?? about spaghetti meat sauce....

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Soma

Senior Cook
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I have noticed that when I have this in restaurants, the meat part is very soft. Perhaps they boiled the ground meat in the tomatoes? I usually fry the meat first.

Does anyone here NOT fry their meat before adding tomatoes and such? Do you like the texture?
 
I brown the meat in the skillet first then add the tomato sauce and cook it just enough to heat the sauce. I'm not sure how they do it in bulk in the restaurants.
 
The meat in restaurant sauces is browned in a skillet. It's just that the sauce is made in large batches, and usually done before noon. The meat sits in the sauce and continues to cook until it's taken off before the restaurant closes. If there is enough left, it's refrigerated and used to either make another dish, or added to the next day's batch. The meat becomes soft because it cooks so long in the sauce. Meat can also be soft if fillers are added to it, such as breadcrumbs, grated cheese, flour, or minced veggies.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
I fry the meat and any added vegetables until the meat is no longer pink then I add the tomatoes.

I really do not care for meat sauce unless it is used in a dish like lasagna or baked ziti. If I am making sauce to go over pasta I prefer meatballs or chunks of stew beef that has been cooked low and slow until it is tender.

I have seen some classic Italian recipes where the ground beef is cooked and repeatedly mashed with a spoon so it has almost no texture. I suppose that does release the most flavor from the meat but, I prefer to see some chunks of ground beef crumbles scattered about in the sauce.
 
I always brown meats before adding them to tomato sauce. The deep rich browning adds flavor to the sauce.

I also deglaze the pan I browned the meat in with some of the sauce to get all the fond from the pan. After adding the meat, I simmer the sauce for an a couple of hours to extract meat flavors into the sauce.

Your sauce will always taste better adding cooked meats vs. raw.
 
I always brown meats before adding them to tomato sauce. The deep rich browning adds flavor to the sauce.

I also deglaze the pan I browned the meat in with some of the sauce to get all the fond from the pan. After adding the meat, I simmer the sauce for an a couple of hours to extract meat flavors into the sauce.

Your sauce will always taste better adding cooked meats vs. raw.

Andy, I put a small amount of water in one of the tomato cans, swish it around to get all the tomato and then deglaze the meat pan.I usually use the tomato paste can. That is the hardest one to get the last drop from. The water helps. :angel:
 
Andy, I put a small amount of water in one of the tomato cans, swish it around to get all the tomato and then deglaze the meat pan.I usually use the tomato paste can. That is the hardest one to get the last drop from. The water helps. :angel:

I do the same thing with a little red wine!
 
I've found that when I add the tomatoes it deglazes the pan. There's enough juice in the brands I use. But that's not to say I haven't used wine at times either :) I've even used a little beef stock. It adds a nice depth to the sauce, much like precooking your meats does.
 
I brown the meat in the skillet first then add the tomato sauce and cook it just enough to heat the sauce. I'm not sure how they do it in bulk in the restaurants.

This is what I do too. I prefer the meat to not be "mushy."

Course, I haven't used meat in spaghetti in a long time. My daughter prefers a veggie-full spaghetti, so I saute (sp?) veggies and just heat the sauce in a pan. I don't mix it all together until I'm preparing the leftovers for my lunches that week.
 
I've found that when I add the tomatoes it deglazes the pan. There's enough juice in the brands I use. But that's not to say I haven't used wine at times either :) I've even used a little beef stock. It adds a nice depth to the sauce, much like precooking your meats does.
I bet you do what I do - brown the meat in the pot in which you cook the sauce. I find that the tomatoes deglaze the pan just fine too.

But, I like the idea of rinsing out leftover tomato with wine. No canned tomato for me, so it's rinse jars.
 
I brown my meat too but if you want an hours long cooked taste without the time use a pressure cooker. I have an electric Nesco that I love!
 
Well, thanks for all your answers, much appreciated..... but nobody answered my question about the texture of the meat.

So.....I will have to do two identical pots of spag sauce, one with browning the meat first, the other just adding raw meat to the tomatoes, to find out for myself.

I do understand that browning meat first gives much flavour and colour to a sauce......but it's the texture I'm asking about this time, specifically texture of the meat.

Sometimes I make a no-meat spag sauce, using grated carrots and many diced vegetables, or even occasionally, some dry soy protein for the meat-like texture, but my DH doesn't like soy protein.
 
Well, thanks for all your answers, much appreciated..... but nobody answered my question about the texture of the meat.

So.....I will have to do two identical pots of spag sauce, one with browning the meat first, the other just adding raw meat to the tomatoes, to find out for myself.

I do understand that browning meat first gives much flavour and colour to a sauce......but it's the texture I'm asking about this time, specifically texture of the meat.

Sometimes I make a no-meat spag sauce, using grated carrots and many diced vegetables, or even occasionally, some dry soy protein for the meat-like texture, but my DH doesn't like soy protein.

Look at my previous post in this thread. It explains it for you.;) If you want the all-day-cooked flavor, but more firm meat, brown the meat in a skillet, remove, and place in the fridge. De-glaze the pan with plain water, or add a bit of beef soup base, and add to the sauce. Cook the sauce with everything you want in the sauce, either for several hours in a slow cooker, or 30 minutes in a pressure cooker, and then, just before serving, add the meat back into the sauce.

Alternately, do as above, but only cook the sauce for a half hour after everything is added. Remove to a suitable, sealed container and place in the fridge overnight. Again, add the meat as your reheat the sauce for serving.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
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ok, thanks Chief!....there are so many good ideas for spag sauce now.....wow, think I'll be cooking just spag sauce for awhile yet, hehe.
 
Which texture are you trying to achieve?

When I was a vegetarian and wanted protein in my pasta sauce, I would grind cooked beans, with a meat grinder, and then treat it as though it was very lean ground beef.
 
Whether you brown the meat before putting it in the sauce or put it in raw, it will be soft if you cook it in the sauce afterwards.
 
I bet you do what I do - brown the meat in the pot in which you cook the sauce. I find that the tomatoes deglaze the pan just fine too.

But, I like the idea of rinsing out leftover tomato with wine. No canned tomato for me, so it's rinse jars.

That's exactly what I do :chef:
I use a 3.5 qt saute pan. It gives me a nice surface area for cooking the ingredients before I add the tomatoes/sauce.
 
taxlady, I guess the texture I'm looking for is more like cooked porridge.

Andy, I think you're wrong.....if I brown the meat first, it gets hard and crunchy on the outside, and sometimes bits of it stay in clumps which are a bit larger than I'd like, unless I keep smashing them to bits, which I don't want to do.
 
taxlady, I guess the texture I'm looking for is more like cooked porridge.

Andy, I think you're wrong.....if I brown the meat first, it gets hard and crunchy on the outside, and sometimes bits of it stay in clumps which are a bit larger than I'd like, unless I keep smashing them to bits, which I don't want to do.

The meat sauce that comes to mind is Bolognese. I brown the meat in a skillet or dutch oven, but not all the way cooked through, so I can drain the fat. When eating at a restaurant, who knows. They may repurpose leftovers.
 

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