Tomato (Spaghetti) Sauce-yuk: tasted like tomato soup!!!


 

Steve Petrone

TVWBB Diamond Member
I used 2 cans crushed tomatoes, 1 small paste and 1 sauce. 1/2 onion, 4 -5 cloves garlic, a little sugar and fresh basil and fresh oregano. I'm sure there was other stuff but that was the base. It had a decided tomato soup taste-tried to add fresh lemon to brighten. Easilly the worst sauce I've made.

What went wrong?
 
What kind of sauce were you trying to make or what were you going for?
icon_confused.gif
 
My first thought: Too tomato-y and maybe too sweet.

If you're not using imported San Marzanos (quite fine if you're not) get better tomatoes. Canned crushed aren't worth bothering with (for anything, imo); get canned diced or canned whole plum tomatoes. (Inferior underripe tomatoes find their way into crushed and purée.)

Forgo the paste. (The only thing I use paste for is smearing on meaty beef bones before roasting for stock.) It's too concentrated, tends toward bitter, so one ends up sugaring excessively. Sweat your onion* then your garlic** then add the tomatoes. You can purée them first if you wish or simply mash them a bit during cooking. Or you can partially or fully purée when the sauce is done. (I use diced tomatoes and neither mash nor purée in most cases.)

Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook maybe 15-20, partially covered. Uncover, add the herbs, then simmer gently till the sauce approaches the consistency you want, 15-20 min more (or, if puréeing and you haven't yet, do so now; if mashing, mash now then cook to desired consistency). Adjust salt and add a little pepper (I like white here) and adjust sweetness, if needed, with a little sugar. If using parsely add it now at the end. Heat a few minutes; done.

* if you wish some bottom sweetness you can very finely mince or grate some carrot and add it to the pan with the onion; taste the carrot first and if quite sweet add only a little

** you can deglaze with wine, if you wish, after the garlic sweats; increase the heat, add a good splash of wine (use a dry unoaked white like sauvignon blanc) and let the wine reduce till its practically gone; immediately add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium, and continue
 
Kevin, very good info. My biggest boo boo must have been two fold: too much sugar and tomato paste and sauce.

Having been raised on the low n slow type tomato sauce, cooked with a meat (butt, meatballs or perhaps chicken usually added raw and cooked in the sauce), how would you proceed with that style sauce?
 
nice, a couple more tips for my next pot, thanks Kevin

My first thought Steve was you were making a pasta sauce but I thought I'd ask just in case it was a new bbq sauce concept or something unpronounceable I've never heard of before.

Like Kevin I found I don't care for crushed, I use diced or whole. I almost never used canned tomatoe sauce. As for paste I steer clear of econo brands (I buy lots of different econo stuff though). I've opened up some value brands of paste and felt I didn't even get what I paid for. Perhaps it gets old, goes stale faster than other canned goods. Maybe it's just sub par from the start. Not sure.

Similar to Kevin I start the onions, add the garlic when the onions are nearly done then dump the tomatoes in once the garlic was done. Last year or so I've taken to making the odd batch with a chorizo I like. I start that, then add the onions when it's nearly done .... sometimes I throw in fresh mushrooms, sometimes a bunch of grated zucchini

The other thing that comes to mind, with enough basil, oregano and garlic how could it taste like canned tomatoe soup?
icon_smile.gif
... and perhaps one should lead and the other should follow ... I always use 3 times as much basil as oregano and 4 times as much parsley as oregano. I mostly use dried but I love the fresh when I make the effort to include them.

I do use paste: 28oz diced tomatoes (undrained), 5.5 fl oz paste 1 C diced onion 2 cloves garlic. That's my baseline. I guess paste is my thickening crutch.

So if not using paste Kevin I'd drain the tomatoes and use maybe 3 cans to 2C onions?
 
Thickening comes from reduction. No need to drain the tomatoes and waste the delicious juices. Simply purée the tomatoes first, either somewhat or fully, or break them up with your hands, before starting the sauce. Not necessary, but to keep roughly the same volume you can use a bit extra diced or whole tomatoes, say one 14oz can per two 28oz cans.

If you choose to use paste get the best you can. Inferior pastes taste inferior because processors cheat in underripe tomatoes. These underripe flavors concentrate during processing. Another two things, if you choose to use paste: I'd suggest not more than 1/3-1/2 of a small can per 28oz can of whole or diced. And, after sautéing the aromatics (onion, garlic, etc.) add the paste and cook it. It should deepen in color, nearly brown. If using wine add it next, mix well, then reduce till the wine is nearly gone. If not adding wine add your tomatoes after the paste browns. (Scrape the aromatics and any vegs you have in there to the sides of the pot when browning the paste. Incorporate after adding the wine or the tomatoes.)

Contrary to the myth of Italian nonnas cooking all their tomato sauces for hours and hours, most are not cooked that long--unless tougher meat cuts are to be cooked in the sauce. (Tender meats that are being cooked in the sauce require a shorter cook time, obviously.)

Generally, tender meats, sausage, meatballs, etc., are browned first in the pot then removed. In their rendered fat the aromatics are cooked, the tomato sauce made, then the meats returned to the sauce to cook while the sauce reduces. When the meats are done the sauce is done though, if you prefer and if further cooking will not deleteriously affect the meats, you can cook very low for longer. When adequate reduction is achieved cover the pot, or partially cover, so as not to over-reduce. Should this occur simply add a little water. Skim the excess fat that rises to the surface.

Quite a few cooks do not actually brown meats like ground beef or pork, or meatballs, the just cook till the exterior raw look is gone and some fat is rendered. Like for chili, this is to prevent the development of firm, brown surfaces that then affect the texture of the finished sauce.

For tough meats--say, short ribs (which are terrific slow-cooked in sauce), lamb shoulder or shanks, oxtails, et al., longer cooking is required, as you'd expect. Often something like sausage is first browned, whole or sliced, then removed, then the short ribs or shoulder or shanks or tails are browned or simply colored, then removed, the aromatics are cooked and the sauce made, then the meats go back into the sauce for long, slow cooking till they are tender. Meat on the bone is often removed from the pot and allowed to cool, the sauce skimmed of excess fat, the meat removed from the bone and shredded, then returned to the pot.

Note that for long cooking sauces it is best not to add basil early on (it tends toward bitterness if cooked for long). Save it and fresh parsley for the last 5-15 min of cooking.
 
What a wealth of info. I never would have thought to cook the paste-use less (if at all) makes sense. My family did not brown meats before cooking in the sauce as you suggest-texture changes....

(The main reason for browning in the oven was to get the fat out-yes I know where the flavor is-it is a cholesterol thing...)

You are absolutely right about cooking ribs in sauce.
 
Not to beat this to death but I think one of the main issues here with the yuk sauce was probably an inferior ingredient. Heck, I grew up eating this two times a week and I know tomato sauce aint that hard...it must be a bad ingredient!
 

 

Back
Top