advice from mistral- and here is another method

I make tomato sauce on the average of once a week. This is the method I've used for many years and it works every time. I never get "watery" results. I like to use Italian sausage instead of ground beef but each to his own liking. Here is my method:

4 links Italian sausage squeezed out of casings and broken up
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 T olive oil

Brown the sausage, onion and garlic in the oil. The sausage will have some fat in it but the oil just makes it so it doesn't stick to the pan.

Add:
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
about 1/2 cup good red wine
1Tbsp dried basil
1Tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground pepper
1 bay leaf

Put the lid on and simmer for 1/2 hour. Take the lid off and turn heat way down and simmer until thick- it only takes another 20-30 minutes. Correct the seasoning (I end up putting even more herbs in usually). Great for pasta, great for pizza sauce.

 
Cathy, thank you so much, your method has some similarities to mom's. She never used

loose meat. She started with a thick chuck steak, cut into generous cubes, browned it in a deep aluminum pot. Removed the browned meat, which sat on the counter for several hours, partially cooked. Into the same pot she put the cans of sauce and puree, salt, pepper, bay leaf and garlic powder (there was no fresh garlic in our little neighborhood Safeway), slowly simmered for a couple of hours. Meantime, in another aluminum wide pan she fried a bunch of meatballs. Meatballs and beef cubes went into the sauce and it was simmered another 45 min or so. WOW, it was so good. (Amazing what we survived as kids, LOL!)

 
Tomato Sauce--we keep it simple...

long gone are the days when mom made the "red lead" that cooked on the stove for hours with tons of meat that included meatball, sausage, bracciole and maybe a hunk of pork spareribs.

Now we sauté in olive oil a little onion, perhaps one to two cloves of garlic, a pinch of oregano or thyme, S & P (maybe a grated 1/2 carrot) add a can of DOP san marzano tomatoes crushed by hand and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

The cooking vessel really matters. Enamel or cast iron produces a nicely textured sauce.

A good indication of when the sauce is ready is when you see the oil separate at the edges of the pan.

 
Here is the recipe I promised - from an Italian born lady...not. Recipe per se

but more a tech ique...

Meat Sauce:

In a frying pan put a lil bit of olive oil, chop up a onion and cook it up (with mushrooms and 4-5 cloves of garlic).

Next take a pound of hamburger, I have been using italian sausage lately, I like the flavor it gives. Mild or Hot doesn't matter.

Cook that all up.

Dump in:

1 8oz can of Tomato sauce, 2 8oz cans of stewed tomatoes, I use the italian style with basil and herbs in it. But any stewed Tomatoes will work. And 3 6oz small cans of tomato paste.

Add some Oregano (I think 1-2tbs), garlic powder (if you have fresh garlic, chop that up and cook it with the onion) Pepper and a dash of salt if you cook with salt, I dont.

Keep stirring. If it starts to look thickish, add some water to it til you get a consistancy you like

 
two recipes

for when you are in a hurry:Quick Tomato Sauce America’s Test Kitchen Enough for 3/4-1 lb pasta
2TB (28g) butter
¼ C grated onion (grate on large holes of box grater)
¼ tsp dried oregano
Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
½ tsp salt, more to taste
2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on small holes of box grater
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
¼ tsp sugar
1TB EVOO
2 TB minced fresh basil
Ground black pepper to taste
Melt butter, cook grated onion over medium high heat until it softens, add ½ tsp salt, reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until onions are deeply golden. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Add sugar and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat. Add EVOO and basil. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

For when you have more time: Basic Tomato Sauce adapted from Mario Batali
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, chopped in 1/4-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
Salt, to taste
In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and carrot and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the oregano and tomatoes and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes, to desired thickness.
To make a meat sauce: brown, drain and reserve meat of choice. Return to sauce after tomatoes have been brought to a boil.

 
I made this the other night for the first time...

it was good, but for me it was also sorta odd because I could taste the butter, which was a bit of a new taste with a red sauce. I'm not Italian, but I grew up around them and nobody's Italian mom I knew made sugo that tasted like that.

 
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