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?

My spag bol (which I think is very yummy) sauce is made thus:

Heat olive oil on a medium heat, with some garlic puree in it. Before garlic has burnt, add one finely chopped onion, one stick of celery (finely sliced) and two carrots (finely diced or grated) and sweat for 5 mins or so.

Add mince, fry to brown it and then add one beef oxo cube

Add a good glug or two of red wine

Add 1tbsp tomato puree and one or two tins of chopped tomatoes and 2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Bring to the boil and then add 1tsp each of oregano, basil and marjoram. Let it simmer pn a low heat for at least an hour and about 5 mins before serving, add some chopped fresh basil.

Only suggestion I have that hasn't been much made but has improved my sauces immensely is... anchovies. I agree with the beef stock etc, and they certainly help, but anchovies seem to just add that extra "something".

I don't use wine or worcestershire though.

And adding milk, then time, lots of simmer time.

(Really just marking my place for new ideas).

Dried herbs can be far more potent than fresh, and retain their flavor better.

Really, not one person adds chicken liver?
I have never heard of putting chicken liver in pasta sauce. Is this normal?

OP, not sure if you're still reading but I make my tomato base sauce separately.

So slow cook the tomatoes, onions, celery, garlic, courgettes, random veg etc for 8-12h; blitz; add basil & olive oil glugs & reduce further couple of hours; freeze 600ml portions.

Then when you want dinner, stick mince & sauce in fridge to defrost the night before.

Brown mince in pan, drain off excess liquid. Add sauce, heat through, simmer 5-10mins. Fast food from scratch :)

Glass of red wine. I add this once the mince has browned and before adding the tomatoes. Agree you need celery, chop it finely in a blender, and I add a couple of red peppers (similarly fine) too. No stock cubes or sugar, you don't need them if you cook it for long enough (about 4-5 hours, on very low heat.)
We add a chopped up Kabanos sausage or two. Gives it a beautiful depth of flavour.

I roast all my veg together for about 1 1/2 hours, so toms, carrots, onions, peppers, garlic in olive oil. When really soft, purée together, add stock until it's the correct consistency, dried herbs, pepper and tom purée and bring up to the boil.

I then portion it out, add quorn mince to the portion we are going to use, simmer for 15 mins then serve. I suppose if you were using mince, you would brown it, then add to the sauce and simmer for 30 minutes.

Roasting the veg caramelises the natural sugars, making it naturally sweeter without having to add sugar.

You could also not use the mince, add a bit more stock, and you have lovely roast veg soup.

I always use Marigold stock powder.

So accident prone - I never thought to roast my veg first. Might give that a try as I do that with other dishes.
Definately agree that pork in some form added to the mix adds flavour. I normally do one third pork mince.
Also agree that cooking for longer males tastier. I have started using my slow cooker.
I am a recent convert to the no tinned tomatoes - I stand by my claim. It's taste more like an authentic ragu - rather than a bastardised American/Anglo dish.
I use lots of wine early in the cooking process to stop it being bitter. I was reading one Italian chef uses white wine instead if red - gonna give that a try next.

Ah. Here's a question for all the seasoned (ha!) cooks here. How do you prevent vegetables - like onions, a big culprit - from becoming sweet? My kids and I really cannot abide a hint of sugar in savory foods.

I had this problem with french onion soup - the one and only time I attempted it, it was dreadfully sweet.

Sorry for the hijack.

Don't fry or roast them first. We don't mind a hint of sweetness in our tomato based sauces but agree totally otherwise TheLovelyBoots - none of us can abide sweet veg, the sight of parsnips, honey glazed carrots, etc served with a meal really makes my heart sink.

Thanks whoknows.
So, you drop them in the sauce raw rather than sweating them first?

i cook tomato sauces in the slow cooker for a good 10 hours. it means the tomatoes properly break down and it becomes good and rich. i don't add any sugar.

Not billed as a spagbol sauce but I use a basic tomato and basil sauce for lots of pasta dishes.

Garlic
Olive oil
3 tins plum toms
Sugar
Chilli flakes
Balsamic vinegar
Basil

It's really tasty, I think it's better than the fresh sauces form sainsbos etc.

I have almost half a notepad written down here of all these! I fear we may actually never want to eat it again by the time I've perfected it

Yes, but you need to then cook for a long time. Or just fry them for a few minutes to soften a bit, it's the long slow frying that caramelises them.

Oops, and onions of course!

