Does Anyone Make Their Own Pasta Sauce? Help

So I attempted to make my own pasta sauce, key word here being attempted. I followed this recipe http://www.food.com/recipe/fresh-tom...ti-sauce-10837 but it was looking pretty thin after a couple hours of stewing, so after reading a little bit, I decided to let it simmer longer to reduce and thicken it. Well that idea was a complete failure because what I ended up with was still essentially a pot of flavored water. After eating tonight I added a can of tomato paste and it helped, but it's still pretty thin. Any advice?

what kind of tomatoes did you use?

Hmm....I think just regular hot house tomatoes. Should I be using something specific?

from the looks of it, you need to continue to reduce it some more. you're probably simmering at too low of a heat. crank up the heat a bit more to accelerate the evaporation. heck, if you're really impatient, you can probably crank up the heat to high for a few minutes to get rid of that extra moisture till you reach the thickness you want.

also, you should cook your pasta till it's slightly firm, drain it completely without rinsing, and then toss the pasta into the finished sauce, crank up the heat a bit, and let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce. the pasta will not only further help to soak up more moisture from the sauce, but will also make the pasta more flavorful and adhere the the sauce better.

Originally Posted by EDawg

from the looks of it, you need to continue to reduce it some more. you're probably simmering at too low of a heat. crank up the heat a bit more to accelerate the evaporation. heck, if you're really impatient, you can probably crank up the heat to high for a few minutes to get rid of that extra moisture till you reach the thickness you want.

I let it simmer overnight, I think ~12 hours total, but next time I try it I'll crank the heat up a little more.

Originally Posted by EDawg

also, you should cook your pasta till it's slightly firm, drain it completely without rinsing, and then toss the pasta into the finished sauce, crank up the heat a bit, and let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce. the pasta will not only further help to soak up more moisture from the sauce, but will also make the pasta more flavorful and adhere the the sauce better.

That's a great idea. I had some more last night and it was a little better with the tomato paste added, but it still wasn't thick enough.

Holy cow, 12 hours?

Simmering it uncovered is also going to help boil off some of the excess water in there and thicken it up. I'm assuming that for 12 hours it was covered, or else you would probably have had a pot of mud.

Tomatoes are key too, I use these bad boys:


Their flavor really can't be beat. I will also cook them in the sauce whole and either do a rough crush on them or puree them when the sauce is cooking depending on what kind of sauce I am making.

Originally Posted by accolade

Simmering it uncovered is also going to help boil off some of the excess water in there and thicken it up. I'm assuming that for 12 hours it was covered, or else you would probably have had a pot of mud.

if you simmered with cover on, then that's probably your problem. simmering at a very low heat with the lid on or partially on will just cause the evaporated water to recondense on the lid and eventually drip right back onto the sauce.

There's my problem, I had the lid on. I'll give it a go without the lid next time.

ya dude you gotta let that water out baby

Do not ever use FRESH tomatoes in the US. Sure, raw tomato recipes sound great, but tomatoes in the US are ****, full of water, and have little flavor. In the US, buy Italian San Marzano canned tomatoes, and use those. If you INSIST on using fresh tomatoes, like when they are in season, use roma tomatoes. Cut them in half, salt the flesh, and bake them in the over for about an hour at 250. This will evaporate a lot of the water, concentrating the flavor, and keeping your sauce from going watery.

Originally Posted by NFRs2000nyc

Do not ever use FRESH tomatoes in the US. Sure, raw tomato recipes sound great, but tomatoes in the US are ****, full of water, and have little flavor. In the US, buy Italian San Marzano canned tomatoes, and use those. If you INSIST on using fresh tomatoes, like when they are in season, use roma tomatoes. Cut them in half, salt the flesh, and bake them in the over for about an hour at 250. This will evaporate a lot of the water, concentrating the flavor, and keeping your sauce from going watery.

nice method, i am definitely going to try that out

oh and fresh garden tomatoes my friend

yum

Originally Posted by NFRs2000nyc

Do not ever use FRESH tomatoes in the US.

Is this statement directed towards tomatoes that are store bought?

Originally Posted by accolade

Is this statement directed towards tomatoes that are store bought?

I have never had a tomato as good as a real Italian tomato, store bought or homegrown. They are still too watery.

Originally Posted by NFRs2000nyc

Do not ever use FRESH tomatoes in the US. Sure, raw tomato recipes sound great, but tomatoes in the US are ****, full of water, and have little flavor. In the US, buy Italian San Marzano canned tomatoes, and use those. If you INSIST on using fresh tomatoes, like when they are in season, use roma tomatoes. Cut them in half, salt the flesh, and bake them in the over for about an hour at 250. This will evaporate a lot of the water, concentrating the flavor, and keeping your sauce from going watery.

you realize that there are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes? you just have to find the right ones. and in most cases you want to scrape out most of the liquid and seeds no matter what kind you use. it's not the tomatoes, it the method.

i will also point out that tomatoes are not native to italy.

Yea, I have to disagree as well... I also pointed out the fact that San Marzanos are the best, but I have made sauce from homegrown tomatoes that would trump anything out of the can.