Jarred Alfredo Sauce Debate

M

marilynfl

Moderator
So I was telling my male commuter partner about CathyZ's peppercorn cream sauce and how amazing it tasted and how easy it was to make by reducing heavy cream & adding butter at the end. And he replied that he makes something "just like that", but he uses Classico's jarred Alfredo sauce.

I paused for a moment so as not to appear rude, but then asked if he knew exactly what was in that sauce? (To save you time, here's the list of ingredients.)

Water, Soybean Oil, Cream, Parmesan Cheese (Cultured Part-Skim Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Modified Corn Starch, Enzyme Modified Egg Yolk, Whey, Salt, Romano Cheese Made from Cow's Milk (Cultured Part-Skim Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Whey Protein Concentrate, Xanthan Gum, Yeast Extract, Disodium Phosphate, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavors, Spices.

Not exactly heavy cream + butter, which, when you think about it, are the same ingredient in two different formats.

During that search I found this Epicurious version to improve jarred Alfredo sauce:

Ingredients

•1 jar Alfredo sauce.

•1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated.

•1 cup Liquid (use EITHER: (a) milk, cream or dairy alternative OR (b) chicken stock or broth)

•1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded (finely, if possible)

•1 tablespoon Minced garlic.

•1 tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper.

•1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning.

******************

WHY bother with a jarred sauce in the first place?

My mind is too small for this kind of confusion.

 
I agree Marilyn, might as well make your own, without the chemicals that are killing us

just listened to a speaker last night who gave a talk on what GMO's are doing to our bodies. There is an epidemic of gut issues, some very serious, autism, Parkinsons, and other issues all being related to the onset of GMO foods being fed to the animals we eat, and the food we are eating ourselves. It is very scary. He also said many people are starving, yet are morbidly obese, because the food has no nutrition in it. Three weeks ago, I bought a huge head of organic purple lettuce which had been cut off of the root the night before. I put that lettuce in my fridge, sitting in a large, loose plastic bag. We ate off of it for three weeks, and it kept perfectly. I try to buy nothing possessed anymore, except for tomato products and then I read labels carefully. Yes, I do have processed foods in my pantry, sauce mixes, like onion soup, Bernaise sauce, etc. but they are consumed in moderation. Some soups, pastas, hard to get away from, but must be sure to eat real foods most of the time. And we do eat a lot of raw foods in salads.as much as we can.

 
subfix

This is basically a catch-all for tons of ingredients including MSG. No matter what you believe about GMOs, this ticks me off because food manufacturers including those portraying themselves as "healthy" alternatives, hide just about anything they want under this label. I understand that MSG occurs naturally but I definitely have a sensitivity to MSG as an additive. I will be eating something and start having the symptoms then read the label and if it doesn't say MSG it will say things like "natural flavors" "hydrolyzed (whatever}" and other more obscure things that are known to be aliases for MSG or contain concentrations of it.
The "natural flavors" I find particularly insidious because the "natural" part is so intentionally misleading.

I have a daughter that began developing severe allergies in her late teens. By severe I mean that she can go into a coma like state being exposed to even tiny amounts of certain foods and since these allergies include wheat, soy and corn, she/we have to be fastidious label readers. (The soy and corn eliminates probably 70%+ of the "gluten free" products so that really sucks and limits her options dramatically. ) Also the wheat, soy and corn in the U.S. is almost completely non-diverse i.e. it all comes from a single or maybe 2 or 3 sources (patented). I think that is a smoking gun.

My wife developed some extreme food allergies to foods she'd been eating her entire life, in her late 40s. There is definitely some bad stuff going on with our ecosystems / food.

 
I agree! "Natural Flavor" is a load of baloney. . .

I want to know EXACTLY what is in "Natural Flavor". Is this so hard to list?

 
Years ago when I worked for the City, I had a very nice couple come into my office

they were looking for volunteer work to do in the community. They were from someplace in Europe and had never been to the US. After a few weeks here, she developed rashes, difficulty breathing and vision issues. After much testing, they found out she was allergic to what is used in commercial buildings during construction and what is allowed in our carpets, furniture, etc. She was being treated but stated that she did not no how much longer she could tolerate it. The stuff we use in construction of buildings, furniture and so on were not allowed in Europe. It was an amazing story.

We had a brand new department store in our city years ago, and I went there about 2 days after it opened. After about 15 minutes, I felt faint, queasy, and the colors seemed to just pop. I promptly left the inside of the building and went out into the fresh air. I did not go back into that building for about a year. It was so strange.

 
I have tried it; thinking it would be easy in a pinch, similar to purchasing spaghetti sauce. OMG!

It was the most foul, salty, icky thing I made. I served the kids plain noodles with grated cheese that night. I still remember it. The irony is, that at the time (a few years ago), it was not cheap! (not sure pricing now).

 
+1 and for that matter what is in my baloney? Actually I don't want to know smileys/smile.gif

 
I guess I coulda said B*** S***,

but I went for a more "palatable" (er, so to speak!) noun, but actually B*** S*** is a better term for it! smileys/smile.gif

 
What I can't figure is out, does no one taste this stuff before it goes to market? Who are the

taste testers when the kitchen staff develops the product. Do they not try in out on kids, adults, staff? I hate buying a product than having to throw the entire jar out. There are some great red pasta sauces out there, but the ingredients list scares me. Unless it is all stuff I can eat and recognize I will not buy it. Nice to have a jar of marinara handy in the pantry though.
I recall buying a jar of Alfredo sauce once, seems like I recall it was not bad. Maybe I doctored it up. Think it was before my label reading days.

 
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