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Seldom do I make sauce from scratch anymore. I just use jarred, and add to it if necessary.
My favorite is Francesco Rinaldi (Original or Sweet & Tasty Tomato). It's a local company, too. I especially like it for making pasta e fagioli, a favorite of ours.
How about you?
I use many different brands, and am partial to a few, the best known of which is Bertoli. Many times I will buy whatever is on special. Before trying a new brand, I always read the ingredients label. If soybean oil is one of the ingredients, or if there are any preservatives or artificial ingredients, I immediately put the jar back on the shelf. That eliminates many of the cheap brands, but if one is careful one can still find good quality sauce without spending a lot of money, or buying a premium brand.
My favorite sauce is Boves - the tomato and basil flavor. It is easy to modify if that is your thing, but it has a nice flavor all by itself. An, it is gluten-free and GMO free.
I can tell you which ones I don't like so far. I used to make from scratch but it's just me who eats it so I began experimenting. Cheaper to run the microwabe than the stovetop for an hour.
Hunt's in the can, Colavita and Shop Rite are terribly thin. The first two's flavor sucked. The Shop Rite tastes right but is too thin.
Rinaldi trditional marinara is the winner so far......
Most of the time, I don't even use marinara or meat sauce, jarred or homemade. I usually toss pasta with olive oil, garlic, chopped herbs, maybe grate some hard cheese on top, sometimes with some add ins like fresh spinach leaves if I have any on hand, or sundried tomatoes. Or a simple pesto from basil I grabbed out of the garden. I've never been that fond of red sauce.
Pasta dishes are not a staple for me. They are almost always my "throw together quickly because I'm short on time and/or energy" quick meal, and simmering a homemade marinara all day doesn't go well with that. Pasta's not a labor of love for me, it's what I do if I need something quick, cheap, and filling but still want a cooked meal. I'm never going to be the person who slow cooks a homemade tomato-based pasta sauce all day...I just don't like it that much.
I always use to make my own sauce, but not anymore. There is such a great selection now, I usually go with Classico (whichever one had the least amt of sodium) and I buy a sm jar of tomato paste and add that with a little water. I also drizzle a little olive oil in the sauce for added flavor.
There's a local Italian market here in Baltimore (Trinacria, since 1913), that cans their own in Mason jars-best store bought sauce I've ever had-needs nothing. But at $7-8/qt....
I usually buy the cheap stuff off the shelf, and then doctor it up with freshly sauteed onions, garlic, pepper flakes, bay leaves, oregano, basil, thyme (dried herbs work just fine for a long-simmered "gravy"), a dash of Worcestershire, and some red wine, thin it with water, or tighten it up with some paste-likewise, if going for a meat containing sauce, I may add some bones, beef or pork stock, or beef base in a pinch. Always avoid the super-sweet sauces, e.g., Ragu, etc.-you can't get the sugar out.
One sauce I can't make, and always buy: good old A-1.
There's a local Italian market here in Baltimore (Trinacria, since 1913), that cans their own in Mason jars-best store bought sauce I've ever had-needs nothing. But at $7-8/qt....
I usually buy the cheap stuff off the shelf, and then doctor it up with freshly sauteed onions, garlic, pepper flakes, bay leaves, oregano, basil, thyme (dried herbs work just fine for a long-simmered "gravy"), a dash of Worcestershire, and some red wine, thin it with water, or tighten it up with some paste-likewise, if going for a meat containing sauce, I may add some bones, beef or pork stock, or beef base in a pinch. Always avoid the super-sweet sauces, e.g., Ragu, etc.-you can't get the sugar out.
One sauce I can't make, and always buy: good old A-1.
AH yes, Trinacria, a wonderful Italian store!! They deliver their homemade sauces to many restaurants in the Baltimore-Washington area. Their homemade cannolis are also very good.
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