Has anyone tried Monte's tomato sauce?

[Shel_B]

A while back, Food&Wine magazine tested 100 brands of tomato sauce, and Monte's was their #1 choice.  I'm looking for an upgrade to the jarred sauce I sometimes use.  It would be great to hear any opinions of or experiences with Monte's.

 

Food&Wine article:

https://www.foodandwine.com/best-jarred-tomato-sauce-8421179?

 

Monte's website:

https://montessauce.com/collections/shop/products/original-family-recipe-tomato-sauce

[Maison Rustique]

I have never seen or heard of this brand. I must be stupid because I've also never seen marinara sauce referred to as tomato sauce. Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee this morning and I did get up an hour early, but I was confused.

[blue_dolphin]

I haven't tried Monte's. I don't recall seeing that label but I wasn't looking for it either.  I can see the smaller 16 oz jar being handy vs the 24 or 32 oz jars I usually see.

The F&W article is odd. In addition to calling marinara "tomato sauce," as @Maison Rustique mentions, they name Newman's Own as the "best value" and show a price of $14 for the same size bottle as Rao's for $9 which they deem "most reliable."   In what way are the others less reliable?  They're inconsistent? they're never on time? they sneak out of the pantry and stand you up when you were counting on them to be there for you?  Their "most versatile" contains caramelized onions which is a particular flavor that makes it not so versatile to me. Whatever. 

 

@Shel_B, were you not just about to make a big enough batch of homemade tomato sauce to last a couple of years? For what purposes do you use your homemade sauce vs the jarred stuff?

 

My go-to for a quick, bright sauce is the 5-min tomato sauce from 101 Cookbooks. Marcella's onion & butter for something more mellow.  If I have extra,  I freeze in 1/3 cup cubes, enough for a pizza or a single serving of pasta. 

[liuzhou]

'Tomato sauce' is a term used with abandon around the English speaking world. It is commonly used in Britain and other Commonwealth countries to mean ketchup, for example.

 

It is also used in many places to refer to ANY sauce mainly containing tomatoes.

 

The Chinese for ketchup literally translates as 'tomato sauce'. Marinara literally translates as 'sailor juice'! Closer to the Italian literal meaning.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Yes, and to be fair, the author stated up front that they chose to include only sauces labeled as marinaras and tomato basil sauces in their testing. 

[Shel_B]

3 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

I have never seen or heard of this brand. I must be stupid because I've also never seen marinara sauce referred to as tomato sauce. Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee this morning and I did get up an hour early, but I was confused.

That's an interesting statement to me.  Growing up in NYC, I recall that just about every tomato sauce was called marinara.  Going through my tomato-based sauce recipes, I see quite a few described as a marinara. I don't think that you're confused, rather, the sauce-naming convention is inconsistent and varies by location.

 

The first one that popped up was from Lidia, and she offered a description of marinara vs tomato sauce.  Quoting Lidia, FWIW: 

 

The difference between marinara sauce and tomato sauce is this: Marinara is a quick sauce, seasoned only with garlic, pepper, and, if you like, basil or oregano. The pieces of tomato are left chunky and the texture of the finished sauce is fairly loose. Tomato sauce, on the other hand, is a more complex affair, starting with puréed tomatoes and seasoned with onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf, and left to simmer until thickened and rich in flavor. 

 

I don't know if I go along with that. Alongside Lidia's marinara sauce recipe was one from Cook's Illustrated, also described as a marinara sauce.  It includes onion, garlic, aromatics, and wine, and it was not a smooth sauce but rather somewhat rough in texture and consistency.

[Shel_B]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I haven't tried Monte's. I don't recall seeing that label but I wasn't looking for it either.  I can see the smaller 16 oz jar being handy vs the 24 or 32 oz jars I usually see.

