Anyone got a solid tomato sauce aka gravy

[AussieBear]

Anyone got a solid tomato sauce

One of me weak points in cooking is making a good well balanced italian tomato sauce. It seems to be luck when it turns out right.

This shit i made today had a sweet bitter sourness to it. I started with onions, shredded carrots and a lil salt to draw out the water from onions and carrot. sweated slow then turned up heat to brown......added a bit of raw sugar to help the caramelizing process and a lil garlic......

I can taste the sweetness in the sauce but it still has a blah sourness to it. I used fresh ripe roma and canned plums that i pulsed in a blender. dry oregano and dry basil. simmered for 50 minutes reducing it a tad and finished last 10 minutes with fresh basil. perhaps i cooked it too long with the dry herbs and it went bitter there. idk.... i made the same shit last week and it turned out decent.. i dont understand the tomater sauce i guess..

i tried to salvage with baking soda, butter and more sugar.. but the shit just went super sweet n sour blah..

i dont eat tomatoes or tomato based sauces much because the acidity gives me bad heartburn.. so i never really developed a consistent sauce. but im trying to learn... when making a meat spaghetti .....da bolognese or duh lasagna.. my meat sauce is more classic bologna style i guess.. celery,onion,carrot.... beef/pork mince.. wine, milk a lil tomato paste and stock.. simmer 2-3 hours.. not tomato heavy at all .......but yums..

Anyone got a good cant miss recipe. or tips to point out what im doing wrong or what the issue could be..

 

[Tater]

No recipe here to share, but I would have suggested adding grated carrots or baking soda but you've tried those. The only other ideas I've read are to use a little brown sugar instead of white, use canned tomatoes instead of fresh or just cook it as long as possible.

 

[Midway Fields]

You don't need da marinara, stick with da meat sauce mang. You need to add some Cantadina Tomato sauce and garlic to your meat sauce and it will be perfecto. Then a marinara recipe will not be needed as you will get enough tomato flavor there.

 

[AussieBear]

You don't need da marinara, stick with da meat sauce mang. You need to add some Cantadina Tomato sauce and garlic to your meat sauce and it will be perfecto. Then a marinara recipe will not be needed as you will get enough tomato flavor there.

yeah the meat sauce is fucking good as is.. so simple.. so guud.. i like bologna style... but garlic would definitely add another layer, it just doesnt need it though... but i normally make garlic green beans or garlic chili spinach as a side and will get that flavor mixing in with some bites....

being that its so guud and tomato heavy shit giving me the heartburn.. that kept me from developing a decent tomato sauce. however, it does have its place and i need one. been making some veggie pastas.....wanted to add more veg to the kids diet and limit oil use. cause in reality im good with just eating a modified pasta aglio e olio myself.. oil, garlic, chili and cheese (+veg as me mod)..

No recipe here to share, but I would have suggested adding grated carrots or baking soda but you've tried those. The only other ideas I've read are to use a little brown sugar instead of white, use canned tomatoes instead of fresh or just cook it as long as possible.

yeah, ill try brown sugar next time. Im just wondering if its the fresh tomato quality. different batch, different outcome.. maybe ill skin and deseed in the future too.

 

[TheWinman]

Sorry, I can't share it. I have the family old-world Sicilian recipe passed down from generations ago.

 

[Tater]

Sorry, I can't share it. I have the family old-world Sicilian recipe passed down from generations ago.

 

[Xuder O'Clam]

**** the onion, **** the carrot. It's supposed to be about the tomatoes, and freshness. Garlic, fresh basil, olive oil, and salt/pepper/sugar to taste are really all you need. Canned tomatoes are guaranteed ripe, but are usually salted already. Make sure fresh tomatoes are ripe before cooking.

It shouldn't be difficult to find your comfort zone if you keep it real simple. Then customize later.