Making a Great Spaghetti Sauce

Morning Glory said:
Very true. In the UK tomato sauce is often a term used for tomato ketchup (the sort in bottles that you dollop on your plate to dip chips (fries in the US) into).
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I am not a big ketchup fan. You will note that I don't include ketchup in the condiment sauces thread, although it is a condiment sauce. Anyone can feel free to include it there, if they should so desire.
 
NailBat said:
Totally agree. Fresh tomato sauce is a whole different game, but one you can only get a few months of the year.

However, there is a way to get mileage out of those "water bomb" out of season tomatoes. Roast them until the skin blackens and rubs off easily. You'll still need a good quality canned tomato (I also like Cento), but the roasted tomatoes add a whole different flavor dimension to the sauce.
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Ah! I had forgotten from posts in an earlier thread why folks use canned tomato, - the skins are removed for them. That leaves an opening for a new thread or a new post here, - how to skin a tomato.

I guess I'm a primitive, I have always left the skins on and let them break up during cooking the sauce. I prefer Roma tomatoes, BTW. They have nice thick flesh (and skins).

Did you know that tomatoes are produced with thick skins so that they don't crush when they are shipped by the truckload? If you've ever seen a truck load of tomatoes, it is a truly amazing thing to wonder about. A truckload of tomatoes is not packed in crates or boxes, just heaped into the basin of a huge tractor truck trailer. And they don't squish under their own weight, piled in up to 5 to 6 feet deep.
 
flyinglentris said:
I am not a big ketchup fan. You will note that I don't include ketchup in the condiment sauces thread, although it is a condiment sauce. Anyone can feel free to include it there, if they should so desire
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I only use ketchup on fries/chips. Nothing else.

CD
 
flyinglentris said:
Ah! I had forgotten from posts in an earlier thread why folks use canned tomato, - the skins are removed for them. That leaves an opening for a new thread or a new post here, - how to skin a tomato.
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Skinning tomatoes is easy. That's not why I use canned tomatoes. It is the quality of the tomato. I can get better tasting tomatoes in a can where I live, and I can get them all year long. Canned tomatoes are picked and canned at peak ripeness, and taste the same in June or January.

CD
 
NailBat said:
When I make an in season garden tomato sauce, I cook the tomatoes down, skin and all, and then run it through a food mill to get rid of the skins. What's your way?
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I already stated that I let the skins boil down and heck, not being out to please anybody, but myself, I leave the broken down skins in the sauce.
 
NailBat said:
Oh good, I'm not the only one. I keep on hearing "add sugar to pasta sauce, its such an amazing hack!" I never thought my tomato sauce needed to be any sweeter. Heck, part of the reason to cook at home is to avoid having sugar added to everything!

I think a big part of this is what kind of tomatoes to use. The acidity in canned tomatoes varies wildly between brands and I figure some of the people who think they need sugar "to cut the acid" are just using very acidic tomatoes.

However that's also just my tastes. I like my sauce savory, and whatever sweetness comes from the tomatoes themselves is plenty for me.
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I agree. Of course it depends on tomatoes variety, seasonality, personal tastebuds, but I think there’s a bit of obsession regarding the addition of sugar to the tomato sauce. I’ve even heard someone adding mascarpone. No-no to me. Maybe sometimes it would be fine to keep things simpler and give a chance to something new that maybe (or maybe not) might surprise.
I don’t mind a bit of acidity too (a very mild aftertaste), both in fresh tomato sauce and using the canned one.
 
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MypinchofItaly said:
I second the 4th point hardly. No sugar added, at least to me. To reduce tomato acidity I add a piece of carrot (sometimes a pumpkin one) that releases its natural sugar. This doesn’t mean I never ever put sugar, sometimes I did/do, but only when I ran out of carrots.
Herbs might help too.
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I grow pretty much a lot of herbs here all year round, except cilantro/coriander and basil as they are seasonal.

Russ
 
In the right season growers here sell tomatoes at $1 kg to get you in the shop. We go and buy up to 20kgs for making tomato sauce. That has malt vinegar and apples and onions in it.
Our garden tomatos are for pasta sauces.
My friend and I keep an eye out and phone each other when they are cheap.

Russ
 
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