Cooking: Pasta Sauce

Ahab · Aug 10, 2009

Two meats I have not seen mentioned are short ribs and boneless pork roast.

I used both in the same red sauce. I brown both and cook until the pork roast (around 2 lbs.) is just white flecks in the sauce. I seem to prefer chili and red sauce after they have been refrigerated overnight as well.

I remove the bones fro the short ribs before serving. They are usually almost falling apart by this time.

itsstillmatt · Aug 10, 2009

I think these are all far too complicated, if you are talking about a tomato sauce. Best is to heat some olive oil with crushed garlic until the garlic starts to brown. Then remove the garlic and add some red pepper flakes. Finally, add chopped San Marzano tomatoes or, even better in summer, cherry tomatoes cut in half, a little sliced basil and salt, and cook for only a few minutes. Tomato sauces should be fresh, and not cooked too much. American grandmother tomato sauces are long simmered, but they are not very good.

For long cooked sauces, make Bolognese or Genovese, which are meat based and stand up to long cooking.

lawyerdad · Aug 10, 2009

Originally Posted by Piobaire

I got the recipe from a Yank. One, Alton Brown.
Alton Brown's not a real American name. And certainly not an eyetalian-american name.

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger

That much sugar is not that strange...and its not Canadian bullshit, its Sicilian bullshit...them folks love em a sweet sauce.

.

Yeah, I know. But I'm much more comfortable dissing Canucks than dissing Sicilians.
As my relatives would happily explain to you, Italian culture becomes more civilized and refined the farther north you go. No sugar in my grand-pap's sauce.

Manton · Aug 10, 2009

I learned to make the classic French tomato sauce in cooking school, and think it is better than the Italian version.

kwilkinson · Aug 10, 2009

Originally Posted by Manton

I learned to make the classic French tomato sauce in cooking school, and think it is better than the Italian version.

It most definitely is.

Douglas · Aug 10, 2009

Nothing compares to a properly executed bolognese, the longer the simmer the better. problem is it takes all damned day.

Douglas · Aug 10, 2009

Originally Posted by Manton

I learned to make the classic French tomato sauce in cooking school, and think it is better than the Italian version.

care to explain the difference?

Bhowie · Aug 10, 2009

Originally Posted by Douglas

care to explain the difference?

yez plz

itsstillmatt · Aug 10, 2009

Originally Posted by Douglas

Nothing compares to a properly executed bolognese, the longer the simmer the better. problem is it takes all damned day.
I prefer La Genovese. If anybody is interested, I'll try to dig up our recipe, but it is basically a pound and a half piece of rump that you cook for several hours with a couple pounds of sliced onions, some pancetta, a little proscuitto, olive oil, some water and, if you wish, a tomato or two. At the end, everything has sort of melted down. You serve the beef as one course, and the onion beef sauce on ziti.

Douglas · Aug 10, 2009

I'll have to look that up. If I understand what you're talking about, I've done something somewhat similar with a large beef roast - just sort of steam/braise it for several hours in a dutch oven on top of a whole mess of sliced onions with olive oil and some pancetta. I served the resulting mushy onion mess as a gravy of sorts, but I can see the sauce being good on pasta.

The only problem I seem to have with those big pot roasts is that the presentation is awful. The meat is always falling apart and kind of ugly - part of it is probably i'm just using cheap cuts for this sort of thing and it ends up with ugly *****/cartilagey spots.

Manton · Aug 10, 2009

French tomato sauce starts with a mirepoix (carrot, onion, celery, diced small). You get the sugars, plus a lot of flavor, from that. Then you add some white stock (not water or wine) and tomatoes concasse (cut very small). It's a short simmer, at most an hour. The herbs used to season it are also different (no Italian basil, oregeno, etc.) At the end, it is pureed in a food mill, so it is smooth, not chunky.

The color is a light, orangish red/pink and the taste is very different.

ChicagoRon · Aug 10, 2009

Originally Posted by Douglas

I'll have to look that up. If I understand what you're talking about, I've done something somewhat similar with a large beef roast - just sort of steam/braise it for several hours in a dutch oven on top of a whole mess of sliced onions with olive oil and some pancetta. I served the resulting mushy onion mess as a gravy of sorts, but I can see the sauce being good on pasta. The only problem I seem to have with those big pot roasts is that the presentation is awful. The meat is always falling apart and kind of ugly - part of it is probably i'm just using cheap cuts for this sort of thing and it ends up with ugly *****/cartilagey spots.
If your pot roast is that messy, you are either failing to cut against the grain properly, or you are overcooking. ... or you are exaggerating how ugly it is.

fcuknu · Aug 10, 2009

sounds like soup, very appetizing.

Douglas · Aug 10, 2009

Interesting, M.

It's actually pretty similar to what I do - I use carrot, onion, and celery only - I've never been big on adding oregano or basil, though the canned tomatoes I use do sometimes have basil in them. I don't use stock though, and I would never go through the trouble of a food mill afterwards. Talk about a pain in the butt.

All due respect to Matt, but I really don't like tomato sauces that haven't been simmered for a while - I prefer about an hour, because I find an unsimmered sauce overly bright and, I may be butchering terminology here, acidic. Maybe tart is the word.

The only sauce I like to cook quickly like that is amatriciana, where you want some brightness and tartness with the fattiness of the pancetta and the heat.

Douglas · Aug 10, 2009

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

If your pot roast is that messy, you are either failing to cut against the grain properly, or you are overcooking. ... or you are exaggerating how ugly it is.

How does one overcook a braise? I thought braised meat was pretty much supposed to fall apart. No doubt my carving skills are zero, though.

Cooking: Pasta Sauce

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