Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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July 23, 2015 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Valencia, CA
Posts: 258
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My First Sauce Taste Test
Gotta say I'm a little disappointed. The sauce was good, don't get me wrong, real good. The thing is, we have an international market close by that sells canned sauce from Italy for cheap and to be honest, they tasted the same. Maybe I'm doing something wrong or is sauce just sauce?
Fresh homegrown tomatoes are way different than the market variety and much tastier...but the sauce? Not as much wow factor versus effort. For me at least. - Any advice?
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July 23, 2015 | #2 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Quote:
Several decades ago most of my tomato friends switched from using paste varieties to using the BEST tasting fruits they had at the time, regardless of color and size, to make sauce from. Just cook it down a bit more than making sauce with mainly paste varieties and you've got some great tasting sauce. There were some who would make green or orange sauce or whatever, just for the novelty of it, and of course a few who made white sauce to use on white pasta, just b'c they wanted to. Carolyn
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Carolyn |
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July 23, 2015 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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To me sauce is just sauce, I dont even like it that much.
I would rather start from tomato paste for cooking. Worth |
July 23, 2015 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10
Posts: 9,283
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It would be helpful to know what you put in. What was your recipe. My sauces always end up more tasty than anything I could buy. That's what your result should be, probably will be with a bit of tweaking.
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July 23, 2015 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NJ, zone 7
Posts: 3,162
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I start my sauce with cubed onion, sweet pepper and than add tomatoes. I only cook it for 40 minutes. Salt to taste. It will be too much juice in it still. I do not care because I would cook my pasta al dente and finish cooking it in the sauce. That turn it off and walk away for few minutes. All the juices will be absorbed and pasta with sauce is ready. I like chunks of tomatoes in my sauce. You will not get that from the can. My son refuses to eat any other. Sauce tastes like it was just made fresh.
I use the best tasting tomatoes of different colors, like Carolyn mentioned above. BTW the best ever for me was sauce made with Black Pineapple/Ananas Noire (4-colors, RL) tomato.
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Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!” Last edited by efisakov; July 23, 2015 at 07:06 PM. |
July 23, 2015 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,916
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Plain sauce , is one thing and flavored one is another.
You can make a best tasting sauce from any tomatoes, by adding, herbs, spices. I prefer making plain, plain sauce and add all the herbs spices FRESH when I open the jar and use it. Sauce is a food with many ingredients beside the tomato. Gardeneer |
July 23, 2015 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: NE Texas
Posts: 425
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Well, if the canned sauce is really good, and yours tasted the same,than I'd count that as a success!
If not, back to the drawing board and explore other varieties to grow. |
July 23, 2015 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: NE Texas
Posts: 425
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I made tomato soup tonight with a mix up mash up of tomatoes from my garden.
Tomatoes: peeled Bloody Butcher Eva purple ball Earls Faux Consulto Genevese (BB) strain Sautéed in evoo,with garlic(I grew) A touch of butter( trying real hard to be good) Salt pepper Chopped shredded carrot Chopped celery Onion Chicken broth Oregano,lemon thyme, and sweet basil from the garden. Whirred with the stick blender and slow cooked it on low for about 15 to 30 minutes. I'm letting it sit in the fridge overnight to "blend and marry". I figure sauce the same way, just cook down more to concentrate the flavors? |
July 24, 2015 | #9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2008
Location: DFW, Texas
Posts: 1,212
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Marsha - would you mind sharing your sauce recipe? I've still got a ton of san marzanos and they continue to produce when everything else has nearly stopped. I've tried a couple of sauces with them and haven't been too impressed with either.
Dewayne Mater |
July 24, 2015 | #10 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Quote:
NOT during the canning process but when it is about to be eaten.' My wife taught me this along with putting a dash of A1 and Worcestershire sauce in it. Along with garlic onions sweet peppers paprika and such. It is the bomb. Worth |
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July 24, 2015 | #11 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Toronto
Posts: 413
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Quote:
Heat olive oil to medium, put in 1/2 white onion (just sliced in half, not chopped), or maybe both halves, 1/2 of a green pepper, and saute/sweat/soften for a bit until they just start to brown, then add some chopped garlic and stir for maybe 30 seconds, and then pour in home-jarred pureed tomatoes, including basil, and add 1/2 jar of water for every jar of tomatoes. Throw in a handful of small carrots (whole bagged baby carrots work fine). Add some black pepper and salt (sparingly on the salt, as the sauce will be reduced...but some at this stage is important). Put lid on until it comes to a simmer, then lid off or askew to slowly simmer until reduced by about a third, at which point you can salt to taste. But if you really want it to taste good, once it starts simmering add some fresh (i.e. non-baked or fried) meatballs, or nice sausages, or nice pork ribs, and let them cook in and add flavour to the sauce. and then at the end I pluck out the 1/2 pepper, the onion, and the carrots, which again were all left in big pieces and are easy to remove (and if you miss some no big deal). Adding peppers to sauce is a huge mistake in my opinion, really messes with the flavour, aside from the 1/2 green pepper in this one (or maybe a few jalapenos, to give a background hint of green). Covering up the taste of the tomatoes (rather then just enhancing them) with lots of herbs and spices and other vegetables seems to kind of defeat the purpose. Might as well by a jar of prego thick and chunky if you are going to do that! I prefer a recipe that allows the great flavour of fresh ripe tomato to shine through. That's the difference between tomato sauce and just pasta sauce. Last edited by Anthony_Toronto; July 24, 2015 at 11:05 AM. |
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July 24, 2015 | #12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Valencia, CA
Posts: 258
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Thanks for the kind replies, I'm using Martino's Roma for the tomatoes. My procedure was quite simple. Toss them whole in simmering water until they split and became soft, ran them through a strainer removing the seeds and skin, heated a pan with a little olive oil (not the character) and browned some garlic...Tossed in the sauce with some salt and a pinch of fresh basil and reduced. I really wanted a basic sauce to see what base-line would be like. And I guess that's exactly what I got.
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July 24, 2015 | #13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Martino's Roma is the problem for sure.
This is about the same tasteless tomato they use to make commercial sauce. You wont get anything like that as far as taste is concerned from the more flavorful tomatoes. Worth |
July 24, 2015 | #14 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
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Quote:
This is my basic recipe, except I use tomato purée that I can using a variety of pastes tomatoes from my garden. Only difference is that I add a pinch of red pepper flakes in with the garlic, and then add a bit more fresh basil towards the end of the cooking process. I've used this same recipe with store bought tomato purée and it definitely has a different flavor. My husband agrees and prefers it made with my tomatoes. So maybe try using a variety of tomatoes next time. In my opinion, even if you end up with something comparable to the best sauce you can buy, nothing beats the satisfaction of having grown the tomatoes yourself! |
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July 24, 2015 | #15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Montreal
Posts: 1,140
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I agree it really depends on which variety you are using. For canning purposes I prefer the San Marzano tomatoes which I cook with fresh garlic, and some salt, run it through the tomato mill a few times and then cook it down till it's really thick and can it with some basil.
But for immediate eating, no matter which tomatoes you use, I found it has to be cooked down and I use a lot of fresh garlic and spices. One of my biggest surprises was Orange Strawberry. It made the most phenomenal sauce, sweet and tart and a gorgeous orange color. But not everyone like sauce that color |
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