Best pasta sauce?

Timfoilhat

Timfoilhat

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What do you guys/gals use to make your sauce great?

First I season the meat. I use half and half ground beef/ground pork. I press Italian seasoning into the meat along with a little salt and black pepper and cayenne pepper flakes. Kneed it all together with your hands. Press into the bottom of your sauce pot. Brown the meat and break it up into little pieces. Do not drain off the fat. Time to cheat...Open your favorite bottle of store bought sauce. I like something we get from World Market...Flame Roasted Tomato flavor. Dump that in there with the meat and simmer for like an hour. It's spicy and amazing.
 
I don't eat a lot of pasta, in fact I don't eat much of it at all.

Occasionally, we'll fix "Grandma's spaghetti." The sauce is what matters in this dish.

Everyone knows how to wet a noodle, but for the sauce, we start by frying fat back. In the grease, we soften diced onions and bell peppers. To that we add a lb of ground venison and a can of tomato soup. Add salt, if it isn't salty enough, and black pepper.

Throw it on those noodles.
 
Depends on the pasta dish I am preparing.

Most of the tomato based sauces I make contain red wine and are finished with fresh herbs.

Mushroom ragus contain beef stock and cognac.

Putanescas and bagna cauda must have anchovies.

All are prepared with 50/50 fresh and roasted garlic.
 
Carbonara which is just bacon fat, egg yolk and Parmesan cheese. I make an olive oil pasta sauce that everyone likes, good olive oil, crushed garlic, shallot, oregano, crushed red pepper. You can substitute butter for olive oil if you like. I do red sauce with whole canned roma tomatoes and crush them my self, lots of garlic, onion, peppers, oregano, crushed red pepper, a bit of sugar, salt and pepper.
 
Miss Lily said:
Depends on the pasta dish I am preparing.

Most of the tomato based sauces I make contain red wine and are finished with fresh herbs.

Mushroom ragus contain beef stock and cognac.

Putanescas and bagna cauda must have anchovies.

All are prepared with 50/50 fresh and roasted garlic.
Click to expand...
I don't do enough roasted garlic. It's a hit everytime but I never think about it until it's to late.
 
DCGallim said:
I don't do enough roasted garlic. It's a hit everytime but I never think about it until it's to late.
Click to expand...

I roast two or three heads each time and keep covered in oil in small jar in the fridge. Keeps for a few weeks (except in my house).
 
Non creme sauces do well with a little bit of acid added to make them pop. A little bit of lemon juice in a red sauce does wonders. If you want it to be a bit more tomatoey you can add tomato paste.

Here's one of my fav pasta recipes:

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Ingredients
  • 8 ounces uncooked linguine
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic, divided
  • 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 3/4 cup diced onion
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 3/4 cups canned crushed tomatoes
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 14.5 -ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

Steps
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; keep warm.
  2. While pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic and shrimp; sauté or 3 minutes or until shrimp are done. Remove from pan; keep warm.
  3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomato paste and lemon juice; cook 1 minute or until slightly darkened. Stir in crushed tomatoes, salt, and diced tomatoes; cook 5 minutes or until thickened. Return shrimp to pan; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve over pasta.
 
Miss Lily said:
Depends on the pasta dish I am preparing.

Most of the tomato based sauces I make contain red wine and are finished with fresh herbs.

Mushroom ragus contain beef stock and cognac.

Putanescas and bagna cauda must have anchovies.

All are prepared with 50/50 fresh and roasted garlic.
Click to expand...
I cook with wine, sometime I put it in the pot too. lol
 
Timfoilhat said:
First I season the meat. I use half and half ground beef/ground pork. I press Italian seasoning into the meat along with a little salt and black pepper and cayenne pepper flakes. Kneed it all together with your hands. Press into the bottom of your sauce pot.
Click to expand...
Interesting technique. I have never tried it like this as I wait to put the seasoning in the sauce. Any idea how this changes the flavor of the end result?

