Rao's
Damn. You're fancy. That was like over seven dollars a jar at Aldi. Been curious though.
Here’s a 100 year old past sauce recipe that a good friend of mine shared on Reddit long ago. I’m happy to port it over to Lemmy for all of you even though it’s kind of off-topic in this thread: here goes
Tomato Sauce - Adam P.
100 Year Old Fabrizio Family recipe. Current iteration by my friend.
Okay. Go get:
4 - 28oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 - 6oz can tomato paste
1 small/medium brown onion
1 head garlic
olive oil
red wine
salt & pepper
crushed red pepper
dry herbs (thyme, basil, parsley)
dry bay leaves
Okay? So...
Get your biggest pot. Pour in enough olive oil to fully cover the bottom, maybe 1/8" to 1/4" deep. Not too much or it will pool in the sauce later. Put the heat on medium-low. Do not burn the olive oil. If it smokes, turn it down.
Chop the onion and add to the pot. Stir and then let them sweat until they are properly translucent. While that is happening, chop two or three garlic cloves. Throw out the green shoot in the middle. This is a non-digestible "germ" (as in "wheat germ") and only causes heartburn and bad breath. Pitch it. Now put the chopped garlic in the pot and reduce the heat to low. Do not burn the garlic. If it browns (more than a little bit), start over. Sweat the garlic just like the onions.
Now it's tomato time. First, mix the tomato paste into the onion/garlic/oil mixture. This makes it easier to soften up and mix into the full sauce. Now, pour all four cans of crushed tomatoes into the pot and stir until everything is fully mixed together. Look for clumps of tomato paste and try and work them into the sauce. Add one healthy glass of red wine (Chianti, Zinfandel, Cabernet, etc.), then drink the rest yourself!
We're getting there!
Salt: about a whole tablespoon. Be brave. Mix it in.
Now, the herbs. Dealer's choice here. I usually do two or three pinches of each...so roughly a teaspoon. Notice oregano is not in this recipe. You will not miss it, I assure you. Go ahead and add one or two pinches of crushed red pepper, but you can always add more to the food. Don't get crazy. It does affect flavor as well as heat, so...
Black pepper: I only use pepper mills, so crank away at that until satisfied. I go heavy, but I love the stuff. Use your discretion.
Now add two or three whole bay leaves. You will be fishing these out later. They are not Good Eats.
Bring the heat back up to medium-low and simmer that pot for two hours. I don't want to see a full boil. Stir regularly, especially the bottom. We don't want anything burning or sticking to the bottom. If you need to turn it down, please do so. You can simmer this all damn day if you are so inclined, but two hours is really enough. Dig out the bay leaves before serving. You can jar this hot and freeze it, and it lasts practically forever in the freezer and fridge.
You are now the proud owner of a 100 year-old recipe from Penne, Abruzzo, Italy handed down through generations of Italian-Americans. I want my last meal on earth to be swimming in this sauce. (Wanna know how to make a mean lasagna ricotta filling? For starters, never ever use meat in lasagna.)
Damn, that's pretty intense, but the results must be truly amazing. Julia Childs over here
He’s a really standup guy. Happy to share! :)
Yes
Straight-up out of the jar onto your pasta, I think Raos is probably the best widely available option.
That said, I have yet to meet a jarred pasta sauce that didn't benefit from a bit of tweaking, some extra herbs/spices, a splash of wine, some cheese, sauteing up some extras garlic & onions, etc.
In general, I don't tend to think of jarred sauce as a totally finished product, it's more of a shortcut that lets you skip most of the more labor intensive parts of making a sauce from scratch and skip to the finishing touches. Even the most lackluster bargain brand sauce can usually be dressed up to a pretty damn good sauce without too much effort.
My usual process is to finely chop up some onions and garlic, give that a good saute with some olive oil, maybe deglaze with some wine, add the sauce, then season to taste with some herbs & spices (normally oregano, basil, rosemary, black pepper, red pepper flakes will be a pretty safe bet, but I get a bit weird with it sometimes, taste as you go) finish it off with some Parmesan cheese, and of course a bit of the pasta water.
I usually do a meat sauce with a similar idea, I also finish my sauce before I start heating water for pasta. The new ingredients really benefit from time simmering with the sauce in my opinion.
Ya, I agree, they all need a bit of personalized flavor profiles. I used to take out the jars, heat 'em up in a pot, spice them up, but it gets to laborious and the sauce pops all over the stovetop and now I have to do dishes.
Was coming here to post this. Rao's Marinara Sauce is the best out of a jar.
Seriously, get some Italian bread, pour a little bit of Rao's into a bowl, dip a piece of the bread in there, enjoy.
