What's Your Favorite Bottled Pasta Sauce?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I finally got around to tasting the Rao's artichoke sauce.  In its defense there were insanely large chunks of artichoke.  Much more than I was expecting.  But sadly the flavor did not do it for me.  Tonight I added olive oil, Soave, and oregano, and cooked it down a bit.  Much better.

 

Reminds me of an eastbound crossing on the Italian Line so many years ago.  My barely adult self complained couldn't the chef add a bit of oregano to the plain, bland, tomato sauce?  Sort of opposed to the standard question of how would you like your brains?

 

Particularly embarrassing as I was sharing a table with the wealthiest family in the world at the time who were generous in pouring me their wine selections.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

Ive looked into jarred sauce enough that Im satisfied I understand them

 

for my purposes 

 

a simple , light , delicious sauce is Rao's  the plain marinara.

 

Its insanely expensive for no apparent reason.  even on sale. 

 

you might get a very similar sauce very easily if you can get high quality canned whole or chopped ' pasta sauce ' tomatoes .

 

the add very little.

 

of all the rest  ' supermarket ' easily available , frequently on sale if you can wait for it and then Buy Large

 

there see to be two styles, and you can taste the difference no matter .  the tomato ingredient 

 

is either tomato paste , or crushed tomatoes.

 

tomato paste versions have a bit of a processed taste , more so than crushed

 

you may like that or prefer crushed tomatoes.

 

up to you.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

By far my favorite tomato sauce (though boxed, not jarred) is Pomi Strained Tomatoes "100% From Fresh Italian Tomatoes".

 

http://www.pomi.us.com/en-us/products/pomi-strained-tomatoes-1000-g/

 

The only ingredient is tomatoes.  I cook it down a bit with half a dozen cloves of garlic (removed before serving), bay leaf or two (also removed before serving), and salt.  Olive oil is optional.  It gets no better to my taste.

 

[lindag]

I

9 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

By far my favorite tomato sauce (though boxed, not jarred) is Pomi Strained Tomatoes "100% From Fresh Italian Tomatoes".

 

http://www.pomi.us.com/en-us/products/pomi-strained-tomatoes-1000-g/

 

The only ingredient is tomatoes.  I cook it down a bit with half a dozen cloves of garlic (removed before serving), bay leaf or two (also removed before serving), and salt.  Olive oil is optional.  It gets no better to my taste.

 

I noticed recently on one of her shows that Ina Garten appears to prefer the Pomi tomatoes as well.

[rotuts]

@JoNorvelleWalker 

 

nice tip.  thanks  they have this at a supermarket near me !

 

Ill give a box a try

[Dave the Cook]

We're big Pomi fans, too. Our house tomato sauce is based on Marcella's simple recipe: cut the stem end off a small onion, leaving the root end attached. Cut the onion into quarters, making sure that a portion of the root holds each quarter together. Peel the quarters and place them in a medium saucepan along with 3 T butter and one box of Pomi. Bring the mixture to a low simmer (a bubble every second or so) and cook for 45 minutes, or until the fat floats to the top. Strain out the onion, stir in 1/2 t kosher salt. 

 

[lindag]

After looking for it for a very long time I finally found Rao's pasta sauce in one of the grocers in town!

I've read so much about it but was never able to find a source anywhere nearby; it's good to have found a source.

[Anna N]

36 minutes ago, lindag said:

After looking for it for a very long time I finally found Rao's pasta sauce in one of the grocers in town!

I've read so much about it but was never able to find a source anywhere nearby; it's good to have found a source.

 I too found a source but my bank manager nixed the whole idea.

[lindag]

9 hours ago, Anna N said:

 I too found a source but my bank manager nixed the whole idea.

Yeah, I bought one jar.  The checker, however, maintained that those who buy it swear by it.

it was $8.99 per  24 oz. jar.  I hope it's worth it.

[JohnT]

Wow, that is a shocking price to pay for a bottled sauce! The problem I also see with such a large bottle is that you use only part of the contents and the remainder normally will not last too long under refrigeration due to most quality type sauces having little or no preservatives. Unles you are cooking for a sizeable family! We have bottled sauces from a company called "Ina Paarman" - a woman who was a chef and studied to become a food technologist. Her company makes really good bottled sauces that contain no added preservatives - they are also considered expensive here - about a third of the price you paid - but in  400ml bottles.

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, lindag said:

Yeah, I bought one jar.  The checker, however, maintained that those who buy it swear by it.

it was $8.99 per  24 oz. jar.  I hope it's worth it.

The ones I saw were $9.99 for a 15.5 ounce jar.  I only noticed them because of the discussion here. 

[lindag]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

The ones I saw were $9.99 for a 15.5 ounce jar.  I only noticed them because of the discussion here. 

You know, I think I need to go look at the jar again, maybe it was only 15.5 oz.  I assumed it was the 24 oz. size because I thought there were only that size and the 32 oz..

Although it's not important, I just thought I should clarify.

i just looked, it IS the 24 oz. size.

Edited May 30, 2017 by lindag (log)

[ElsieD]

On 2017-05-30 at 6:00 AM, Anna N said:

The ones I saw were $9.99 for a 15.5 ounce jar.  I only noticed them because of the discussion here. 

 

@Anna N  where did you see these?.   My curiosity is getting the better of me.

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

@Anna N  where did you see these?.   My curiosity is getting the better of me.

 If I remember correctly I saw them in Pusateri’s in Oakville Place. I was not even aware that the place existed but had to wait for someone who was doing something elsewhere in the mall so I wandered around.  I have been to the one in Toronto before.  

 

I think I might have seen them in the Whole Foods but I’m not sure about that and I don’t get to either place very often. 

Edited October 28, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[rotuts]

Are we discussing Rao's Jared sauce(s) ?

 

in my area 

 

with some patience 

 

they routinely drop to 1/2 price

 

everywhere

 

at that price , they  might merit some consideration

 

as they are very nice

 

4.99 or so on sale.

 

USD

 

over that

 

as you might like to cook

 

the right 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marzano_tomato

 

and not all cans are the best

 

perhaps on sale 

 

as they keep

 

might be a nice starting point

 

Vodka or Not.

[OldHobo]

I follow Mario Batali's basic tomato sauce recipe. It's inexpensive, quick, and easy to make. Usually, that will be the base for whatever additions are called for. I thought the prices discussed here were very high until I looked it up and saw MB's sauce is ridiculously expensive as well. I don't splurge on San Marzanos anymore. Hunts taste pretty good to me.

Edited October 28, 2017 by OldHobo
Forgot the link (log)