ISO the Best Tomato Sauce

[Roll_Bones]

I use dried Hen of the Woods mushrooms. Sadly, the tree where my friend used to find them was cut down, no more free mushrooms unless we can find another dying oak with them.

I learned about "hen" on a new TV show called "Filthy Riches".
A couple travel the US finding and picking wild mushrooms for a living. They seem to do quite well.
Interesting to say the least.

 

[Dawgluver]

I learned about "hen" on a new TV show called "Filthy Riches".
A couple travel the US finding and picking wild mushrooms for a living. They seem to do quite well.
Interesting to say the least.

Wonderful mushroom. One took up my whole sink! They're great to freeze or dehydrate. I'd never heard of it until a friend gave us the ones he found, no one in his family would eat it!

I'll have to look for that show.

 

[Zagut]

Candied_Fipper, My answers to your questions are:
what makes a good tomato sauce a good tomato sauce?
A good tomato sauce is a sauce that those who eat it enjoy it's taste while they eat it.

What ingredients are your favorites and which are taboo?

My favorite ingredient is tomatoes and there is no such thing as a taboo ingredient. We all have different tastes.

What techniques are sacred in your sauce-making?

Nothing is sacred. You make due with what life hands you and do the best with what you have.

What are some crazy sauces you guys and gals have free-styled?

If you can think of it I've most likely tossed it in the pot. Now if you could eat it and keep it down is another story.

Is it fair to dip Mozzarella sticks in marinara while your spaghetti is bone dry?!

All is fair in what's on the plate. Don't like it. Don't eat it.

I've heard of people putting vinegar in their sauce. Is this cool?

Hey if it tastes good then it's as cool as can be.


There are no hard and fast rules for tomato sauce's. Quick tomato sauces are great as are the long cooked sauces. They each have there place depending what you want to use them for and the mood your taste buds are in.

Tomato sauce is one of those things that if you have 100 chiefs you'll have 101 ways to prepare the best.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

The key to good tomato sauce is simplicity. I start with crushed tomatoes, and the only seasoning I find necessary are salt, pepper and sautéed onions. Oregano does not belong in tomato sauce, it belongs on a pizza. Same with basil. I add a little bit of crushed red pepper to my sauce, but that's personal taste. My mother didn't and neither did my grandmother.

I also take about a quart of sauce out of the pot before I add any meat because I make a couple of Italian dishes with fish, and I don't want meat polluting that sauce. Oh, and I always cook the sausage and meatballs before adding them to the sauce. It is much less greasy that way.

 

[PHYLAL]

I have been making tomato sauce for more years than I care to remember. I put up about 50 quarts every fall. While I have one go-to sauce, a Fra Diavolo style, and about 12 pints of Puttanesca sauce for myself, I always try one or two batches of something new. I have learned one thing over the years: If you ask 100 Italian chefs how to make the best tomato sauce, you will get 125 answers; most of them pretty good. I think tomato sauce is one of the most forgiving foods that you can cook. One time, many years ago, I googled “tomato sauce” and it found 20,200,000 sites. I actually looked at the first 125 recipes, charted the ingredients and found….. are you ready for this….. 86 different ingredients. I am sure that someone “loved” each and every one of those reciepes.
Not only are there a myriad of ingredients, but about as many procedures. Drain off water, add water (or beer, or broth), quick cook, long-slow simmer (for hours, even days). One says, “add this early” another says “be sure to add it last”. Sauté this, caramelize that, never use a blender, tomatoes must be seeded, do not worry about the seeds. I read one recipe that emphatically declared, “NEVER put an onion in tomato sauce” while 99% of the others use onions.
Even with my many years of experience, I have not come close to trying it all; and never will. But it will be a glorious adventure trying.
Bottom line: If you like it, it is the best in the world.

 

[Kayelle]

+1..what he said!

 

[CraigC]

If I make a tomato sauce for a specific purpose, then I'll use the ingredients called for. Otherwise, I'll stick to my mother sauce to be canned or put in the deep freezer.

 

[CWS4322]

I confess, I don't make marinara sauce very often...I only make it when I am dealing with the tomatoes from 300+ plants. I like to add dehydrated and roasted tomatoes to it. I always include mushrooms--usually a combo of morels, porcini, button--rehydrated (save that broth). I use bay, basil, marjoram, oregano, Italian parsley, garlic, and shallots. I don't like carrots in my sauce. I freeze it and then add other things to it. I tend to not use it all up because I'm not big on pasta and don't eat a lot of bread, so don't use it to make pizza sauce either.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Wonderful mushroom. One took up my whole sink! They're great to freeze or dehydrate. I'd never heard of it until a friend gave us the ones he found, no one in his family would eat it!
I'll have to look for that show.

The show is about several unusual professions. Here is a link.

Filthy Riches | National Geographic Channel

I have been making tomato sauce for more years than I care to remember. I put up about 50 quarts every fall. While I have one go-to sauce, a Fra Diavolo style, and about 12 pints of Puttanesca sauce for myself, I always try one or two batches of something new. I have learned one thing over the years: If you ask 100 Italian chefs how to make the best tomato sauce, you will get 125 answers; most of them pretty good. I think tomato sauce is one of the most forgiving foods that you can cook. One time, many years ago, I googled “tomato sauce” and it found 20,200,000 sites. I actually looked at the first 125 recipes, charted the ingredients and found….. are you ready for this….. 86 different ingredients. I am sure that someone “loved” each and every one of those reciepes.
Not only are there a myriad of ingredients, but about as many procedures. Drain off water, add water (or beer, or broth), quick cook, long-slow simmer (for hours, even days). One says, “add this early” another says “be sure to add it last”. Sauté this, caramelize that, never use a blender, tomatoes must be seeded, do not worry about the seeds. I read one recipe that emphatically declared, “NEVER put an onion in tomato sauce” while 99% of the others use onions.
Even with my many years of experience, I have not come close to trying it all; and never will. But it will be a glorious adventure trying.
Bottom line: If you like it, it is the best in the world.

Well said and I agree with your points. Welcome to the forum!

If I make a tomato sauce for a specific purpose, then I'll use the ingredients called for. Otherwise, I'll stick to my mother sauce to be canned or put in the deep freezer.

As you know, I also make a mother sauce. I use onions and garlic and other assorted herbs and vegetables. Sometimes I add finely chopped carrot and celery.
Whats in your marinara?