Hi chasingtherainbow,

Saw this and thought of our hands-off tomato sauce recipe – really easy, just bung your leftover veg into a pot with some stock and leave to roast for an hour or so to bring out all the flavours. Come back to a healthy, hearty sauce for pastas, pizzas... plus you can chuck leftovers in the freezer so there's homemade sauce to hand for next time. Handy cheat

OP you need the proper Italian Silver Spoon spag Bol recipe. Has only a few Ingredients + cooking for ages. From memory celery, onions, carrots (you can get this ready chopped in Waitrose - called 'soffrito'), passata, mince, garlic and WHITE wine. They don't even really put herbs in.

My mum's bolognese sauce is the best ever. DS says so too and apparently mine (which is my attempt to cook my mum's version) comes a close second

1 Chop onions, celery, carrot, parsley etc (and possibly a tiny bit of garlic). FINELY chop these, Then SWEAT (ie don't fry at high temperature) in quite a bit of olive oil for about 10-15min. DON'T HURRY THIS The mixture should be velvety and soft and transluscent. Onions should not be crispy any any way. This is called a "sofritto! and is the absolute key to getting a good bolognese sauce

thepaddingtonfoodie.com/2012/10/24/bolognese-sauce-its-all-about-the-soffritto/

2 Add mince meat (beef only or mixture of beef and pork is fine)

3 Stir meat around - mix in the "sofritto" with the meat, add some red wine (just enough for a few cm on bottom of pan, no to cover the meat) and allow that to boil off a bit

3 Add warm water with stock cube or gel pot mixed in and also tomato pure - quite a lot - about 2-43 large table spoons . (yes water)

4 If you want to add passata or tinned toms you can but only a bit (maybe half cup to a cup depending on the amount of meat)

The mixture should now look a bit like a mince soup with lots of water but should be red due to the added tom puree.

5 - Bring to the boil and, simmer very slowly for about 2-3 hours until it has all reduced to a thick lovely meaty sauce.

You can freeze portions of this to get out of the freezer for use later. Sometimes when you heat up frozen portions (defrost first) you may need to add a bit of tomato or tiny bit of water and tom puree to add a bit of moisture.

Then use this sauce on pasta and add plenty of parmesan and I guarantee you won't find a jar version of bolognese that tastes better

I sometime used jars of vergetarian pasta sauce when in a hurry (I am not a purist at all) but I would never use one of bolognese because it jut doesn't compare to a good home- made version. The home -made version does require quite a bit of time to cook though. Hence why I batch cook this and freeze it

Sorry 2-4 tablespoons of passata - Not 43!!

Delia Smith recipe uses chicken livers as this adds richness to the sauce.

I don't put them but do go along with very slow cooking and even better when reheated next day.

Tom puree makes all then difference

An Italian family I used to summer with always insisted on half pork & half beef mince. Another would only use slow-cooked beef that they then shredded (a bit like pulled pork) and yet another used only boar (again shredded).

hope that helps.

Delia's Ragout has chicken livers as fitfloopqueen says, though her sauce doesn't need any richness adding to it!!! - I think its got pork and beef mince, and a whole bottle of wine, and...mmmm I'm going to have to make it again to remind myself

Tom puree makes all the difference

YYYYYYY to the above

The secret is to brown your mince properly. Most people only cook it to lightly colour, you actually have to make it look almost crispy to get proper rich flavour. I do it in smaller batches to ensure proper browning, in a big cast iron casserole dish (got mine from Sainsburys, cost me all of £25). I also throw in some chopped pancetta or smoked lardons sometimes. All adds to the flavour.

Using the same pot, gently cook soffrito (finely chopped onion, carrot and celery) for about 15 minutes, turn up heat slightly, add garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, NOT brown. Throw in your meat, stir, add a glass of wine and cook it for a few minutes till absorbed. Then some cans of plum tomatoes plus stock or a can of water, tomato purée, a large pinch of sugar, pinch of seasoning if not using stock, herbs (you can also add a cinnamon stick if you fancy it) and bring to just bubbling. Bash up the tomatoes a little once they've been cooking for about 10 mins.

You can let it bubble gently on the stove for a couple of hours, but I get best results if I bung it in oven for ages on a low heat. Treat it like a stew. Make sure it doesn't dry out, if it does throw in a bit more water.

When you get it out of the oven it should be rich and thick. Add a tablespoon of full fat milk now, stir, adjust for seasoning and it should be perfect.

I know some Italian people and they all have different family recipes, some things are universal but there's a lot of variation. So don't worry about sticking rigidly to a recipe, just do what works for you.