to never go back to making my own sauce, or ask you how..?

[chasingtherainbow]

I've always cooked as much as possible from scratch (this is not a debate as to what qualifies as from scratch!)

So whenever I make spag bowl, I make my own sauce. It's always tasted good and we enjoy it.

However I've been poorly and dh did the food shopping. I requested some cheats to make life more manageable right now. He bought a waitrose tomato based sauce to use instead of making our own, and I have to admit it tasted way better now I don't want to go back! Even though I know my version is much healthier.

How do I make my sauce taste as good! Or wibu to continue to use this sauce from the fresh/chilled aisle and never tell anyone I can't help but think I'm going to be disappointed next time i make my boring in comparison own.

When I make my own I use: garlic Italian seasoning, salt & pepper, chopped basil leaves, peppers and onions, 2 crushed garlic cloves and Passata

where am I going wrong?

A spoonful (or more) of martini rosso gives it an extra something. Also lemon zest can bring the flavours out.

Instead of sugar I put in some ketchup

I don't agree that you need to cook a ragu for hours as long as the ingredients are right. I agree with the sugar, plus I would add a couple of cans of tomatoes as well as passata and much more garlic.

I use fresh herbs grown in my own garden, but I think the real flavour comes from the onions. I cook them on a low heat for at least 30 minutes before adding any other vegetables. My secret cheat is a knob of garlic butter, which I find softens up any acidity from the tomatoes.

slow long cooking and fine grating of celery, carrots and onion, with slow roasted tomotoes or tinned. I also hate celery but it seems to left it - plus half a teaspoon on brown sugar and a good glug of balsalmic vinegar/wine.

Long slow simmering and lots of fresh basil and garlic. Finely grated courgette can also be good if you don't have too long to cook it plus it bulks it out. DH thinks I'm a genius with mince.

Yes To Brecon You don't need sugar because the long slow cooking releases the sweetness from the veg. esp. the onions and garlic.

I have a 'cooking' day once a week when I can concentrate and then I deliberately make more than I need and freeze the extra. Of anything.

about the only thing I use my slow cooker for now is tomato sauce.

Half passatta, half tinned chopped tomatoes
onions celery and carrot, grated
garlic crushed
smoked bacon lardons
2 tea spoons unrefined golden granulated sugar
a good generous splash of balsamic vineagar

sweat off the grated carrots, onions and celery until soft and mushy, add the crushed garlic (I use 5/6 cloves as this is for a batch of sauce enough to make 2 meals for 5 people), then the bacon lardons, until cooked.

drain off the fat and put it into the slow cooker, add the passatta and the chopped tomatoes, oh and dried basil or oregano, sometimes I use dried mixed Italian herbs. leave in the slow cooker for several hours, then when I get home from work, I add the sugar and the balsamic and turn the heat up to cook the vinegar and sugar out, then back down to low heat.

dry fry the mince and add that for an hour. (I get in from work at 3.30 after picking dc up on way home), sometimes I just ladle enough sauce onto the mince/quorn/meatballs and finish in that pan, then portion out the sauce in the slow cooker and freeze.

you could just do all of that on the hob and just cook on a very low heat for 2-3 hours.

I add milk to the mince let it absorb then add the red wine, onto the soffitto base (finely chopped celery, carrots onion) then add passata, season and let ok low for Couple of hours on hob, longer in slow cooker. You don't have to serve it with spaghetti, we serve it with tortiglione(tubes and mix some before serving it so it gets inside the tubes.

I tried putting milk in my mince once, but it made it so soft there was no texture left in it, didn't try that again.

Waitrose rich bolognese sauce

Beef (30%), tomato, water, RED WINE (8%) (red wine, antioxidant sulphur dioxide), tomato juice, carrot, celery, onion, tomato purée, Grana Padano cheese (milk, preservative egg lysozyme), beef extract, extra virgin olive oil (1%), garlic purée, cornflour, salt, sugar, oregano, beef fat, black pepper, vegetable extract onion and tomato, ground fennel

A friend of mine has recently graduated from Cordon Bleu school, and one of the things I picked up from him is the difference achieved by using a soffitto base (finely chopped celery, carrots onion) as mintberry mentioned.

I think home cooks tend to just use onion (well I usually did), but trained chefs will use a soffitto to start a dish and this adds 2 extra layers to the base flavour.

I also add milk to a spag bol sauce (towards the end) but I think the key to a great sauce is to layer the flavours, and reduce/cook it for a long time.

I can make a 'fancy' spag bol with chicken livers and pancetta etc or a 'basic' one with beef mince, lentils and whatever is left in the cupboards, and by ensuring the flavours are layered and giving it plenty of time, even the 'basic' version is delicious.