Recently I've just been doing cento crushed tomatoes (canned). You need to season it (at least salt and pepper dear God) and ideally add some onion and garlic, maybe mushrooms or meat. But I'm also the type to add additional seasoning and ingredients to "finished" store bought sauces anyway, so maybe you're looking for something more complete
That sounds an awful lot like cooking to me
As opposed to serving cold pasta sauce on dry pasta or fresh pasta straight from the fridge?
Okay, forget the meat and mushrooms, I tried to imply that those were optional. Let's say you use that jarred minced garlic (I don't like the stuff personally, but it's easy). You're going to be letting the sauce simmer anyway I hope, so while you wait you season to taste. Yes that's one or two minutes that you could've scrolled on Lemmy while you wait for your sauce to heat up, though I guess if you don't like cooking you might be content mixing a ladle of cold sauce with the still warm noodles.
Throw a container of fresh deli salsa in it. Garlic, onion, tomato chunks, herbs, you'd be shocked how well it turns out.
I’m gonna assume you mean best cheap jarred sauce.
I think Newman’s Own and Classico are the best under $3 at King Soopers.
One jar of classico tomato basil sauce One yellow onion chopped One can of diced tomatoes A few cloves of garlic chopped lots more basil butter trace amounts: cayenne, cumin
Meanwhile you’re browning some 80/20 ground beef in another skillet, and mix all that in including the fat at the end
Hell ya bby, imma cheap-ass too. But also inflation or whatever....
But I didn't want to put that cost restriction on it since I might be willing to fork out a bit more money if it's actually really good.
I do like me some classico sauce.
Agreed. Classico’s doctored is pretty good and cheap.
Newman's
Jerry!
Love the Newman's. Not quite as good as my grandmother's but pretty good. I'll usually tweak it a little bit to make it even better, but when when I can't it's good.
Kirkland brand from Costco is actually pretty good.
If not that, Rao's though I prefer Kirkland.
It's fairly plain on its own, so especially great if you are going to throw in anything extra, like fresh herbs or mushrooms or stuff.
Edit: Also, pro tip - the key to great sauce is saving a cup of the pasta water and throwing back in as you mix with the sauce.
I keep hearing Rao is good. Might need to try that one. Never tried Costco's. They typically have decent products, so maybe I will try some. Do you know if the Costco one has added sugar? I hate sweet red sauce.
No. Here's the only ingredients:
INGREDIENTS: organic tomatoes, organic onions, organic carrots, organic tuscan pgi extra virgin olive oil, organic basil, sea salt.
Ages ago, I read about a recipe by the 'grandmother of Italian cooking' for an incredibly simple pasta sauce. I can attest it makes a very tasty sauce and it's so easy, even a cooking dunce like me can't fuck it up (yet). And if you want to add extra spices or herbs as an experiment, that only increases the flavour.
Her main premise was... why waste time chopping an onion into little bits? As our old pal Kevin would say, everyone is going to get to know each other in the pot! You take an onion, peel it, chop it in half, chuck it in a pan with one or two cheap tins of tomato. Add a healthy chunk of (salted) butter. Stir occasionally, she recommends 30 mins but ain't nobody got time fo' that. I usually do 15 or 20. Add salt to taste, remove the onion (as an aside, the onion will now be sweet and edible on its own), et voila.
The secret ingredient of a shit ton of butter haha. That's giving me some inspiration and motivation. Does it matter the tins of tomato? Crushed, peeled, ect.?
Barilla FTW. But it actually depends on the country you buy it. I notice it tastes significantly better in Europe than Latinamerica for some reason...
Unfortunately, I am not in Europe. Please send me some! My American taste buds need some good read sauce.
Probably has to do with more (?) control over what goes into foods that Europeans eat.
You can always improve the flavor in your sauce. I'm not familiar with Aldi brand, but keep a few things on hand to give it the flavor you like.
Some of my favorite not-so-secret ingredients:
A splash of red wine or a tablespoon of grape jam for sweetness
Onion powder and garlic powder. Yes, fresh is better, but if you're starting with a jar of inexpensive sauce, get over yourself.
Soy sauce to make it saltier
Fish sauce or msg for more umami
Bay leaf, basil, oregano, or whatever preferred herbs you have on hand
If it's too acidic, add a teaspoon of baking soda.
Sometime I want to make the sauce a bit thinner, depending on the dish. I take a tablespoon of tomato paste and mix it into a cup of beef stock or water.
If I go all out, I'll typically season it in a space pan and heat it up to reduce it a bit since like the thicc sauces.
Unfortunately I'm a lazy ass when it comes to cooking. Just wanna pop that top and pour it over the Pasa and heat it in a microwave.
I just make my own and freeze it.
