Real Life Testimonial: spaghetti sauce

[bookbuster]

Can you make spaghetti sauce by mixing tomato sauce and ketchup?

I fully intend to find out in about five minutes. Will update.

[bookbuster]

Echh.. Way too salty. Terrible.

Added sugar. Then dumped on parmesan cheese. And now its just bad..!

[WhyNot]

Blech! No, you make spaghetti sauce by mixing tomato sauce with sauteed onions and garlic, oregano, basil, red pepper and, if you're me, fennel seeds.

ETA: Next time, if you can't cook a sauce, skip the tomato products entirely and just use a bit of olive oil and the Parmesan cheese.

[CatInASuit]

Tomato sauce, you mean pureed tomatoes, yes :?:

Tomato Sauce and Ketchup are the roughly the same things UK side.

[WhyNot]

Tomato sauce, you mean pureed tomatoes, yes :?:

Tomato Sauce and Ketchup are the roughly the same things UK side.

Tomato sauce in the us is pureed tomatoes, minus the skins and seeds, that's been cooked down for a while, but not too long.

Tomato paste is tomato sauce that's been cooked for longer, making it much thicker.

Tomato puree is tomatoes that have been pureed, minus the seeds and skins.

Crushed tomatoes are tomatoes, minus the skins but with the seeds, that have been "crushed" or cut very small.

Diced tomatoes are tomatoes, minus the skins but with the seeds, that have been cut into roughly cube shapes. Sometimes as large as 20mm, sometimes as small as 5mm. You can also get diced tomatoes with diced green chilis added - great for adding to melting cheese for a nom-nom tortilla chip dip.

Stewed tomatoes are tomatoes, minus the skins, that have been sliced and cooked for a while. Several varieties are available with different seasonings and additions. You can get "Italian Style Stewed Tomatoes," with onions, garlic and oregano (but not a lot of each; you wouldn't eat this as pasta sauce, but you might use it in a pasta sauce). I've also seen Stewed Tomatoes with green pepper and onions.

Ketchup is tomato sauce with an ungodly amount of sugar and salt added, then cooked until thick, but not as thick as tomato paste.

[bookbuster]

so if i started with tomato paste, can't i turn that into spaghetti sauce faster (in less steps)??

[WhyNot]

so if i started with tomato paste, can't i turn that into spaghetti sauce faster (in less steps)??

Depends on how thick you like your sauce. When I say that tomato paste is thick, I mean it. It won't pour out of the can, you've got to scoop or scrape it. While I may add it to my pasta sauce for thickening, I wouldn't use it alone.

Here's how I make a very basic pasta sauce:

Cut up an onion into little bits. Heat some olive oil in a pot over medium heat and add the onion. Stir a lot. When the onion is just getting clear, add some garlic. Now add more garlic. Throw in some fennel seeds* and stir so those get hot on the bottom of the pan. Add a few cans of tomato sauce and one can of diced or crushed tomatoes. Add basil and oregano and red pepper flakes. Bring that to a bubble, and then turn the heat down to low. You should be getting only ~10 bubbles per minute, if it's bubbling faster than that, it's too hot. Let simmer like this for as long as you like, from 20 minutes to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste. Some batches of tomato sauce are too acidic for my taste, and a grated carrot or small spoonful of sugar will fix that.

If you want a meat sauce, brown the meat or sausage with the onions and drain off the excess fat. Proceed as written from there.




*Adding fennel seeds to spaghetti sauce is a personal taste bordering on civil war kind of thing. Some people love it, some people hate it.

[jali]

Throw in a handful of crushed red pepper flakes. Make it spicy!

Use ground turkey instead of beef for variety sometimes.

Oh - very carefully remove fennel seeds from hot sauce.