I too will mix up meat, put grocery store generic sauce in, add some seasoning and call it good.

Believe it or not, what I have found is one of my favorite methods of making it is in the Instant Pot. Cook meat, put pasta on top and spread it out, add watery sauce and make sure the pasta is covered with liquid but do NOT stir. Pressure cook about 9 minutes, let release 5 minutes and then quick release. Stir at this point. Comes out as perfectly sauced pasta and far fewer dishes.
 
I just made a batch for dinner. I like seasoning the meat before cooking because I feel like it makes better tasting grease as it cooks... I don't drain the grease, I leave it there and mix it into the sauce. The meat is better and the sauce benefits.
 
I look in the spice rack and put everything that sounds Italian in my sauce. Never seasoned the meat before browning it, I bet that's good. It generally turns out pretty good, but I get vicious heartburn from anything loaded with garlic. Keeps me up all night.

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I start w turkey breakfast sausage believe it or not. One chopped onion. I use the cheap stuff for a base, then add basil, garlic (half a bulb), mushrooms, and finish it w sun-dried tomatoes.


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Timfoilhat said:
What do you guys/gals use to make your sauce great?

First I season the meat. I use half and half ground beef/ground pork. I press Italian seasoning into the meat along with a little salt and black pepper and cayenne pepper flakes. Kneed it all together with your hands. Press into the bottom of your sauce pot. Brown the meat and break it up into little pieces. Do not drain off the fat. Time to cheat...Open your favorite bottle of store bought sauce. I like something we get from World Market...Flame Roasted Tomato flavor. Dump that in there with the meat and simmer for like an hour. It's spicy and amazing.
Click to expand...
I do the same, however I add Italian sausage and some chili powder to mine. I drain the grease, however I'll try leaving it in next time to see how its received by the family.

I'm a big fan of seasoning the meat before the sauce hit the pot for better flavor. Same with taco meat or when I make chili.....with bean [emoji1787]

As an alternative, I've been using plant based meat alternative and some cremini mushrooms and the kids absolutely love it.

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I have an easy red sauce that involves country style pork ribs, your favorite jar sauce and any additions you want (onion, shrooms, peppers, olives etc), crock pot on low for 8 hours. Super easy and it always goes over well.
 
When making a good gravy you need tomatoes and whatever else you like for flavor. Philly is an Italian town and Im fortunate to have Italian friends to cook and can with and most anything goes and each family has their own recipe...lol. Pork bones added during the cook seem to be popular; they usually toss the pork out once finished. This really goes against my grain and Im happy to take care of discarded porcine. I like a marinara that has meat(bolognese) over a papperdelle(wide flat) pasta with fresh grated parm on top. My favorite is just regular crushed canned tomatoes with my home canned marinara and Ill just add any animal protein....delicious!
Rooster
 
Ugh.......

I'll give the proper reply to this question, in the morning........
 
Some of the water from the pasta
Pancetta/bacon and drippings
salt/pepper
egg yolk
cheese
 
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Mirac is correct: butter.
here is the "best red sauce" recipe....
(not mine) quoting now:

Among her most famous recipes is tomato sauce with onion and butter, and everything about it is a little unconventional.
The onion is unsauteed, the sauce simmers for less than an hour, and there's a lot of butter.
It's the easiest and, most likely, best red sauce you'll ever make at home. Here's what to do:

1. Add everything to the pot. Combine a 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes, 5 tablespoons of butter, a peeled and halved onion, and a few pinches of salt.

2. Simmer it. Bring tomatoes to simmer and cook for 45 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon every so often.

3. Season and serve. Season sauce to taste and discard onion before tossing with pasta. Pleeease don't be afraid of the butter.
It gives this sauce a velvety richness that tastes like something only a fancy restaurant can achieve.
(I realize "velvety" is an obnoxious food descriptor but it's truly the only word that works here.)
 
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