I make Marcella Hazan's version & it is amazing.

The milk is added early to stop the acidity of the toms affecting the meat.

sites.google.com/site/dealwithameal/sauces/ragu-famous-bolognese-meat-sauce

Interesting - I'll experiment with adding the milk much earlier next time magi!

garlic & onion
finely diced carrot and celery
Red wine
beef stock pot
tinned toms/passata
splash of of soy sauce
tomato puree
dollop of ketchup
whatever herbs you fancy and any stealth vegs as required!
tiny sprinkle of soft dark brown sugar to taste

I usually freeze just the sauce, then can use it for different things, meatballs etc (I add a drop of milk for meatballs) or just on it's own with pasta and cheese. Sometimes freeze with mince too though, no probs.

Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a big pan.
Add little cubes of pancetta and cook gently until the fat starts to run. Let them brown a little bit (but not get too crispy, just a little)
Add very finely chopped onion, carrot, celery and fresh rosemary (or dried) and a bay leaf - soften gently for 10-15 mins.
Add plenty of finely chopped garlic, give it another minute or two.
Add the mince and brown well. You want it frying not steaming so don't overload the pan. In fact if you have lots of meat it would be better to do it first in batches and then set aside (or for best results, if you have the patience, scoop out the pancetta and cook the mince in the pancetta fat)
Add chopped tinned tomatoes, red wine and a tbsp tomato puree. Season with black pepper (salt if you want but do taste it, the pancetta is quite salty)
Simmer very gently for 1hr or longer.

Milk in bolognese! How remarkable! I must try this.

I only recently started putting a stock cube in mine, it's a pretty fantastic addition.

I normally use lamb, I occasionally do a kind of North African version with a lot of chili, tumeric, cumin and paprika. But more often, just onion, herbs, stock cube, chili, garlic.

I always skip the carrot/celery because I hate cooked carrots and the kids hate cooked celery. Perhaps I need to just chop it really finely.

We make a Gary Rhodes lasagne that has milk in it- it's the best lasagne ever but takes an age to make.

I'm currently making my ragu (inspired by this thread...).

Put some olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan with 2 diced onions, 2 sticks of celery, few chopped carrots and a whole bulb of chopped garlic (if my husband asks it's either 1 clove or no garlic at all). Sweat that down for about 20 minutes taking care not to burn it then add some cubes of pancetta and fry for a few minutes. Add a good glug of red wine, bring to the boil and then leave to reduce to half. Chuck in a few tins of plum tomatoes, loads of salt and pepper then leave to simmer whilst catching up on Grantchester. Haven't got any basil so might stir in some pesto at the end and then blend. Will freeze most of it and will have the rest tonight with pasta and chorizo.

Oh, and when I added the wine I crumbled in a beef stock cube too.

TheLovelyBoots Or whizz it up with a hand blender and no one has a clue how many veg are in it! Sounds like a lasagne sauce to me with lamb. But it's soo easy to ring the changes once you've got the basic sauce cooked.

That would be too salty for me *Autumn82 esp. with the stock cube and bacon.

I've just recently started using onion, carrot and celery to start a string of sauces and I love it. We put it all through the food processor to get it really fine. Once the sauce is done you cant tell there is any evil celery in there but the sauce tastes wonderful.

I also think the beef makes a difference. I have made it with lean steak mince from the supermarket and the same recipe with beef mince from a local farm. The local stuff makes a much, much more silky flavour and is scrummy.

I always chop onion, carrot and celery up in a little blender (which is now only used for that purpose!) it does seem to add something to the flavour. I usually add streaky bacon or pancetta to try and add more oomph to it as well.

I love it when I manage to get the mince into very tiny "pebbles" of meat - I hate the thick strands.

Cook for a very very very long time. At least 3 hours. All the extras are nice, but this is what makes a good sauce.

If it tastes nice, your family enjoyed it, you can afford it and it isn't the type of thing that has never been within sneezing distance of an actual tomato... Why not just use it? Who is going to award you a medal for making everything yourself?

captainankles missing the point - its not a bloody competition.

Eating home-made food using minimal processed items is far far better for your health - the evidence is mounting againt processed foods - salt and sugar levels are addictive - cause sugar spikes which leaves you reaching for the next one. They are processed to the point where a lot of nutritional value is removed and has to be added back artificially. Not to mention all the chemicals added to preserve/improve texture.

It's cheaper and healthier. It doesnt have to be fancy cooking either a good old shepherds pie/spag bol/baked pots/omlettes.