What's Your Favorite Bottled Pasta Sauce?

[jsolomon]

I agree with the above comments. However, I have noticed that the stuff in a can for less than a dollar (usually Prego, Ragu or Del Monte) flavorwise are as good or better than many of the several-dollars-more variants in the jar.

Unpronounceable components are likely in them, but I don't look at the ingredient list when I purchase those.

[MissAmy]

Back when I still used jarred sauce (ah, college!) I really like the brand Mom's. I'm not sure if it's avaliable in all areas, though. It's pretty natural, no chemical additives, and some of the flavors are sugar-free as well. You can see nice chunks of tomato and garlic through the jar, and I always liked the fact that it had a more homemade look.

I haven't used it in about four years though, so if it's somehow become terrible, don't blame me!

Edited April 19, 2006 by MissAmy (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Barilla is fine. Also, I know from authority that "Five Brothers" is the upper-end Ragu (Unilever products) line, where they take fresh tomatoes and process it into sauce over the course of a day. If you stick with the basic marinara and then "doctor" it, you can get good results.

I have always stuck with very basic marinaras if I buy bottled sauces, and then spruce it up with fresh basil, herbs and garlic.

Mind you I prefer to make my own fresh marinara sauces, but the bottled ones are great in a jiffy if you want a decent quick meal.

Re-Edit: Five Brothers is now rebranded under Unilever's "Bertolli" brand:

http://www.fivebrothers.com/products_pastasauces.aspx

http://www.unilever.com/ourbrands/foods/Bertolli.asp

Edited April 19, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[natasha1270]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit but I keep a jar or two of Rustichella d'Abruzzo Tomato sauce in the pantry for those times I just want a quick bite of pasta. Just open the jar, pour a bit on a steaming plate of spaghetti, top with parmesan & dig in… The price is obscene but the taste is fresh.

N.

[Rebecca263]

Natasha, I LOVE that quote you've got as your tag line! That's EXACTLY what I'm wondering about jarred sauces.

Does price connote a difference in taste and quality?

As a rule, I can't eat corn syup, so I'm going to focus on the sauces minus that ingredient, and at the grocery today I noticed that a lot of the jars had cornsyrup listed.

Has anyone here eaten Ragu brand? I'm sure someone eats it, as it has the largest shelf space! How do they make it so inexpensively and yet there are 10 dollar jars as well?

Is jarred tomato sauce like a steak? Something that you need to spend some money on in order to get a great product, but if you buy it cheaply you can make it palatable with the right recipe?

[Jason Perlow]

Has anyone here eaten Ragu brand? I'm sure someone eats it,

RAGU is Unilever's low-end pasta sauce brand. It uses a lot of High Fructose Corn Syrup and also it is made using commercial tomato paste in a matter of minutes. I don't reccomend it. Its basically ketchup.

On the upper end of the scale, as I mentioned above, is Unilever's "Bertolli" brand (previously known as Five Brothers) which is made using fresh tomatoes and is a one-day process. Its much closer to homemade tomato sauce than other commercial brands.

Unilever is a GIGANTIC company that makes everything from Pasta Sauce to dish soap. They have good products and they have mediocre products. Their corporate headquarters is here in Northern New Jersey, about five minutes from my house. Rachel worked there for a little while, which is why I know about their production methods.

[goldie]

I buy jarred sauces for when the kids have babysitters or I am in a time pinch and don't have the time or energy to make my own (or don't have any in the freezer). My favorite is Rao's. They are fresh tasting and consistant. I think the marinara tastes the most like my own homemade. I've only had one type of the Rustichella, but it was palatable. Scarpetta is not bad but I would purchase Rao's first. Muir Glen is good but I think it needs a lot of parmesan or maybe some salt. Barilla is fine for doing a quickie lasagna but I wouldn't serve it on a plat of spaghetti because it is too sweet and too thick. The benchmark when I was a kid was Prego- now I think it is gross. My mother never served us Ragu or Hunt's because she thought they were awful (which says a lot because we ate Hamburger Helper on a regular basis ).

