The ultimate tomato sauce topic

[Fat Guy]

We've touched upon tomato sauce in a few past discussions, most recently surrounding Kim Severson's New York Times piece wherein she investigates her family's tomato sauce recipe. For that discussion, go here. On this topic, let's discuss how to make delicious tomato sauce.

Whether it's a quick-cooked fresh-tomato sauce, a long-simmered sauce based on canned tomatoes, a sauce with olive oil, butter, onions, whatever, let's hear your favorite method -- and please, give enough details and instructions so that someone could replicate your sauce.

Let's limit this to straight tomato sauces -- in other words not meat sauces. There are additional topics in that, for anyone who wishes to start them.

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The sauce I've been making recently is based on the Pomi tomatoes in the aseptic packaging. I've never been able to go back to canned tomatoes since I've started using Pomi. I know the cans these days are lined, however I still think I taste metal -- or maybe it's some other taste imparted by the canning process that's different from the process Pomi uses. In any event, despite Parmalat's weird bankruptcy or whatever is going on with the company, the Pomi tomatoes still taste wonderfully fresh and sweet to me. For awhile I insisted on the whole tomatoes, but the chopped are just more convenient for saucemaking -- plus I can't seem to find the whole ones anymore. One nice thing, also, is that the only thing in a box of Pomi tomatoes is tomatoes -- no salt, no herbs, nothing to mess with whatever flavor you want to give to the sauce.

I sweat an onion, chopped fine but not obsessively so, in a little olive over low heat with salt, pepper and, as the onions get very limp, I use the garlic press to add a couple of cloves of garlic. A couple of minutes later, once the garlic starts to go translucent, I add three boxes of Pomi crushed tomatoes and a little salt. I add salt throughout cooking -- to me this works better than salting just at the end. I also add herbs as available -- I'm not picky, but I like the herbs to be good. If I have fresh basil, okay -- basil tends to be pretty good even from the supermarket. If not, I have some really good Sicilian dried oregano from a friend that gives the sauce a good flavor. Probably my favorite tomato sauce herb is marjoram, however supermarket marjoram tends to be flavorless -- but if I get some marjoram from a greenmarket or garden source, that's a treat. Fresh ground pepper towards the end.

The whole process takes about half an hour for a relatively fresh tasting, light, thin sauce with very little fat -- if you cook it much longer than that, which you can do, you'll start getting something that tastes like Italian-American "gravy" as it thickens and the flavors mellow. When you dress pasta with a thin sauce, you want to toss the pasta with it in a skillet before service.

Pomi tomatoes are quite sweet, usually, and the onions contribute much sweetness too, but occasionally I get a batch that's not as sweet as I like, in which case a tablespoon of white sugar towards the end fixes it right up.

[hummingbirdkiss]

Now I am giving away a family secret for the best and quickest sauce I know of takes maybe 25 min start to finish and with pasta and some good cheese ..well

fine dice one habanero pepper

fine dice 3 cloves of garlic

huge handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley

2-3 cans Cento whole italian plum tomatoes with basil

put them in a bowl ..squash them up completely with my (freshly washed of course) hands set aside (this helps remove the habanero I just minced from my fingers before I make a serious mistake and rub my eyes)

pour a lot of good olive oil in the pan ..get it almost smokey hot...toss the habenero, garlic and parsley into the pan sizzle for just a few seconds to release the aroma into the oil ..toss in the tomatoes and a glass of whatever wine you are drinking ..bring it to a hard boil stirring constantly then turn it down and simmer until the oil is at the top and the tomatoes become a nice dark red (15 min for me)

that is it ..the best tomato sauce I can think of my kids wil attest it is the only recipe they all four fledged with and still love to make perfectly!

[tafkap4d]

I cut and squeeze the seeds out of random tomatoes - roma, heirloom and "regular" ones in a pan, drizzle with olive oil, grey salt, fresh ground pepper, a toss of sugar, bruised/crushed garlic and a little onion - if I am making this for an Italian dish I add fresh basil...I roast it in my oven until it begins to caramelize slightly.

I then puree it with either my stick blender or in my blender and strain.

