Spaghetti sauce

[~sudsshane]

For RedPack order at~

www.Gristedes.com

You will also see alot of other hard to find products on this site.
Ajax laundry powder, Bluette to name a few.

 

[58limited]

Redpack question

In my web searches, I found that Red Gold,the company that makes Redpack, makes tomato products under a few different names: Red Gold, Redpack, and Tuttorosso. Do these taste the same (are they the same)?

Shane, I checked out Gristedes. Unfortunately, shipping costs might be too high for me to try Redpack. However, Redpack lists brokers in Texas that I can contact, so maybe I'll find them here.

 

[danemodsandy]

Redpack

One overlooked source for Redpack is Big Lots. For some reason, Redpack tomatoes turn up there every once in awhile. When they do, I stock up. Funnily enough, Big Lots gets some stuff that I'd gladly pay premium prices for, like Redpack tomatoes. If it wasn't for them, I would have to order Shearer's Potato Chips (my favourite) online, at a high price. Big Lots has 'em often enough that I'm seldom without.

 

[pturo]

Sudshane has got it down! Also, he is right- Hunts sucks. There are cheaper and better products, I like Red Pack too, but buy just about whatever is on sale except the dreaded Hunts. Real Italians have two sauces: one is gravy: which is just tomato based, the other is Sauce: which is meat flavored, usually pork. A quarter stick of butter keeps the acidity down. Italians do not count cholesterol, nor do they rinse the pasta in the colander, just drain it.

 

[frigilux]

Veg, as you can see, there are as many variations of red sauce as there are people. My recipe is very close to Shane's (and my choice of tomato products is Muir Glen), so I won't repeat it.

Here's my need-a-fresh-homemade-tasting-sauce-quick recipe. It fools people every time.

1 can Hunt's spag sauce (I use the Traditional variation)
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (or diced tomatoes which have been whirled in the food processor a few seconds)
A little salt, oregano, basil, ground black pepper to taste

Simmer on range for 10-15 minutes. I like to toss meatballs into the sauce, but you could add Italian sausage or nothing at all. The can of crushed tomatoes cuts the over-cooked/processed/seasoned taste of store-bought sauces and gives it a bright, fresher tomato flavor.

No muss, no fuss.

 

[sudsmaster]

I enjoy making spaghetti sauce when the mood hits. Haven't done if for a while, but I have stocked up on some supplies.

Of course fresh (or frozen) whole tomatoes are best, but frankly there is not a lot of difference between fresh/frozen and good quality canned.

I like the Del Monte Italian style cut tomatoes - good blend of tomatoes and herbs. Good enough to eat by itself, so you know it makes a good sauce.

I generally don't follow a set recipe, but I usually add:

canned mushrooms
hot peppers from the garden (fresh or frozen)
garlic - lots of fresh chopped
chopped onions
fresh oregano from garden
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
grated parmesan
diced zucchini

Sometimes I get a little creative and add some unusual ingredients - like pureed avocado, or coconut milk (canned). The coconut milk gives it a very interesting rich taste.

For the meat component, that can vary from browned ground beef to brown italian sausage to diced cooked chicken or turkey. Or it can be vegetarian only.

For thickening, I've tried tomato paste and wheat flour. But sometimes it's fine just the way it is, even if it's a bit thin.

My usual method is to taste as I go. If I'm unsure of a new ingredient, I'll take an ounce or so out of the pot, add a dab of the new ingredient, and taste. I figure if it tastes good on the spoon, it will taste good on pasta.

 

[panthera]

Hunts versus others

I did a fair amount of cooking the last weeks while back in the 'States. Since fresh tomatoes in January are not exactly what I consider tomatoes (can you say shoe leather? sure you can. I thought gen-mod was going to solve that problem???) I used various preserved products.
Best of all was organic tomato juice with added chopped Hunt's tomatoes out of the can.
Second best were the organic tomato sauce bases (no high-fructose corn syrup, no MSG).
The others were ok, but gosh - I did not find Hunt's that bad. And I very much like that they don't use MSG or corn syrup in their stuff (at least not in the cans I was using).
Two minor notes.
I have never seen any of my Italian friends (the geographically Italian ones, not the Italian-Americans) use ground beef, dried garlic or oregano. Not knocking the Italo-American cuisine, damn good stuff. But real Italian sauces are quite different.
The baking soda kills Vitamin C, true. But I do occasionally use it as an acid regulator. If you don't add any other sodium (salt) it can also add a very nice, darker flavor.
Now don't get me going on what is called "Italian" sausage...and tomato paste. What on earth is that?
The hallmark of the real Italian sauce is freshness and purity.

 

[agiflow]

I also use the Redpack tomato sauces when i make a huge batch on a sunday.

I use about 6-8 29 oz. cans of sauce and one of same size puree. Spices are fresh garlic and onion with some basil and oregano..i never measure the stuff as my family has been doing this for years,..so i learned as i went along.

