Sugar in spag bol - why? Just curious

[Holymoly321]

Keep seeing this in posts - am always making spag bol - bout the only thing I can make from scratch - so just wondered why people put sugar in before I make up my next batch.

I doesn'tmake it go all sweet then? Wouldn't like a sugary bol.

you don't put in gallons of the stuff!

just a spoonful

i always use a pinch of sugar in any dish with tomatoes

x posts with Mutt

I don't but my basic spag bol sauce takes about 5 hours to make. cooking the toms for a long time w/o breaking them up means they get really rich and sweet. you get a deeper flavour than just using sugar

do i put it in at the end when it's all cooked or when I'm adding the tomato puree at the beginning or the tinned toms in the middle?

And why do some people use cocoa in chilli? Sorry about hijack, BTW

dark chocolate in chilli does something fab to the flavour - not sure how it works, but DP always puts four squares of strong dark chocolate in his, and it tastes divine.

DH adds choc to chilli and it has a much richer, denser flavour.

A pinch of sugar cuts through the acid in the tomatoes so it doesnt taste as sharp.

tinned toms

Put it in as soon as you add the tinned tomatoes. And actually, I use a single chopped dried date rather than sugar. In either case, they completely disappear into the sauce.

It just enhances the flavour, like putting a pinch of salt in cakes and biscuits, and balances pout the acidity.

It doesn't matter when you add it.

Can someone post their recipe for spag. bol while we're here talking about it!

and your chilli one!

2loudboys I do the date thing too, or the dark chocolate thing, rather than sugar. If I make a tomato sauce for meatballs I blend in carrots and an apple too, it works really well.

foxmolly if you do a search you will find loads of threads in the recipe section with people's spag bol and chillie recipes!

foxy here you are!

Thanks OMDB!

no worries!