Bitter tomato sauce
having read all the threads, I can only assume that the tomatoes used were not sun-ripe enough. This makes them acid. You really need fresh tomatoes bathed and baked in sunlight in order to get the right sugar balance in the fruit - just like grapes. Then, there are certain varieties of tomato that are higher in sugar, lower in juice, and altogether better for cooking.
I have never heard of using baking soda with tomatoes. Has anyone thought of using *fructose* instead of plain sugar?
Anyway, for what it's worth, my recipe for tomato sauce for spaghetti or other forms of pasta is:
There are two versions! The quick one, and the long one.
Briefly, the quick one involves: Onion, Garlic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil(usually abbreviated as EVOO), FRESH sweet basil - none of your dried stuff - and 2 cans of Italian tomatoes. Soften up the first lot of ingredients and then add the tomatoes, and reduce until you have a sauce consistency. Make sure that the pasta is really well drained. Add back to the pan in which it was cooked. Add in the tomato sauce and bring to the boil again, ensuring that the pasta does not stick. Then serve, with fresh sweet basil leaves sprinkled over. No cheese.
Version two. Take a piece of braising beef ( small will do), a small piece of veal and a small piece of pork. Keep whole. Sweat off: onion, garlic, 1/2 stick celery, 1/2 carrot, fresh parsley and one rasher of bacon, all finely chopped in the food processor. Use EVOO to do this. Add the meat and brown all over. Add white wine to taste, turn up the heat to evaporate off the alcohol, and reduce the liquids. Then add the tomatoes, enough to cover well all the meat. Simmer for three hoursat a low heat. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Sieve the sauce for the pasta, and reserve the meat for the second course, with mashed potatoes. Cheese on the pasta allowed in this case.
This version is my absolute favourite - I could eat it forever!!