Meatballs are made with ground pork, veal and beef. I have no recipe for it, i just throw in s&p, basil..a little parmesan cheese and an extra large egg to the mix for every pound of beef...keeps them very light. I find beer in the mix works very well also, but i generally use water.

Pork neck bones really add the flavor.

After frying all the meats..we just throw it in a 12 qt stock pot and simmer all day long...that is some fine eating.

 

[frigilux]

Keven---My mom was from Italy and her spaghetti sauce was also very 'simple' by American standards. A minimum of ingredients (usually basil, fresh garlic and some ground black pepper) and a short cooking time. She'd occasionally throw meatballs into the sauce, but that was about it. It tasted fresh and uncomplicated.

 

[rp2813]

Sudsmaster Rich that is a very simple and fairly authentic recipe, although I'm sure there are some purists who don't use anything canned. The one time I used fresh tomatoes it was so much work blanching and peeling them etc. and the sauce came out way thin.

My mom & grandmother used canned whole tomatoes. Dump them in a bowl and get hands in there and crush them. Now that diced and crushed tomatoes are readily available, that's what I use. Never used tomato paste. That was always avoided.

The strange thing is that no matter how closely I think I'm following mom's recipe, my sauce never tastes quite the same as hers.

 

[panthera]

eternal change in consistancy

Eugene, that was exactly how my dad's Italian mom did it. Fresh was more important than anything else. And that is the way I know sugo in Italy. Sure, there are complex, three day recipies. But most good Italian cooking is that way because it is fresh and bursting with vitality.
Meatballs are another American "Italian" contribution which, like pizza, are vastly more popular in the Old Country today than they were 100 years ago.
Just not the oregano and powdered Garlic, thank goodness.
Here is my favorite busy day Tomato Sauce, found it on the back of DeCeeco pasta about 20 years ago:
400g firm ripe tomatoes
1 small bunch of sweet basil
1 Onion (white)
4 Tb extravigine Olive Oil
In a non-iron pot, heat olive oil and sauté the chopped onion until just transparent. Add the chopped tomatoes and most of the basil. A bit of salt and pepper to taste, simmer 10 to 12 minutes. Add the rest of the basil just before serving.
A classic - simple and idiot proof (my favorite part.) Also much closer to the typical "real" Italian sauce then the gummy, goo-y overly sweet stuff you so often get in restaurants here in Germany.
Question: Who has the best "Italian" cooking in the 'States? Chicago? San Francisco? What used to be "Little Italy?"

 

[oxydolfan1]

Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, and South Philly.

 

[hoover1060]

Red Pack tomaters!

Hey Shane,
I did some looking online, mainly because the Red pack brand didn't ring a bell with me. From what I gather the Red Pack brand is part of the "Red Gold" family?
Thats the brand of diced tomatoes I always buy, as they are available at the two Grocery stores I shop at most often(a small local store called the "Pik Kwik" and the Jewel-Osco in Schaumburg.
I'll be looking more closely at Jewel next time I am there for Red Pack.
No more Contadina for me!

 

[~sudsshane]

Yes Jeff..RedPack is part of the RedGold family. I promise once you try them there is no going back to other canned tomatoes.

Have fun!

 

[vivalalavatrice]

Eccomi! Ve la do io la vera ricetta degli spaghetti al sugo

OH MY GOD! I'm still smiling...really spechless )
I couldn't answer to everyone so I'll make "il punto della situazione"

First of all...
Italy could be compared to the States...nothing is the same state-to-state, so in each regions of Italy there will be a different way to do the "spaghetti al sugo"...
I should say in truth that they are tipically from southern Italy anyway, cause in northern people prefer kind of pasta as "tagliatelle" or "rigatoni"...

TOMATE SAUCE
This is very simple to do by yourself, although I know you prefer doing shortly to buy done

1. Peal tomatoes, and you can do it easier throwing them into boiling water so that the peal can get off...
2. Then cut them "a cubetti", it means cut tomateos and make it boil in salted water for at least 15 min.
3. Drop and liquidize them (you can use quitely a blender or a a standmixer) ---> DONE! The tomatoes sauce is done to be used in any receipes

If you prefer to buy it into the supermarket, then Del Monte is good, as well as Cirio or DeRica, Santarosa...
Here specially during September people often in their house do the tomato sauce to be saved in bottle to use it during the following seasons without buy it outside, but I don't absolutely pretend you to do it abroad, it's a ver tipically Italian tradition called "Conserva".

