# Marinara - sour and "overcooked"?



## Hyperion (Jun 13, 2011)

despite many attempts, I'm still not satisfied with my marinara sauce. I always used canned crushed tomatoes. I have 2 problems compared to the good ones I have tasted in a restaurant:

1. after cooking (I don't cook it for a long time, maybe 20 minutes), it becomes overly sour

2. after cooking, it has this kind of "cooked tomato" taste. it's hard to describe, but it's not pleasant and you will taste it whenever you cook tomatoes. 

Wonder if anyone can help?


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## Rocklobster (Jun 13, 2011)

Canned, crushed tomatoes are a concentrated tomato product. I wouldn't use them for the main bulk of a marinara sauce. I would go with the canned diced or canned plumb. You can use a hand blender to grind them down to a nice consistency. Add a bit of tomato paste to give it some more thickness. Sometimes a bit of sugar helps mellow out that bitter or tart finish. Ground tomatoes taste a bit harsh for me. I use them as a base for soups or pizza sauce, but they get diluted quite a bit in these applications.


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

The tomatoes you are using are probably too acidic.  That's the sour taste.  You have to offset the acidity.  At the start of cooking, before you salt the sauce, add the tiniest pinch of baking soda to the sauce and stir it in.  There will be a little foaming.  That's the soda neutralizing the acid.  It takes a very little bit of baking soda to get the job done.  When you're OK with the acidity level, go ahead and salt to taste.


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## Hyperion (Jun 13, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> The tomatoes you are using are probably too acidic.  That's the sour taste.  You have to offset the acidity.  At the start of cooking, before you salt the sauce, add the tiniest pinch of baking soda to the sauce and stir it in.  There will be a little foaming.  That's the soda neutralizing the acid.  It takes a very little bit of baking soda to get the job done.  When you're OK with the acidity level, go ahead and salt to taste.


lol, I actually thought of adding baking soda to offset the acidity, but thought it would make the sauce very salty. 

Is marinara sauce supposed to be a "concentrated" tomato sauce, or "diluted" tomato sauce?


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

Hyperion said:


> lol, I actually thought of adding baking soda to offset the acidity, but thought it would make the sauce very salty.
> 
> Is marinara sauce supposed to be a "concentrated" tomato sauce, or "diluted" tomato sauce?



It's supposed to be a simple sauce with a relatively short cooking time.  Minutes, not hours.


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## Hyperion (Jun 13, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> It's supposed to be a simple sauce with a relatively short cooking time.  Minutes, not hours.


Do you add water to it? And if you use canned whole tomatoes, do you also use the juice that comes with it?


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

No water, everything in the can.  That's all the liquid you need.


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## Robo410 (Jun 13, 2011)

alcohol, such as red wine, releases flavinoids in tomatoes. After sauteing the onions etc, add some tomato paste and brown (pince) a bit, then add your wine and let it deduce a bit then add your bulk tomatoes.

chopped carrots cooked with the onion, using sweet onion like vidalia, adding fresh basil or ground fennel seed all help sweeten tomato sauce naturally. Obviously, adding some sugar will too.


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