The F&W article is odd. In addition to calling marinara "tomato sauce," as @Maison Rustique mentions, they name Newman's Own as the "best value" and show a price of $14 for the same size bottle as Rao's for $9 which they deem "most reliable."   In what way are the others less reliable?  They're inconsistent? they're never on time? they sneak out of the pantry and stand you up when you were counting on them to be there for you?  Their "most versatile" contains caramelized onions which is a particular flavor that makes it not so versatile to me. Whatever. 

 

@Shel_B, were you not just about to make a big enough batch of homemade tomato sauce to last a couple of years? For what purposes do you use your homemade sauce vs the jarred stuff?

 

My go-to for a quick, bright sauce is the 5-min tomato sauce from 101 Cookbooks. Marcella's onion & butter for something more mellow.  If I have extra,  I freeze in 1/3 cup cubes, enough for a pizza or a single serving of pasta. 

I agree with you about the subjective descriptions of F&W's categories.  They seem rather arbitrary. I hadn't caught the price info of Newman's Own v Rao's ... good catch.

 

Yes, I'm about to make a big batch of sauce.  Just waiting for the second part of the order to arrive. I like having some jarred sauce available because, in no particular order, I don't care to eat the same sauce time after time.  Even with a stock of homemade sauce, I'll still whip up something different every now and then, such as a puttanesca, variations of Aglio e Olio, pasta with tuna or salmon, etc., maybe just butter and cheese.

 

Some of the sauce I'll make is going to be given to friends, so there won't be as much in stock as one might think. 

 

I'm not a good planner.  Sometimes I run out of an ingredient or two, sometimes I want to prepare a dish quickly and on a moments notice. Since I'm a poor planner, I try to plan for my failing ... belt and suspenders, if you will.

[Kim Shook]

On 5/22/2024 at 9:39 AM, blue_dolphin said:

In what way are the others less reliable?  They're inconsistent? they're never on time? they sneak out of the pantry and stand you up when you were counting on them to be there for you?  

😄😄😄 Many of my pantry items are less reliable it seems.  

[weinoo]

First of all, have you seen the bio of the article's author?  

 

Quote

Amelia Schwartz is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor who has been covering food, beverage, and culture for over seven years. She is currently the associate editor at Food & Wine magazine, focusing on trends and innovations in the hospitality industry.

 

Seven fucking years! A qualified expert!! Practically Elizabeth David, or M.F.K. Fisher.

 

[weinoo]

I always thought, and I'm sure read, that marinara had something to do with, well - the sea.

 

Here's what Carlo Middione has to say about marinara sauce, in his classic tome The Food of Southern Italy (eG-friendly Amazon.com link):

 

 

[liuzhou]

Marinara is Italian for mariners, aka sailors,

[AlaMoi]

(sigh) . . . just like every other "10/100/1000 Best XXXX"  the two mega-issues:

 

#1 - definitions are not the same everywhere.  tomato sauce, marina, pizza sauce . . . all on the same shelf.

#2 - "preferred" tastes are not the same for every person/group/dish/cuisine/culture.

 

for pizza I prefer my home-froze 'semi-stewed' tomatoes, de-watered.  very fresh sparkly flavor.

DW is current swooning over brand "Classico" for pizza - they have multiple 'flavors'

 

and as a total-blocking issue....

many of the brands are not nationally/widely available!

e.g. Monte's - never seen/heard of it . . .

[Shel_B]

2 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

and as a total-blocking issue....

many of the brands are not nationally/widely available!

e.g. Monte's - never seen/heard of it . . .

IMO, that's a very good thing.  There are numerous great products that, for whatever reason, don't get national recognition, but that doesn't mean they're not worth seeking out.  Nor does it mean that their distribution might not grow, perhaps as a result from inclusion on a list such as F&W's.

[AlaMoi]

very true.  from a practical standpoint many smaller companies that produce really excellent products . . .

don't have the where-with-all to mount a 'national distribution' and then there is a 'production capacity' issue.

 

example:  get a Walmart 'contract' - yer' gonna' need a whole lotta' the stuff . . .

the effects of which show up at places like Costco:  they have it, next week they no have it. . . .

[weinoo]

I'm pretty sure everything is available, one way or another.