Edited February 25, 2007 by tafkap4d (log)

[ghostrider]

I use basically the same procedure as Mr. Shaw, except I use no salt, for dietary reasons. I don't miss it. Either basil (fresh) or oregano (dried). A Roman-born friend, one of the best cooks I've ever known, once told me that a real Italian would never use both in the same dish since they occupy a similar aromatic range.

This time of year I tend to use Muir Glen salt-free tomatoes, though I recently found some imported Italian tomatoes (canned, forgot the brand, but I know where to find them) that may just be worth the premium. Further experiments are necessary.

Sometimes I sprinkle in a handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley during the final toss of pasta & sauce in pan.

In season, I use ripe plum tomatoes from my local greenmarket. That's the best.

Edited February 25, 2007 by ghostrider (log)

[maggiethecat]

Mama mia, where to start? There are so many variations...

In summertime I poach my own skinned seeded chunked tomatoes in butter with slices of garlic until everything is sweet and soft, puree lightly with the immersion blender and toss in basil from the garden and salt and pepper.

Then there's the winter version, which starts with a mirepoix in olive oil, some bacon or pancetta, canned crushed tomatoes (Bella Romana , a house brand of a fabulous local independent grocer called Caputo's: 89 cents per huge can.) Maybe a parm rind, a slug of red plonk, some red pepper flakes, a pinch of sugar or sherry vinegar: I just keep tasting.

I don't add neck bones, chicken or ribs to any of my tomato sauces, but my husband's Neapolitan Nonna did. She was not a "Gravy" Italian- American cook: she was married to an uberTuscan gourmet from Lucca, and trust me, pasta e fagiolli was never pronounced pasta fazoul in their household! Her cooking was as strict, pure and rarified as Marcella Hazan's, and like Marcella she was about as cuddley as a handful of dimes.

(For ragu, simply buy Marcella Hazan's first book and follow her stern instructions to the letter. )

[snowangel]

I am rather fond of a variation of Marcella's tomato sauce where the onion isn't diced, but halved, and there is a big fat lump o' butter.

But, buy tomatos? I'm known as the tomatoe S--T in the 'hood, and I just take what I have growing, and what the other folks don't know what to do with. Toss them in the freezer (yes, whole, skin on). When it comes time for some Sauce, fish a few out of the netherworld, and the skin just washes off under hot water, and once they are in the pan and thawed, the tongs take care of removing the "core." Good thing my neighbors favor growing way more basil and roma's than they could possibly think of using.

[CaliPoutine]

I actually made some marinara tonight. I sweat a diced onion, 1 diced carrot and 4 cloves of garlic in about 4tbls of Olive Oil. I add some dried oregano. Next comes 2 cans of san marzano tomatoes. Tonight I added some frozen red wine and a rind of parmesean reggiano. Since I can't get decent basil now, I used some frozen cubes of basil too. I added half of a STAR brand Porcini mushroom cube. A few pinches of kosher salt and a pinch of sugar. I pureed this with my braun immersion blender after it simmered for awhile.

It was amazing if I do say so myself.

[project]

My current, favorite tomato sauce was described at the beginning of

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1354886

Edited February 25, 2007 by project (log)

[dario]

g'day,

I used to cook my tomato sauce like this:

1) sweat one onion in oil/butter combo till tender,

2) add chopped tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano,

3) cook for 1/2 hour till tender,

4) mash the tomatoes while still in the pot.

To combat the tartness of the tomatoes I used to add 1-2 teaspoons of sugar.

Some times my sauce used to turn out a bit too sweet, so I changed my method to this:

1) chop a carrot, a celery stick, a red or yellow capsicum (bell pepper) and an onion and sweat the mixture in oil/butter till tender,

2) add chopped tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, oregano and basil,

3) cook for 20 - 30 minutes,

4) filter the sauce through a food mill.

The sauce gains in taste with the addition of the extra vegetables as well as looses it's tartiness. Now a days when I make it I bottle it (I am still collecting bottles but I now have about a doz bottles) and keep it in the fridge for a couple of months.

happy saucing

Dario

[Henry dV]

My fave is to soften a shallot in olive oil and then add my canned tomatoes a spoonful at a time as I don`t like to cool the pan by putting the whole can in at once.

I , it appears, am a heretic as I like the thick "gravy" style as I usually leave it for 30 minutes to gently plop away on the stove, then taste and adjust as necessary.