Olive oil, carrot, onion, garlic, ground beef, pork sausage, nduja, canned peeled tomatoes, and red wine, plus herbs to match your preferred flavor profile (I prefer thyme, but rosemary, oregano, basil, even sage work too). Salt to taste.
I put in medium sized mason jars and throw them in the freezer, them pull out a jar and put it in the fridge a day before I know I'm going to use it.
You can also put the sauce in a plastic bag and freeze laying flat on a plate. If it's got all that surface area exposed it'll thaw enough to use in just a few minutes instead of overnight.
Hmm this honestly is probably the best in terms of taste and cost, but I am a lazy-ass and hate cooking, and I hate doing dishes more.
Sounds delicious though. Maybe if a get a spurt of energy I will give this a try!
Classico is great if you're on a budget and it has plenty of variety. If you're not going to make it but want it to be as good as possible I recommend Rao's, it's expensive but really good, the Alfredo sauce is great too
Classico was my go to for sure. It was nice and tangy.
Bertolli
It's expensive and probably not available in a majority of the country, but Michael's of Brooklyn is a straight banger. I found it while I was living in Brooklyn and when I moved away I was sad I wouldn't be able to buy it anymore, but a few months back my local store started stocking it lol.
Damn, sounds good! Can you send me some.
In the realm of jarred tomato sauce available at your local mega Mart:
If you like actual chunks of veggie in your sauce,Bertolli rustic cut is outstanding but getting hard to find.
If you're looking for something for a baked bread dish like pizza or as a marinara dip, Victoria White linen is really good.
Rao's Ariabiata has a nice little kick that won't kill your guests
That last one sounds perfect. I love me some kick, give it to me so that it burns going in and burns coming out.
Prego makes a mushroom/sausage jar that is actually hella good. Also, mixed vegetables Prego. If I'm trying to class up a plain jar of red sauce, adding a whole can of diced tomatoes gives it a push. Raid your spice cabinet for flavors you like (and if you have citric acid, add a pinch)
Mostly the whole process takes <5mins
Recently I've been buying "Yo Mama's" sauce (no it's not the setup to a joke, it's actually called that). I first picked it up because it has lower amounts of sugar and salt then most retail sauces and liked the taste enough to keep buying it. It's fairly pricey though, usually eight or nine dollars online, but the local Grocery Outlet (a discount store in case you don't have them in your area) usually sells it for around five-ish.
One problem though, the lack of preservatives combined with the low salt and sugar means a jar can start to go bad relatively quickly. I've had more than one jar go fuzzy because I decided to take a week long break from eating pasta.
Can you freeze what you don't eat? I have similar issues because it's hard to cook for one without having to then eat the leftovers for a week...
Yeah, I'm planning to do the next jar; Freeze half, so I'll go through the unfrozen half quicker than a full jar and even if it does go bad I only have to toss under half a jar.
If they have it in your area, get Mid's. It costs a little more than the Newman's/Classico/Bertolli but it also comes in a bigger jar.
If not, one of those other three is fine. And even if you don't care for the flavors you can always jazz up the plain marinara yourself in so many ways (add garlic, basil, a parmesan rind, dried mushrooms, a splash of white wine, etc).
I have never heard of Mid's but I will check it out and hunt it down.
Used to buy Classico when it was on sale. I make my own now, cheaper and tastier.
do you use different recipes each time or do you use the same one?
Same basic recipe with garlic, olive oil, and whole canned tomatoes. It's flexible enough to use in a range of cuisines by adding others seasonings when preparing the final dish.
Biffi?
Maybe?
If you're in the NJ/NYC area Hoboken Farms is pretty great IMO. Ethnic Cottage is also very good.
Rao's is okay just has more sodium than the others so I usually don't buy that one. I tend to look for sauces that don't go crazy with the salt/sugar.
I actually want to get into just making my own but have been too lazy, maybe one day.
Unfortunately, I am on the other side of the country. But I am down to try it and support small business. And I am the same way, less so on the salt, but I definitely pay attention to the sugar. The general consensus in this post is to make your own, so maybe you and I can get a Make-your-own-pasta-sauce support/accountability group lol.
Jarred pasta sauce for basic tomato sauce is usually pretty crap. Adding dried herbs, vinegar and sugar to a tin of tomatoes, with onions and garlic and simmering for a prolonged period is always better. It literally is just chucking the 5 basic ingredients together. The only fresh and chopping is onion and garlic. Also, so much cheaper and you feel like a real cook.
Not only is it generally crap, but they all seem to be sweet. Tomatoes are naturally acidic. But I rather just plop it on my dish since I am lazy and hate doing dishes.
Make it yourself. Stop being lazy.
Sorry, can't, too lazy to try. Thanks for the advice though.
