How to thicken basic pasta sauce

[Alix]

DOH!!!

 

[maria]

Well, guys, adding pasta water to the sauce helps thicken up the sauce, a lot!! Ask anyone

 

[keltin]

Well, guys, adding pasta water to the sauce helps thicken up the sauce, a lot!! Ask anyone

Is that the only liquid you're adding to the sauce ingredients? The OP was using wine and possibly the liquid from the tomoates, so adding pasta water too would be way too much liquid in that case. What do you use?

 

[jennyema]

Well, guys, adding pasta water to the sauce helps thicken up the sauce, a lot!! Ask anyone

Adding cooking water does not help thicken the sauce -- in fact it's often used to loosen sauces. It is sometimes used if cheese is involved in order to melt the cheese. If you add pasta water to the sauce you will need to cook it down and it's the cooking (ie, evaporation) that thickens the sauce.

America's foremost food scientist Robert Wolke was asked about this and this is what he said:

"(B)elieve it or not, some people claim that you can use a bit of the pasta water to thicken a sauce by adding the water and then simmering the sauce down. After all, the theory goes, the water contains starch dissolved out of the pasta, and starch will thicken a sauce.

"Huh?" I asked myself. "Can there be enough starch in the water to do any significant amount of thickening?" I decided to find out.

I cooked eight ounces of spaghetti in three quarts of water for the six minutes recommended on the package, fished out the spaghetti and boiled the cooking water down all the way to dryness to see how much starch was left. (The final stages of evaporation were done in a dish in a 220-degree oven.) Then I weighed the dried starch.

I found nine grams of starch in the entire three quarts of cooking water. A little calculation showed that, if you were to add a quarter-cup of this water to a pint of sauce in an attempt to thicken it, you would be adding about one-fifteenth of a teaspoon of starch.

That's supposed to thicken it? No way!"

Read more from Wolke

 

[justplainbill]

Woulda been 2/15ths starch if 16 oz of spagett were used instead of 8??

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

If I start with fresh tomatoes, I add very little water. I let the tomatoes break down and steam until they achive the thickness I desire. Then, I add the garlic, onions, herbs, and spices as adding them too soon will cause much of the flavor to evaporate. Before adding things like mushrooms, saute' them first, with just a bit of salt, to develop their flavor and evaporate much of the liquid. If adding ground beef, brown it with the lid on the pan, drain the juices into a bowl after it's cooked (place the bowl into the fridge for a wonderfully flavored beef broth, the fat rises to the top and hardens, sealing the broth in the bowl, and making it easy to remove the fat when you want to use it.), and then rinse the meat. Then add it to the sauce.

Tomato paste is a wonderful thickener, and should be added only if your sauce is too runny. Then, for 16 oz. of sauce (2 cups), add a six-oz. can of paste. you will have to correct the seasoning as the tomato flavor will overpower the herbs, spices, and veggie flavoings.

I find that if I use 1 twelve oz. cans of diced tomato, 1 twelve oz. can of either crushed tomatoes, or tomato sauce, along with 1 six oz. can of tomato paste, my sauce is much easier to build, and is as good as any "from scratch" sauce I've made. Plus, in my neck of the woods, it is hard to get vine-ripened tomatoes, picked at the peak of flavor. Canned tomato products actually give me better, and more consistant results.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Aurora]

Additional simmering to reduce the water content of the sauce is the best. In a pinch I've added a tablespoon or two of polenta to stiffen the sauce. This will absorb the water and does not really change the flavor of the sauce.

 

[GB]

I agree with the others who say cook it longer. They key to this though is make sure you cook it uncovered. The goal is to evaporate some of the liquid. If you leave the lid on then that will not happen.

 

[keltin]

I agree with the others who say cook it longer. They key to this though is make sure you cook it uncovered. The goal is to evaporate some of the liquid. If you leave the lid on then that will not happen.

You know, it’s a good thing you pointed that out. Some techniques we take for granted, but I’ve actually had a friend that was trying to thicken a stew and reduce it, but she left the lid on the pot! Once I told her to take the lid off, she had the stew to the right point within 30 minutes or so and was very pleased.

 

[buckytom]

adding pasta water to sauce helps to thin the sauce, in my book. it is used to help make a sauce the right thickness for the pasta or dish being served. sort of a fine tuning.

somewhere along the line, the starch from the pasta as a thickening agent idea got going.

as mentioned, adding oil to pasta water is a bad idea, unless you want really plain pasta. most of the oil is wasted, really.

if you cook sauce for a long time, you'll end up with a thicker, deeply flavored sauce. if the dish requires a more fresh tomato flavor, you can add some tomato paste (which also changes the flavor profile), or even a pinch of cornstarch or flour to help absorb the extra water.

htha? (hth, eh? )

 

[lyndalou]

I think the adding water from the pasta cooking to the sauce came from someone onthe Food Network...maybe Giada? I never do that.

As for adding oil to the pasta water, a spritz of PAM maybe better, if you feel you need to do that. I'm with whoever said it just takes a lot of boiling (really boiling) water to keep the pasta from sticking together.

 

[legend_018]

thanks for the replys

 

[ella/TO]

with all due respect.....make your sauce first....then boil your pasta, in a large pot of lottsa salted water. Adding pasta water to the sauce will thin it, unless your sauce has thickened too much.....most sauces don't thicken too much. But whatever, enjoy your cooking!

 

[Caine]

I usually just make a basic sauce. Cook up some onions and garlic. throw in a can of whole tomatoes (crushed by hand)....dab of wine, some oregano.

DH says its rather thin. How can I thicken it up? and how much?

Change the can of whole tomatoes to a can of crushed tomatoes with added puree. The added puree will provide thickness.

 

[legend_018]

Change the can of whole tomatoes to a can of crushed tomatoes with added puree. The added puree will provide thickness.

What is added puree mean?

 

[Alix]

Added puree is tomatoes that have been crushed and are really thick.

 

[Caine]

DEFINITION: Tomato puree consists of tomatoes that have been cooked briefly and strained, resulting in a thick liquid. Basically, it's tomatoes turned into baby food. They add it to the crushed tomatoes to add some thickness, which is exactly what YOU are trying to do, so that makes it quite a coincidence, doesn't it?