Rao’s
Damn. You’re fancy. That was like over seven dollars a jar at Aldi. Been curious though.
It’s very good. Kenji Lopez-Alt swears by it, and if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me lol. I get it at Costco, and I don’t think it was that expensive.
Rao’s is basically more sauce per jar than other brands because it’s not watered down to slime. I can sauce easily twice as many servings of pasta from a jar of Rao’s than Classico or Prego.
They did just get bought out so this is probably only true for another year or so.
Ya, I hate sauces that are watery and full of sugar. Give me the thicccc red sauce with a little bit of acid. Been wanting to try Rao, but it was expensive the last time I saw. Maybe I will get some this weekend before they fully transition to watery slop for that important bottom line.
I got two big jars for 9.98 at Sam’s today. They’re each almost twice the size of what Walmart carries, which is almost $5 a jar. 44 oz for $10 vs 13 oz for $5
It makes an excellent pizza sauce for home made pizzas too.
Here’s a 100 year old past sauce recipe that a good friend of mine shared on Reddit long ago. I’m happy to port it over to Lemmy for all of you even though it’s kind of off-topic in this thread: here goes
Tomato Sauce - Adam P.
100 Year Old Fabrizio Family recipe. Current iteration by my friend.
Okay. Go get:
4 - 28oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 - 6oz can tomato paste
1 small/medium brown onion
1 head garlic
olive oil
red wine
salt & pepper
crushed red pepper
dry herbs (thyme, basil, parsley)
dry bay leaves
Okay? So…
Get your biggest pot. Pour in enough olive oil to fully cover the bottom, maybe 1/8" to 1/4" deep. Not too much or it will pool in the sauce later. Put the heat on medium-low. Do not burn the olive oil. If it smokes, turn it down.
Chop the onion and add to the pot. Stir and then let them sweat until they are properly translucent. While that is happening, chop two or three garlic cloves. Throw out the green shoot in the middle. This is a non-digestible “germ” (as in “wheat germ”) and only causes heartburn and bad breath. Pitch it. Now put the chopped garlic in the pot and reduce the heat to low. Do not burn the garlic. If it browns (more than a little bit), start over. Sweat the garlic just like the onions.
Now it’s tomato time. First, mix the tomato paste into the onion/garlic/oil mixture. This makes it easier to soften up and mix into the full sauce. Now, pour all four cans of crushed tomatoes into the pot and stir until everything is fully mixed together. Look for clumps of tomato paste and try and work them into the sauce. Add one healthy glass of red wine (Chianti, Zinfandel, Cabernet, etc.), then drink the rest yourself!
We’re getting there!
Salt: about a whole tablespoon. Be brave. Mix it in.
Now, the herbs. Dealer’s choice here. I usually do two or three pinches of each…so roughly a teaspoon. Notice oregano is not in this recipe. You will not miss it, I assure you. Go ahead and add one or two pinches of crushed red pepper, but you can always add more to the food. Don’t get crazy. It does affect flavor as well as heat, so…
Black pepper: I only use pepper mills, so crank away at that until satisfied. I go heavy, but I love the stuff. Use your discretion.
Now add two or three whole bay leaves. You will be fishing these out later. They are not Good Eats.
Bring the heat back up to medium-low and simmer that pot for two hours. I don’t want to see a full boil. Stir regularly, especially the bottom. We don’t want anything burning or sticking to the bottom. If you need to turn it down, please do so. You can simmer this all damn day if you are so inclined, but two hours is really enough. Dig out the bay leaves before serving. You can jar this hot and freeze it, and it lasts practically forever in the freezer and fridge.
You are now the proud owner of a 100 year-old recipe from Penne, Abruzzo, Italy handed down through generations of Italian-Americans. I want my last meal on earth to be swimming in this sauce. (Wanna know how to make a mean lasagna ricotta filling? For starters, never ever use meat in lasagna.)
Damn, that’s pretty intense, but the results must be truly amazing. Julia Childs over here
Straight-up out of the jar onto your pasta, I think Raos is probably the best widely available option.
That said, I have yet to meet a jarred pasta sauce that didn’t benefit from a bit of tweaking, some extra herbs/spices, a splash of wine, some cheese, sauteing up some extras garlic & onions, etc.
In general, I don’t tend to think of jarred sauce as a totally finished product, it’s more of a shortcut that lets you skip most of the more labor intensive parts of making a sauce from scratch and skip to the finishing touches. Even the most lackluster bargain brand sauce can usually be dressed up to a pretty damn good sauce without too much effort.
My usual process is to finely chop up some onions and garlic, give that a good saute with some olive oil, maybe deglaze with some wine, add the sauce, then season to taste with some herbs & spices (normally oregano, basil, rosemary, black pepper, red pepper flakes will be a pretty safe bet, but I get a bit weird with it sometimes, taste as you go) finish it off with some Parmesan cheese, and of course a bit of the pasta water.
Recently I’ve just been doing cento crushed tomatoes (canned). You need to season it (at least salt and pepper dear God) and ideally add some onion and garlic, maybe mushrooms or meat. But I’m also the type to add additional seasoning and ingredients to “finished” store bought sauces anyway, so maybe you’re looking for something more complete
Okay, forget the meat and mushrooms, I tried to imply that those were optional. Let’s say you use that jarred minced garlic (I don’t like the stuff personally, but it’s easy). You’re going to be letting the sauce simmer anyway I hope, so while you wait you season to taste. Yes that’s one or two minutes that you could’ve scrolled on Lemmy while you wait for your sauce to heat up, though I guess if you don’t like cooking you might be content mixing a ladle of cold sauce with the still warm noodles.
Ya I think “more complete” would be accurate, but also low/no sugar content. I always open up good looking jars, and then upon tasting them, they are super sweet. Gimme that acid!
I’m gonna assume you mean best cheap jarred sauce.
I think Newman’s Own and Classico are the best under $3 at King Soopers.
One jar of classico tomato basil sauce One yellow onion chopped One can of diced tomatoes A few cloves of garlic chopped lots more basil butter trace amounts: cayenne, cumin
Meanwhile you’re browning some 80/20 ground beef in another skillet, and mix all that in including the fat at the end