Most of what you have said is good! But let me tell you something that never should be done doing the Sauce:

- NEVER use garlic and onion together! Everything wuold be very hard to "metabolize" One OR the other...CHOICE by flavour you prefer...me garlic!
- NEVER use much than a spoon of oil per person!
- NEVER add meat (whatever you add!), and vegetables! Apart from carrots and lovage that are a must if you put onion, which together do what we call "battuto di verdure"

At the end
PHASES:

1 - SOFFRITTO: This is the starting of everything, if you wrong in this phase you will fail all!
Blend carrots, lovage and onion OR garlic, than everything in a large pan with oil and a bit of water... VERY LOW FIRE! This is the secret, the lowest your fire the better your "soffritto"
2 - The main ingredients: Meat, Vegetables (not together!), olives and gammon ("puttanesca", my favourite!)...as you want your sauce to become add your favourite flavours...If you don't want to add nothing is good the same...step ahead
3 - THE LAST: Tomate sauce! Here if you put only fresh tomatoes scrubbed with a bit of basil is the softest sauce ("basilico & pomodoro fresco")...otherwise keep everything a bitter warmer than soffrito and after maximum 12-13 min the sauce is ready!

IN THE MEANWHILE COOK THE SPAGHETTI!)) I prefer PENNE, but even spaghetti would be good after a day at the office destktop!!

Ah, DeCecco get often overcooked, better AntonioAmato, Barilla, Voiello, Divella...but Barilla is the best seller here and there I think to

Bye, and if someone of you said "In bocca al lupo"... I answer "crepi!" )

Good BYE
Diomede

PS: Where you can have the best Italian cuisine better than here!?!?!? COME and try! "Due penne al pomodoro si fanno in quattro e quattro otto!"It would be more difficult to translate in English the incredible amount or receips the italian cuisine have got...but if are interesint in somthine tell me and I'll do it for you!

 

[aquarius1984]

Thats very interesting about the Pasta brands, I personally alwaya buy De Cecco pasta on recommendation of Hugo Arnold who reckoned it was the best selling pasta in his How to buy the best, cookbook.

and I agree about the Cirio tomatoes, although I tend to buy their passata and Tesco tomatoes which are of course ~Italian tomatoes, much the same as Cirio or Napolina.

anyway, Diomede I love your posts and especially this one, Im reading one of my favourite novels about food The Food Of Love which is probably really cheesy combining Italian guys, American Women, Sex and Food and commotion but I love how certain passages concentrate on food Id never dream of eating in Italy, like you say Italy has many recipes and id rather have a guy like yourself cook for me than attempt it myself.
I may be a chef but to get into the heart of italian cusine I feel is impossible unless you are Italian.

Anyone can produce much of the French stuff I was taught at college, its all a matter of Recipe.
Italian cookery is about the Region.

Nick

 

[panthera]

There you have it folks:

Diomede - beautiful. I don't worry about overcooking my pasta cause I test it the only right way: I try it! If it tastes almost but not quite al dente, then it's time...
Long as we're on the subject, where did this perversion begin of cooking pasta in only simmering water, and not enough of it anyway?
Then "washing" it under cold water?
Ugh...
Dry pasta should be cooked from start to finish in rapidly boiling water and forget the throwing a piece on the wall nonsense.
Lots of water.
As I tell my German friends, take twice the amount of water you are sure is too much then double it again.
(Barilla is pretty good but too damned expensive in the 'States).

 

[maytagbear]

Really?

The Barilla pasta in my supermarket is one of the most reasonably priced brands..even less expensive most of the time than Mullers.

It's DeBoles and DeCecco that's expensive for me, and I generally don't get them, but get the Barilla.

Now, a new direction...anyone ever make pesto with parsley? It's quite good, and large quantities of parsley are cheaper to buy than large quantities of basil (which here, in the winter, is sold in little plastic boxes next to the out-of-season imported asparagus...)

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[mrboilwash]

(Barilla is pretty good but too damned expensive in the &#39

Keven, I have the impression that all everyday things like food or detergents are very expensive in the States.
Even bottled water costs a fortune. Ok store brand Cola was pretty cheap...

My favorite spaghetti sauce is very simple and basic and always turns out delicious. A former coworker who was married to an Italian adviced me to use just a few ingredients and according to his wife the whole secret of a good meat sauce is at least one hour cooking time.
So I use lots of miced meat (beef only), relatively small amounts of tomato paste and onion, olive oil, a pinch of rosemary and most important a good soup cube instead of salt.
Some Red wine and a carrot doesn`t hurt but it tastes good without as well.

 

[panthera]

Stefan,

You are right - good foods in the US are very expensive relative to here. To be honest, except for books (Preisfix!) and energy, everything is much more expensive in the US. Funny how convinced so many Americans are that everything in Europe is expensive...our quality here is much higher and the prices lower. Except for the Scandinavian countries. Whow! Have to rob a bank or two before you go eat there. (Great food tho').
I also add a vegetarian, non-msg soup cube or two instead of salt, tastes better.
As a vegetarian I don't do the meat and can't stand health-food alternatives of any kind. So I do the simplest sauces without meat but with one fresh herb. Parsley or basil.
Red wine with a carrot sounds good, have to try it soon.
Am having dinner with friends from Sicily tomorrow. Don't have to tell you how good that will be.
The further south in Italy you go, the sweeter the pastry and the stronger the coffee.
And the olives and oils from the south...
Lucky me.