I think I will try the above with a slight twist that follows on from the tomato paste thread, and fry some paste when the shallots are softened and then as per the above.

I will give Dario`s 2nd receipt a try too!

[sandra]

I also use the Pomi method (note to self, must find it in Australia) but instead of whole oregano I use ground - oh and white pepper - sometimes I add a dollop of butter at the end...

Top it all off with Grana Padano

[slkinsey]

If we're talking about a straight, simple tomato sauce, I swear by the Hazan recipe I learned from Joe Bavuso: One large can of San Marzano tomatoes either lightly crushed by hand or, as I prefer, through the food mill with the coarse disk; one medium peeled onion, cut in half; one big lump of butter; salt.

Put all ingredients into a cold saucepan. Turn on low heat. Slowly bring up to temperature until the butter is emulsified, the sauce is gently bubbling, and the onion has softened and given up its flavor. Discard the onion and use the sauce. Add fresh herbs at the end, if you like, but I usually don't. This is my go-to tomato sauce for fresh pasta.

Looks like this:

I did an experiment once making this same sauce in side-by-side batches, one with butter and one with good quality extra virgin olive oil. The butter version was so far superior that there was no comparison.

For a more involved sauce, I'll sometimes do s sauce that turns out to be quite similar to Mario Batali's "basic tomato sauce."

Sweat a medium diced onion, one medium grated carrot and a few thinly sliced cloves of garlic in extra virgin olive oil until soft. Add one large can of San Marzano tomatoes crushed or milled. Simmer maybe 30 minutes. Add fresh thyme and maybe a pinch of red pepper at the end. The carrot is for sweetness, and I'd rather use that than sugar, because it brings other flavors along with the sweetness that I like. My personal experience is that butter brings out the sweetness of tomatoes far more than olive oil, which is why this recipe incorporates carrot and the recipe above does not.

Sometimes, depending on the flavor I'm going for, I'll add celery, keep all the vegetables in large chunks and run the whole works through a food mill when it's finished cooking. Something like this:

[ned]

I saw Pepin do something on tv that was so simple, I kind of always have it in mind when I make tomato sauce these days. Took him about three minutes. In food processer mix an onion, some garlic and some olive oil, salt and lots of black pepper, sugar if necessary and canned tomatoes. Done. Heat and use as necessary. I usually skip getting the food processer all messy and cut the onions and garlic really finely with a knife and then heat them all up in a pan with San Marzano canned tomatoes (though now I'm curious to try the Pomi). I'm a sucker for cool packaging and at the moment I've been buying these cans that have a simple white label and a nice rendering of some red tomatoes. No sauteeing. Just heat it all up in the pan and serve. No herbs in the sauce. More like on it.

Edited March 6, 2007 by ned (log)

[cakewalk]

I make a very simple tomato sauce, but the big thing is: no onions! Canned tomatoes (usually Muir Glen, not fire-roasted), plenty of fresh garlic in a bit of olive oil, salt, fresh herbs (oregano or basil are best), cook about 30-45 minutes, but no onions!! I have found that adding onions makes this a different sauce altogether, and it is much better without. (And I love onions!)

Edit: fire-roasted, not smoked!

Edited March 6, 2007 by cakewalk (log)

[Emily_R]

I'm with slkinsey and with snowangel on the marcella sauce with half an onion and butter -- it is incredible how good that butter makes it, and I never would have thought of butter rather than olive oil had I not read the recipe...

I also have to add my raves about Marcella's bolognese recipe -- minced onion celery and carrot cooked with butter, then meat, then add milk and simmer until it is cooked away, then white wine simmered until cooked away, then tomatoes... Whole thing simmered for three plus hours... Beyond divine, especially when made with a combo of beef, pork, and veal...

Emily

[Lore]

At Babbo's, I had an insanely good linguine with a sauce made from Sungold tomatoes, and I had to try it at home.

At first, I didn't deal well with their sweetness. No sugar needed to cut the acid, definitely, but it wasn't until I added a fair bit more salt (roughly a tbls/pint) that it tasted right. Onions, rather than shallots, and garlic. Delicious!

[UnConundrum]

Rosengarten did a blurb recently about dissolving fried eggplant in tomato sauce, saying it's a lost Italian method. Anyone here ever try it that way?

