The Washington Post tests twelve marinara sauces. The winner costs $10.49 for twenty-four ounces. Questo è pazzesco!
As the Post acknowledges, you can also make your own sauce. They offer a recipe.
I’ve been making sauce since 2010. It’s ridiculously easy, and I would bet that anyone’s homemade sauce would be better than any sauce from a jar. If I’m wrong about that, I’d prefer not to know.
Here’s a recipe I use. Here’s another, much simpler one for Coppola/“Godfather” sauce.
And here’s another more elaborate preparation, from Catherine Scorcese, filmed by her son Martin.
Monday, January 30, 2023
Sauce from a jar?
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comments: 21
and here's even another version that i haven't tried yet: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2013/10/05/marcella-hazans-tomato-sauce with only 4 ingredients
by the way Rancho Gordo developed a cannellini bean that they named after Marcella: https://www.ranchogordo.com/collections/heirloom-beans/products/marcella
great beans -- i only cook from their beans anymore. the fresher the beans the quicker they cook.
kirsten
The recipe you use sounds great ... I'm going to try it. Try grating the onion on the large holes of a box grater rather than chopping.
One more thing ... if you can find Garofalo pasta, definitely give it a try. It's the best store-bought pasta I've ever had.
The Marcella Hazan recipe looks terrific. Butter improves everything, right? I’ll look for Garofalo in our nearby international-foods store. And I see that Amazon has it.
What’s the advantage of the grater, Joe?
I always put a carrot in my sauce to add sweetness. It's a tip I found in Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Suppers".
I'm also a fan of Rustichella pastas. They can be purchased from Zingerman's.
https://www.zingermans.com/Product/rustichella-italian-pastas/P-RUS-SPA
I wasn’t planning on making sauce today, but at this point I’d say that the dinner menu is set — mini-penne and meatballs. Weather-wise, it’s a miserable day, so I’ll make the more elaborate sauce and let it cook for hours. And I’ll add a carrot. Elaine will do the meatballs.
For a pasta sauce, I find that grating the onion provides more depth of flavor and a sweetness that you don't get from chopping. I think it has something to do with breaking more of the onion's cell walls. Don't forget to include the liquid that comes from the grating.
https://repository.duke.edu/dc/outdooradvertising/AAA8735
So grating would be something like smashing the garlic. (I always smash.)
Thanks for the photograph, Anon. I like seeing old Aunt Millie and the old-school illustration on the Progresso Tomato Paste can.
I've never been satisfied with my attempts at home-made sauce. There's a brand called Victoria that's sold around here; I stock up on it when it goes on sale. Other than that the local supermarket brands are as good as anything. In my experience, the more national the name on the label the less likely it is to be any good. My favorite pasta sauce growing up was a mushroom sauce from Aunt Millie's that was discontinued long ago. It was probably full of sugar.
For pasta I only buy De Cecco.
I used to swear by Aunt Millie’s — the dowdiest jar around. Yes, it was very sweet.
I just discovered that Aunt Millie’s is now a purveyor of baked goods. No sauce!
Or maybe it’s a different company?
Hi Chris! If you can find Cento canned tomatoes (whole, crushed, diced, etc.) you might find, as we did, that the quality of the canned tomatoes you use makes all the difference in the flavor.
I'm sure we have Cento tomatoes in the stores here; I buy some of their other products. The canned tomatoes I usually get are Tuttorosso.
It’s hard to find Cento here; we stock up when we’re in the store that carries it, if they have it in. I’ve never seen Tuttorosso.
http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/p16614coll62/id/29950
That looks like the finest in institutional cuisine. : ) Thanks, Anon.
A reader with research skills reports that the Aunt Millie’s recipe contained no sugar or corn syrup.
Here’s an Aunt Millie’s commercial that says “no sugar.”
full page ad
https://books.google.com/books?id=B-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61&dq=aunt+millies+no+sugar+sauce&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5n4TGj_f8AhVqMVkFHRAFD5oQuwV6BAgCEAY#v=onepage&q=aunt%20millies%20no%20sugar%20sauce&f=false
A great find — thanks, Anon.
A 1983 New York article says that Aunt Millie’s had 15% of the sauce market in the NY area.
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