I look forward to seeing the results of you taste tests.

[MargyB]

I love the jarred tomato sauces at Trader Joe's. My favorite is the roast garlic, which has huge pieces of whole garlic gloves. The quality is excellent!

[Cleo]

Cleo, can you tell us about the Rao's?

←

I really can't pinpoint why I like it so much. For a while, I didn't eat much of any tomato sauce at home because my husband doesn't like it (weird, I know). So I don't cook too much using tomato sauce. We eat a fair amount of pasta, but it's usually with garlic and oil, and whatever else.

If I am cooking for guests, I will make a fresh sauce, but I always keep a jar in the pantry for when I get the urge and just want to throw something together quickly. Most recently, I've been using the Barilla sauce with green and black olives.

But back to Rao's, the ingredients include: Imported Italian Tomatoes, Imported Pure Italian Olive Oil, Fresh Onions, Salt, Fresh Garlic, Fresh Basil, Black Pepper, Oregano. It just tastes better than any sauce that I've made from scratch.

Just as an aside, my new love for this Rao's sauce could very well be because I am pregnant with my second child! My husband has actually caught me eating the sauce out of the jar!

Edited April 20, 2006 by Cleo (log)

[dockhl]

I vote for Mom's also but it is VERY hard to find ! Used to be carried at the Carlsbad Costco but hasn't been for a while

In the 'easy to find' category, I like Classico's Spicy Red Pepper and Spicy Pesto Tomato (or soemthing like that) because they are NOT sweet. I canot stand sweet tomato sauces of any sort, can't eat stewed tomatoes or any low end Prego/Ragu type. All taste like Chef Boy RDee to me........bleh.

But those two Classico are not a bad starting point for a really quick spaghetti sauce based meal..........

[rooftop1000]

Aunt Millies till I gave up and now just buy canned tomatoes and work from there....

But for the occasional splurge Raos' Arrabiata is to die for ...and just spicy enough to kill some folks. ( I know the Italian sensability for chile flakes, ya get some , ya dont, ya get alot)....Raos is a more consistant heat...its damn good even for 8 bucks

tracey

[prasantrin]

I don't know how many of you watch the Shopping Bags (sort of like a TV show version of "Consumer Reports" geared towards women), but they had some Italian grandmothers test a variety of tomato sauces. Here are their ratings (prices are in Canadian dollars):

No Name Tomato Sauce

Can

Cost: 17¢ /100 ml.

Hunt’s

Can

Thick & Rich Original

Cost: 18¢ /100 ml.

Prego

Jar

Cost: 52¢ /100 ml.

Classico

Jar

Cost: 64¢/100 ml.

Olivieri Marinara

Plastic pouch

Cost: $1.36/100 ml.

Dean & Delucca’s

Bottled Gourmet Sauce

Cost: $2.57/100 ml. ($19 per jar!)

For starters, we don’t think our testers will stop making their own sauces given their reactions to these products! The ratings went from bad to worse: with too much of this, too chunky, too spicy, too acidic, bad, really bad, disgusting was even used to describe one brand. Only the Prego got our panel’s vote of approval; we also thought the Prego was the best tasting. It had the best overall tomato-y flavour despite the fact that it does contain powdered seasonings.

Hope that wasn't too much quoting to get me into trouble!

[Jaymes]

We've actually had several other threads about jarred pasta sauces. They have some excellent information that you might be interested in perusing.

Here's one of the best: Store-bought pasta sauces.

Edited April 20, 2006 by Jaymes (log)

[Betts]

I like Pomi Marinara, DeCecco Arrabbiata, Barilla tomato basil and Classico in that order. I just could not do Rao's for more than $8.00/ bottle in my Minnesota grocery but now I might rethink that policy given all the positive reviews.

[dockhl]

Prego has been added to the list.........