[_john]

I take a small can of whole plum tomatoes drain and reserve the liquid, rinse the tomatoes, half them, quarter an onion, seperate 5 or 6 cloves of garlic with the paper left on. I toss all that in a bowl with melted butter salt and pepper and chuck it in the convection oven until everything has some color. then I puree it with the reserved liquid. heat a wide skillet with enough oil to coat the bottom to the smoke point and pour in the sauce. I fry it until the bubbles on the surface pop and their "divits" remain. turn off the heat, add one clove garlic pressed, whatever herbs you want.

[Chris Hennes]

It's getting on the end of tomato season here, but I got enough today to make tomato sauce for dinner: it doesn't look like much, because it's not...

Fresh tomatoes, cooked long enough to start breaking down, pureed in a food mill. Salt, pepper, olive oil. The pasta was pulled out about two minutes early and finished cooking in the sauce, thickening it a bit and helping it adhere.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I've been making sauce from Pomi strained tomatoes* for years.  Typically I color garlic in olive oil, add the strained tomatoes, a bay leaf, and a little salt.  Simmer and reduce for a bit, and serve.

 

Last night I tried a variation:  I simmered the contents of the box of Pomi, three peeled but otherwise whole cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, and a bit of salt.  No oil.  I served this sauce with ravioli dressed with uncooked olive oil.  So very simple.  Possibly the best tomato sauce I have made.

 

 

*Note:  Cooks Illustrated faults Pomi because Pomi does not include salt or citric acid.

 

[gfweb]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I've been making sauce from Pomi strained tomatoes* for years.  Typically I color garlic in olive oil, add the strained tomatoes, a bay leaf, and a little salt.  Simmer and reduce for a bit, and serve.

 

Last night I tried a variation:  I simmered the contents of the box of Pomi, three peeled but otherwise whole cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, and a bit of salt.  No oil.  I served this sauce with ravioli dressed with uncooked olive oil.  So very simple.  Possibly the best tomato sauce I have made.

 

 

*Note:  Cooks Illustrated faults Pomi because Pomi does not include salt or citric acid.

 

 

 

I distrust giving garlic color. For me colored garlic is a hairsbreadth from burned garlic. FWIW

 

Re CI's tomato ratings...for years they have given the #1 to a brand who's name I forget, which to me tastes metallic and unpleasant. I don't trust their tasters completely

[Katie Meadow]

I agree about the garlic; I don't let it color. Actually I find the smell a better indicator. Anyway, if it is starting to overcook, dump in the tomatoes quick, is my theory. For all-purpose sauce I like Mario Batali's; olive oil, some minced onion, a little grated carrot, garlic, Italian canned plum tomatoes (DOP), and some fresh thyme, a pinch of red pepper flakes to taste. If I want a thick sauce for pizza I cook it longer and add a little dried oregano, for that New York pizza taste I grew up with. I'm so used to the flavor of Italian tomatoes I don't think I'm a good judge of sauces. Muir Glen doesn't taste right to me.

 

I too love the Marcella butter sauce, just for the purest pasta sauce, but I don't find that it freezes as well as an olive oil based sauce nor is it as good for pizza sauce. 

 

Making sauce with fresh tomatoes is totally another thing. I chop up juicy tomatoes, add salt, let it sit while the pasta cooks. Then just warm it a bit, add a pat of butter, maybe some pasta water if the tomato isn't giving up much liquid, and that's it. I love it over rice, too--an option for those who are gluten free. 

[Paul Bacino]

I personally Like these guys!!

 

http://www.stanislaus.com/products/real-italian-products

[gfweb]

That's it! Muir Glen is the one I don't like.

[Wolf]

Sorry for 'necroposting', but I've come accross what was told to be old Italian trick- adding salted anchovy to the sauce (apparently, it has sound scientific basis- something to do with glutamates from tomato flavour-wise pairing well with amino acids from anchovy), and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I was making local tomato based dish (sauteed onions, peppers and simmered in tomato sauce) called sataraš, and decided to give that tip a go- finely chopping a small anchovy fillet preserved in oil and adding it with tomatoes. It really did pick up the whole dish and made the flavour more rounded and savoury, with no hint of 'fishy' taste at all. I'd say it's definitly worth a try (I presume the only thing is that the sauce needs to simmer quite a bit for anchovy do dissolve).