Posted on 09/05/2024 5:45:17 PM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
1992 was a wild year. You couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing about Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart”; Wayne’s World was in theaters (though I was more of an Aladdin girlie at the time — I was 8), and restaurateur-actor Frank Pellegrino Sr. had the brilliant idea to package and sell marinara sauce from his family restaurant, Rao’s.
Fast-forward 30 years, and Rao’s Homemade Marinara is the undeniable GOAT of retail pasta sauces. As of 2022, Rao’s sales (which include the pasta sauces as well as other retail products, like frozen pizzas and shelf-stable soups) reached $580 million, and the company projects it will reach $1 billion in the coming years. Personally, as a marinara lover since childhood, I already knew Rao’s was the best (it even earned Hall of Fame status in this year’s The Kitchn Grocery Essentials), but I put the question to a few of my chef friends, and they were more than happy to back me up.
(Excerpt) Read more at thekitchn.com ...
Good idea. Thanks! I miss pasta on low carb. Pasta, potatoes, and rice are my favorites but I rarely eat them any more. I can earlier say no to sweets, but the starches...
That’s funny because I LOVE Thai food... Extra spicy please.
What’s your recipe? The only time I made tomato sauce from scratch I used a a basket of homemade tomatoes, ran them through the thingie that takes out all the skin and seeds, filled up my largest pot and cooked for HOURS. By the time it had cooked down I had about two quarts. So disappointing. Never thought of the slow cooker. Good idea. I really do want your recipe.
I work one night a week at a pizza shop. Run by two Itailian immigrants. Pizza is very good. They also do other dishes but utilize a lot of prepared products as they focus on the pizza. They use a canned pasta sauce that I love. Comes only in #10 cans and can be bought at Gordon Food Service. “el Dente!” is the name.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-marinara/
You can use olive oil instead of butter, add way more garlic, add worchester sauce in addition to or instead of balsamic vinegar, add red wine or chili flakes if you want.
I usually make a double batch at once.
I know this sounds wrong, but I assure you in this rare case canned tomatoes are better than fresh for this.
Another favorite for me is puttanesca, people will think it is the best ever if you don’t tell them it contains anchovies. Real puttanesca has lots of garlic but no onion at all
Jarred? Never heard of that brand..
Rao's Arrabbiata Sauce
Rao's Marinara Sauce
Rao's Southern Italian Pepper & Mushroom Sauce
Rao's Tomato Basil Sauce
So I don't use Rao's expensive marinara sauce. Either I use Paesana low sodium sauce or I make my own.
I come from a small town where it was a normal thing for a large group to get together if the cows needed medication, a hog needed to be butchered, a pond needed to be cleaned out, a porch needed to be re-built, etc. etc. Now, I've lived in my house over 30 years and only know 3 of my neighbors really well. I too miss those days.
I have a Sunday sauce that is five years old. I just keep freezing it and adding fresh stuff to it every time we use it. My Grandmother Lena, she swears her Sunday sauce was over fifty years old. Not sure I believe that one, but she did have that same pot in her fridge for a very long time. Took it out every Sunday, added some fresh tomatoes, garlic, onions and spices and then put that pot right back in the fridge after we were done eating.
If you’re going to use canned, use Centro pureed tomatoes and Centro tomato paste.
- One Onion and six cloves of garlic minced.
- Cover bottom of pot with oil and sweat the onions and garlic.
- Add half a can of tomato paste.
- Stir vigorously so it doesn’t burn.
- Add a big can of Centro tomatoes.
- Fill that can with water and add to the sauce.
- Add three bay leaves (Father, Son and Holy Ghost).
- Add a fistful of fresh basil, chopped up real fine.
- A little bit of salt and black pepper.
- A little bit of Oregano
- A pinch of chili flakes to give it some zing.
- A splash of whatever red wine you’re drinking while making your sauce. This is mandatory.
- A pinch of sugar.
Cover and simmer on low for several hours... don’t let it burn. Add a bit of water if you have to.
Cento San Marzano canned tomatoes are very good, but Wegman’s are even better, if you can get them. I’ve done cases for maybe a dozen Italian restaurants over the years, and I always ask to owners for their advice on marinara sauce. The universal answer is to use whole canned tomatoes, good olive oil, a fair amount of fresh basil, and keep it simple. From this, I have managed to compound what I and others believe is the best sauce ever. The only other tricks I use are to fry the few spices in tomato paste using the smallest touch of thyme and later add a speck of fresh lime juice.
In my opinion Silver Palate Marinara beat out Rao’s.
Yep, we make our own. Making some today using the oven roasted method to condense the water content before blenderizing.
Muir Glenn or Trader Joe’s Organic pasta sauce.
Eternal gratitude for the recipes. I come from a heritage of wonderful women who were horrendous cooks. Adoring food, I survived with a library of cookbooks and a group of friends who enjoyed cooking together on holidays. I cook for a husband who prefers frozen dinners and is upset to see a cooking utensil get dirty, and two white puff balls who think I’m the best cook ever. So I’m going to enthusiastically try your recipes and freeze almost all of it for future gourmet enjoyment while reading Free Republic.
This has been my goto spaghetti sauce recipe:
1 pkg sweet sausage patties (1 lb)
2 onions, large
2 jars traditional sweet basil tomato sauce
3 red peppers
1 green apple
2 pkgs portobello mushrooms, large
1 pkg raw sugar
Brown sausage, breaking up into minimum size chunks. Dump cooked sausage into spaghetti drainer and wash with hot water to remove excess fat. Put to side.
Slice onions, then chunk and cook in bottom of large pot in small amount of olive oil until sweet (maybe 1/2 hr).
Chunk peppers and apple and mushrooms. Put into pot and add tomato sauce and sugar.
Cook about 1 hour covered to merge flavors; cook over lower heat, stirring occasionally to keep bottom from burning, until sauce cooks down (1/2 - 1 hr more).
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