Rebecca~

I'm not sure that Prego was added in a POSITIVE way..........sweet........ack..........

[adegiulio]

I'm adding my vote to Rao's. It tastes like real sauce, without that sweet, over cooked flavor. Go Rao's!

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I'm glad to see that someone likes Classico! Back in its day, it was "the sauce" for people to use, when they wanted to embellish their own, or didn't have good tomatoes.

I always just used the regular Tomato and Basil and added whatever to it. (Plus, the jars are good for holding rice, spices, grains, etc. )

Rao's is expensive, but that Vodka sauce ... sigh. I really like it.

[deltadoc]

According to "encyclopizza", it is near impossible to make a great sauce at home from tomatoes. The reason being that the manufacturer's can use lower temperatures at higher pressures to bottle/can the product, and the time from field to finished product is very short.

Therefore, we've stopped buying Roma tomatoes at the farmer's market and canning mass quantities at home. I get Hunt's Paste in 6 lb cans for $2-3 at Sam's Warehouse, and can dilute that down to puree, sauce or juice and make my sauces from that.

However, if I'm in a pinch, I've used Newman's Own Marinara, and Muir Glen Pizza Sauce with pretty good results.

doc

[Parmhero]

I've tried many bottled sauces--including Classico and Raos. I find them all highly unsatisfying. None can compare to a good homemade sauce. Just the fact that people buy them as a "base" and then feel the need to add ingredients says a lot.

[dockhl]

I've tried many bottled sauces--including Classico and Raos. I find them all highly unsatisfying. None can compare to a good homemade sauce.  Just the fact that people buy them as a "base" and then feel the need to add ingredients says a lot.

←

Agreed........isn't that the point?

[jsolomon]

Rebecca, perhaps you could tell us something, or put a bug in someone's ear at some point about these tomato sauces we are talking about.

When I have the time and opportunity, I generally put up several gallons of tomato sauce riffed off of Alton Brown's baked sauce. Now, my understanding of industrial food processing inclines me to believe this might be a slightly easier/quicker method of making a tomato sauce.

This is all a very long run up to, does anyone? If not, why not?

[Parmhero]

Don't know if you're joking, but I don't think the manufacturers wouldn't agree that was the point. Lots of people, probably most who buy them, use them as is.

(THis is out of sequence. It was a reply to th\e previous post by dockhl:

>Agreed........isn't that the point?

--------------------

If Daisy Buchanan's laugh is the sound of money, then a gimlet, well executed, is the color of it. It is just the thing when you are feeling impoverished, financially or spiritually.

Julie Powell, from "Julie & Julia")

Edited April 20, 2006 by Parmhero (log)

[phaelon56]

I buy sauce in jars. I sometimes use it as a base to which I add canned tomatoes and my own seasonings (with about 1 part jar sauce to four or five parts of my own ingredients). But I also like having it around as a quick fix when I'm tired, arrived home late and need a quick dinner without a lot of fuss (that means every week Monday through Thursday!).

Having experimented with different brands my conclusions are as follows:

1) avoid those with corn syrup or other sweeeteners

2) avoid those with oils other than olive oil

3) avoid sauces with pre-added meat and avoid at all costs those with pre-added cheese(s)

4) seek brands in which the primary ingredient is crushed or diced tomatoes rather than water and tomato paste

5) $6 - $10 jar sauces are rarely if ever superior to a carefully chosen $2 - $3 jar

Like Jason, my experiences have usually been best with simple marinara sauce but I do opt for tomato and basil at time. And I've found Barilla to be very consistent and reliable.

[birder53]

We've tried all the Trader Giottos' line of sauces at Trader Joe's. The Vodka Marinara is our favorite. They list sugar as an ingredient, but not corn syrup. I think it sells for about $2.50 for 26 ounces.

[Jason Perlow]

Ah, another reason I should check the TJs stuff out. I really like the Trader Giotto's pellegrino -clone of citrus sodas line.