 

I've only tried jarred tomato sauce once, and it was when I saw Rao's on sale. It was certainly not an improvement on sauce made in this kitchen, using a mixture of Bianco diNapoli and DOC San Marzano.

[weinoo]

Not only can you buy the Monte's tomato sauce, but there's plenty of merch to go along with it!

 

https://montessauce.com/collections/shop

[KennethT]

I was curious if anyone knew if this Monte's sauce had anything to do with the Greenwich Village restaurant Monte's Trattoria?

https://ny.eater.com/2023/1/31/23576729/montes-trattoria-greenwich-village-review

 

BTW, my parents had their first date here - and they were married in 1960!  When we were kids, they would take us here a couple times a year.  The owner at the time, Giovanni (I think he's the father of the current owner) used to greet everyone at the door and he always remembered us.  Many years later, I remember taking a date there and he still remembered me.

Edited May 23 by KennethT (log)

[weinoo]

I don't think so...they have two different, both interesting, backstories:

 

https://montessauce.com/pages/our-roots

 

https://www.montestrattorianyc.com/montes-legacy

[blue_dolphin]

Monte's website tells me that it's available in my area at Erewhon, the fancy health food/grocery that morphed their clientele from hippies to celebs.  

I generally avoid the place but maybe I'll pop in for a jar of Monte's.  Or not.  

Either way, I will NOT be purchasing Kendall Jenner's Peaches and Cream Smoothie for $23!

[gfweb]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:09 AM, liuzhou said:

'Tomato sauce' is a term used with abandon around the English speaking world. It is commonly used in Britain and other Commonwealth countries to mean ketchup, for example.

 

It is also used in many places to refer to ANY sauce mainly containing tomatoes.

 

The Chinese for ketchup literally translates as 'tomato sauce'. Marinara literally translates as 'sailor juice'! Closer to the Italian literal meaning.

 

 

Perhaps they call it sauce to aid in non-us searches

[Chimayo Joe]

5 hours ago, weinoo said:

First of all, have you seen the bio of the article's author?  

 

I wonder if Amelia Schwartz is related to Arthur Schwartz (food critic & cookbook author.)  I think he's from Brooklyn, too.

[weinoo]

3 minutes ago, Chimayo Joe said:

I wonder if Amelia Schwartz is related to Arthur Schwartz (food critic & cookbook author.)  I think he's from Brooklyn, too.

 

Arthur is indeed from Brooklyn; from what I know of Arthur (via some personal connections), I don't believe she is.

[jedovaty]

Huh.  I grew up calling it "spaghetti sauce", before ever knowing that spaghetti actually referred to the noodles.  I was child of immigrants, and even today as a burgeoning crotchety old fart, people feel the need to correct me.  Not sure why.

Afterall, Hector, a mildly famous chef from the early 20th century, might agree with me?  Check out all the spaghetti sauce options in the middle!

https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Aszathmary_1732

[Maison Rustique]

8 hours ago, jedovaty said:

Huh.  I grew up calling it "spaghetti sauce", before ever knowing that spaghetti actually referred to the noodles.  I was child of immigrants, and even today as a burgeoning crotchety old fart, people feel the need to correct me.  Not sure why.

Afterall, Hector, a mildly famous chef from the early 20th century, might agree with me?  Check out all the spaghetti sauce options in the middle!

https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Aszathmary_1732

It was spaghetti sauce in my house growing up, too.

[weinoo]

On 5/23/2024 at 11:49 PM, jedovaty said:

  I grew up calling it "spaghetti sauce", before ever knowing that spaghetti actually referred to the noodles.

 

21 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

It was spaghetti sauce in my house growing up, too.

 

That's possibly because all it was ever used on was spaghetti.

 

I'm venturing a guess here, and it's only a guess, that the spaghetti sauce wasn't used as a base for a quick fish stew in your homes.

 

On 5/23/2024 at 11:49 PM, jedovaty said:

Hector, a mildly famous chef from the early 20th century,

 

The less said about Hector, the better.