homemade pasta sauce taste rubbish!

WhitmoreReans

My secret top tip is red current or cranberry jelly - it adds the sweetness of sugar with an extra depth. The basics tomatoes taste really good with it. I have also been known to substitute it with marmalade when caught short - husband never knows the difference! hehe plus don't forget to season properly. Tomatoes really need it

Edindevon

sparky1664 wrote: »

If you are eating as is..on toast for example, maybe. often though, by the time you have added onion, garlic etc etc & simmered, I would doubt there is little difference in the finished product.

Rubbish in rubbish out is a pretty simple concept.

Why would you knowingly use inferior ingredients for the sake of a few pence?

Edindevon

BitterAndTwisted

Well, the inferiority is only something you're convinced about. I'm not.

Back to the OP: I think the key is to reduce the tomato sauce quite a bit and ensure it's properly seasoned.

Edindevon

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Well, the inferiority is only something you're convinced about. I'm not.

As I've already said open the two tins and compare them. It is 100% undeniable that one is inferior to the other.

Edindevon

jamesbrownontheroad

To get the best value homemade tomato sauce, I only ever buy tins of whole tomatoes, never chopped (you get a better ratio of tomato to water). Start by gently frying a finely chopped red onion in butter or oil until soft. Add the tomatoes and a dash of red wine. Add a good healthy squidge from a tube of tomato paste. Let it simmer on a low heat over a half hour, gently stirring every so often. It'll thicken up and be much more appealing. I always have a jar of Lidl's red or green pesto in the door of the fridge - a teaspoon of that just before serving will substitute if you don't have fresh herbs. If you have herbs, throw as many as you like in a little earlier on, although fresh is always going to be better than dried, especially if it's basil, which anyone can grow on a window cill (even here in Glasgow).

However, as a student, I discovered the bargain secret to cheap yet rich tomato sauce... I used to whisk in a single egg while heating a can's worth of tomatoes on the hob. Immediately asks texture, creaminess and volume.

on-the-count-of-three

Edindevon wrote: »

Rubbish in rubbish out is a pretty simple concept.

Why would you knowingly use inferior ingredients for the sake of a few pence?

Edindevon

Oh dear!

Not sure where I said I would knowingly use "inferior" ingredients, just that as far as I was concerned Napolina was just as awful as other brands of tinned tomatoes..which is why I would never use them either, nothing whatsoever to do with the cost. As I said in a previous post, I always use passata and tomato puree. Sometimes when I have it in I also used the sun dried tomatoes in a jar.

Having said that, I'm not a label snob. If I like a product I use it, whether it be a value product, own label or whatever. Also, neither am I foolhardy enough to pay £1 for any item simply because of the brand if I find cheaper products which are just as good for 25p.

Some people are on very tight budgets & have to economise where they can, but that doesn't mean they are eating rubbish. (It's just as likely that some of the higher priced items are higher priced because they have been messed about with more in the form of added salt, colourings etc to make a more 'appealing' product.) Surely everyone is entitled to buy what they actually like without being made to feel they should be using a particular brand? By all means recommend the brand you like to use, but surely there is no need to also make judgements on the personal tastes of others who may hold different opinons to you?

Sorry Op..there seem to be enough ideas on this thread for you to have a little play with & I hope you get it sorted.

uolypool

I after months of trying add passatta instead of tinned toms and a huge glug of red wine to mine;)

rinoa778

Home made sauce might not taste like the jarred stuff but it tastes good because it contains essence of self satisfaction from making it.

I don't do this myself but I have noticed some sauces use wine. Could this be the missing ingredient? How about some cream to enrich it?

Oldernotwiser

rinoa778 wrote: »

Home made sauce might not taste like the jarred stuff but it tastes good because it contains essence of self satisfaction from making it.

I don't do this myself but I have noticed some sauces use wine. Could this be the missing ingredient? How about some cream to enrich it?

With tomatoes, wine yes - cream no!

Squirrel77

Maybe its the herbs that make it taste a little metalic. I find some dried herbs taste a little metalic.

Simple pasta sauce only needs tinned toms, tom puree, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, bit of sugar and herbs (Basil and Oregano).