Jarred pasta sauce

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giggler

Sous Chef
Joined
Dec 4, 2007
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Austin, TX.
Do Y'all have a favorite, consistent, widely available brand?

I guess it is, To taste, and there are many different flavors.

Do you use it often?

Thanks, Eric. Austin Tx.
 
Inexpensive double coupon is my favorite.

Most of the time I find that a large can of crushed tomatoes is the best value.

Aldi’s organic Simply Nature Tomato Basil jar sauce is a good value and has a place on my emergency shelf.

Try it as a soup with a pat of butter or a splash of heavy cream added at serving time.
 
No. In the time it takes pasta to cook, you can build a better sauce than from a jar.

I would consider a jarred sauce more for situations where I have a burner limitation--camping, or sever time crunch where I can't be in the kitchen even while the pasta cooks--but I don't have any jarred sauce in my pantry, so I guess in that situation, I wouldn't cook Italian pasta either. I'd go asian instead.


for canned dace idea--but oil canned tuna could go italian in a similar way.

You have to make your own, but this is a good jarred sauce that is not tomato...
 
The last time I cracked open a jar of spaghetti sauce I got a phone call from the groundskeepers at St. Joseph cemetery. It seems my Sicilian grandmother tore up the landscaping by rolling over in her grave and my mother kicked the door off her crypt.
 
Although %99 of the time I make my own with the 50+ quarts of tomatoes/ tomato products I have frozen from last years harvest, I always keep a few cans of Don Peppino's in my pantry. A few weeks back I was at a family function, and they used Rao's which was pretty good too. I have no problems with (Some) jarred or canned sauces, but I like simple. Tomato, garlic, salt , olive oil. ( occasionally some basil, onions, oregano, but I usually keep it simple). I find a lot the jarred sauces are over salted and sometimes have a weird consistency due to some weird thickening agent.
 

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When you couldn't get canned tomatoes in cans with no BPA, we used to buy Classico pasta sauces, which come in glass jars. There are a number of them that are made with only food ingredients and taste quite good. We also buy passata in glass jars and that makes a good base for a pasta sauce.
 
When feeding a family of six I generally made my own sauces, but would use a store based sauce and add to it.
Now, I just buy Classico - they have a lovely choices.
 
I make my own sauces. However, SO bought some RAO's for some dish she wanted to make. It was tasty and it didn't have a long list of non-food ingredients. From the nutrition label.

Ingredients: Italian Whole Peeled Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Onions, Salt, Garlic, Basil, Black Pepper, Oregano.
 
I buy store brand or Hunts Plain tomato (no spices, sugar, etc added) and add my own flavors to it.

I find most bottled sauce to be way to sweet.
 
Too funny, msmofet, I usually find my homemade sauces way too acidic, maybe that's why I like to add a jarred sauce to them. LOL
 
When I first started cooking ( decades ago), it all began with me buying canned soups or jarred tomato sauces and doctoring them up a bit. Sometimes I will still buy a prepared sauce, and kinda stretch it with my own ingredients . I love tomato based sauces and all the different varieties and home recipes. My sauce never comes out the same way twice cause I kinda use what I have available and go with it. One of the benefits of the jarred/ canned sauces is consistency . They will always taste the same as long as you buy the same brand and variety. So if your looking for that specific taste and you found it in aa store bought sauce, then you have a predictable outcome.
 
I'm kind of scared that garlic scored equal to or likely less than salt in that list.
I would guess that garlic weighs a lot less than oregano or basil measure for measure as they are dried leaves with a lot of air spaces between.
 
I agree about the dried herbs. Just seems either salty or light on the garlic
 
We use the home canned tomatoes. Thick sauce, or thin sauce, or diced in their own water. Ingredients: tomatoes, lemon juice.

The sauce for pasta we make is a jar or two of the tomatoes, ground fennel seed, thyme, home canned or frozen cooked mushrooms, diced onions. Cook until hot, or longer if you like it thicker. Salt when serving.
(if a tomato sauce is too acidic, put in a pinch of baking soda, and a T of sugar/honey--Our tomatoes haven't been overly acidic the past few years)
 
I agree about the dried herbs. Just seems either salty or light on the garlic

I don't think it's possible to draw a definite conclusion from and ingredient list because you don't know how much of each is used. There may be a minor difference between the garlic and salt or there may be a huge difference. If jarred sauce is something you're interested in, a minor expense to buy a small jar may be worth it.
 
I love this list, the opinions are so very Honest!

As I am getting older now (lazy), and cooking for one, I agree with all above.

When I harvest fresh tomatoes in late spring, early summer here, I make great fresh sauces.

But, my gosh, My tired easy pasta these days is.

Cook a half pound noodles, store in fridge

Add jarred sauce to a bowl with 5 frozen meatballs and hot pepper flakes.

nuke 2 min. then stir in some cold noodles.

Nuke 3 min. more

stir in fresh grated Parm Cheese

Serve with Bagged salad with Wishbone Italian dressing

2 pieces of buttered toast with garlic powder sprinkled on toast.

Sad, but true! Eric, Austin Tx.
 
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