Offsetting "Sour" edge on tomato sauce...

How can I take the "sour" edge off a tomato sauce without making it sweet?...

I'm trying to make a basic tomato sauce for use on a pizza...

The sauce consists of a ratio of:
3 Tbl Olive oil (any suggestion on type
of oil to use?)
28 oz Can of Crushed Tomatoes

Simmer until desired consistency...

I add spices as the sauce cools...

Thank you for any suggestions you may have...

[Dlee]

Go ahead and add alittle sugar, but not too much to make it sweet. Sugar in dishes is like the little "ding "of a triangle in a song, you don't really hear it but if it is not there you know something is missing. Also, as soon as you turn off the fire add your herbs.

I notice you did not have salt and pepper on your ing. list. I would also add a little S/P too. If the sauce becomes too sweet for you, balance the sauce with alittle more salt.

D.Lee

[ April 12, 2001: Message edited by: Dlee ]

[Angel]

Dlee is correct about the sugar, but I do think I would be more inclined to use brown sugar rather than the white.
Try with 1 teaspoon for starters and go on from there.

[cape chef]

Start by gently carmelizing some minced onion to release there natural sugers. Then build your sauce which ever way you like. The onions should give you the balance your looking for in a natural way.
just my 2 cents
cc

[Kimmie]

Cape chef beat me to it: he's absolutely correct. That's the way I do it. In season, I use Vidalia, the sweetest onions of all!

[shahar]

Roast the tomatoes and carmalize onions for natural sweetnes. Deseed whole tomatoes if using.

[Isa]

I remember reading that adding carrot purée will reduce the acidity of tomato sauce.

[layjo]

Yeah same here! When I usually make a simple tomato sauce I add some minced onions which are then caramelized and finished with garlic and some fresh or dried herbs, salt and pepper. But if I make a tomato sauce that I would like to use with a pasta of if I am looking for more depth in flavor I have been taught to use ground or minced mirepoix (carrot celery and onions) to give the sauce a more aromatic flavor. I like to add tarragon to tomato sauce, it kind of adds a sweet-herbal quality.

[ April 16, 2001: Message edited by: Layjo ]

[W.DeBord]

I have a large garden where I grow tons of tomatos. I make them into sauce before canning them. I've also had a hard time with their acidity. Usually purchased tomato paste goes along way to calm it down, but not enough. I can taste white sugar imediately...you have to use some, but fresh tomatos require soooo much that it ruins the taste.

I found using carrots and celery as many books suggest takes the sauce into another catagory. You can't use the tomato sauce as a base ingredient in many items, the other veg. flavors come across too strongly for me.

I don't have the answer. I wish I did! Although for pizza sauce I would think the tomato paste and your herbs would give you enough help.

Anyone have experience making sauce from fresh tomatos???? I'd love to come across a base recipe that really gives you a neutral sauce?????

[shahar]

To make fresh tomatoe sauce make sure they are vineripend to get sweetnes. Many times they're taken off early and ripend later. If they're green that mean they still can syntesize sugers.
Anyhow I roast them after removing seeds (they contribute sourness) and tossing in olive or canola oil. Peel em' off and add to already carmalized onions with a bit of carrots and celery(the onions i carmelize with a bit of suger. The suger cooks in the hot oil and gets more depth also it draws the liquid out of the onions making them cook and carmelize faster). Add a few whole garlic cloves a sprig of thyme, rosemrary and sage and bay leaves and some whole peppercorns. Add water. Let it cook for a while. Then pass it through a fine sieve, pushing as much material as you can.
Walla. Tomato sauce. If you use paste, rememver to cook it in the oil until it deepens in color and gives a sweet aroma. This way you remove all the off flavores and get depth again(Those blessed mailard thingelins).

Now this sauce is basic for me. To this i'll add chicken livers, mushrooms or chickpeas, finish it up with cream or butter, add lamb and Baharat(Arabic spice - Allspice, Cinnamonm, Cumin, Cloves. Different combination according to particular nation, area, village, household and if it's the wife or the mother in law), cherish it with cherry tomatoes and cilantro, bellpeppers and balsamic viniger, lemongrass, ginger and tamarind or just swirl a few tabelspoons of my finest handmade single variaty Israely olive oil. You get the picture.

This sauce isn't pure basic but you can basicly take it anywhere. The herebs give some gray herbal bitternes. Gray flavor of desert rocks. The carmalized onions and whole cooked garlic add the bass backbone to give the basic rhytmic structure - the beat. While the natural tamed tartness of tomatoes make sure the whole stays refreshing and dinamic. A wonderful canvas for you express upon.

(From my exprience the trick for tomatoes is patience. Slower cooking gives better results.)

Many Thanks to all of you for your suggestions!!!...

I've tried the sugar route before and results haven't been to my liking...I definitely can taste the sugar...

I will try using carmelized onions and experiment with the carrots...Thankfully, the sweet onions are coming into season here...

I'll follow up with the results...

As for the oil, I use extra virgin...Is there something better to use?...

[Pooh]

NO! Keep using your extra-virgin.

I like to heat diced onions, shredded carrot and diced celery in olive oil. Sprinkle salt and grind pepper over the pan and mix well. When the onions become clear, add garlic. Cook a little longer; not too long and not on high heat. Garlic burns easily. Add your toms - either from the can of freshly chopped sans seeds. Sizzle. Sprinkle some more salt, a little ground pepper and mix well. Add some tom sauce and tom paste. You'll get the consistency the minute you start adding. Throw in some crushed red pepper, a little sugar (I like brown sugar best) and some wine. Depending on the quantity used, a little more or less of both the wine and sugar. Bring the whole pot to a boil. Simmer for thirty minutes. Remove from heat and use that Braun mixer thingy to blend it all. Store, freeze or can for later use. Works great for pizza or spaghetti or whatever.
Mangia, Mangia!

Rashcraf,
Sorry I didn't read thoroughly. I don't like the onions carmelized because their beauty is then gone. My marinara sauce has a lot of cooking to do and carmelizing depletes the onions' energy. I love the carrots. Adds a natural sweetness. I don't use extra virgin olive oil. It's a waste. Fresh plum toms are great - remove the skins and the seeds before chopping. Don't forget the garlic. It adds a sweetness all its own. And the wine... mmm... the wine. The base must have a red wine tint. If you're tasting the sugar, you're adding too much. Look at the pot, sprinkle the sugar. On a pot that feeds 15 main course meals, I use at least a half of a cup of brown sugar. Uncle Vic was the master of the Sicilian table that raised me and he preached that toms can NEVER be served without some sugar.

I add some sweet white wine to the tomato sauce while it simmers. About 1/2 a cup per gallon of sauce. Seems to work well.