/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.15020310]

My sauce keeps turning out bitter and acidity . How to fix it.

[Anonymous No.15020323]

Put in some sugar to counteract the bitterness of the tomatoes

[Anonymous No.15020331]

>>15020310
Get better tomatoes.
Added sugar in tomato sauce is fucking disgusting

[Anonymous No.15020335]

>>15020331
Like you can tell

[Anonymous No.15020336]

>>15020310
Acid+sperm= taste

[Anonymous No.15020338]

start with a mirepox or use more carrot if you already are
quality tomatoes with skin removed

[Anonymous No.15020342]

>>15020335
Yeah, I have functioning taste buds

[Anonymous No.15020346]

>>15020342
Set up a blind taste test with friends and start being honest with yourself

[Anonymous No.15020373]

>>15020338
>mirepox
>carrot
Ummm, I think it's crossing the line between pizza sauce and Bolognese sauce

[Anonymous No.15020378]

>>15020310
Use better tomatoes

[Anonymous No.15020385]

>>15020310
Cook your tomatoes for longer

[Anonymous No.15020391]

>>15020310
use DOP san marzano canned tomatoes (pastene for example)
sautee garlic, onion, carrot, celery in olive oil for a bit, then add tomatoes, let it cook down, etc.
season to taste after the sauce has reduced a bit - don't randomly put in seasoning in the beginning lest you overseason.

things that can improve flavor: add an anchovy to the veg mix while it is sauteeing.

add basil, oregano, pepper, salt, cream/butter.
add a tiny tiny pinch of baking soda if the sauce is too bitter.

[Anonymous No.15020393]

>>15020331
>>15020378
>>15020385
I'm using canned tomatoes.
No way the big chains who got better sauce than mine using fresh or grade a tomatoes

[Anonymous No.15020402]

>>15020393
Some canned tomatoes are much better than others

[Anonymous No.15020433]

>>15020373
considering that the op used the generic term sauce, i feel like the nuances are irrelevant

[Anonymous No.15020436]

>>15020393
any "big chain" sauces have sugar in them to compensate for the crappy tomatoes

[Anonymous No.15020484]

>>15020393
Buy tomatoes from Italy around early December... the last harvests are in August, and they are the last to be canned as well. DOP San Marzanos are best.
If you're looking for good quality that isn't very specific of niche, look for Mutti brand.

If you're really looking for a sweeter flavor, look for a good quality canned cherry tomato.

Way you can turn shit tomatoes sweet, add sugar obviously, reduce red wine, or use a fortified like port, start the sauce with a carrot heavy mirepoix, and just use an emulsion blender, add herbs like tarragon.

Just experiment, but the quality of tomatoes is the key factor.

[Anonymous No.15020499]

that’s how its supposed to be dumdum

[Anonymous No.15020516]

>>15020310
>My sauce keeps turning out bitter and acidity . How to fix it.
Use a food mill to make sure seeds are gone, and peels are gone. They add bitterness. There's a way to manually do this too. X the peel. Slip into boiling water. Poach a moment, Slip off peels with a knife. Slice in half. Use your fingers to scoop out the seeds into a bowl. Strainer to remove seeds from liquid. Keep liquid, pitch the seeds. Reduce sauce. Think about a lecrueset or something else not metallic on contact with the acidic sauce. If it's bitter beyond what a single tsp of honey or a single sauteed minced carrot fixes? Your tomatoes are just shitty unripe.

[Anonymous No.15020754]

get better tomatoes

[Anonymous No.15020773]

>>15020310
>bitter
first season it. tomato loves salt
>>15020516
>seeds
>bitter
never been a problem but skin maybe but who adds skin to pasta sauce?

[Anonymous No.15021150]

>>15020310
Like several other people have said, use the best tomatoes you can afford. I don't like adding mirepoix to my tomato sauce usually, so instead, I do this; when simmering the sauce, add a whole, peeled carrot or two, along with any basil stems I have hanging around. Remove aromatics before serving.

You also might be cooking it down too long. If you want some brighter tomato flavor in there, reserve 20% of your crushed tomatoes and add them in at the end of cooking.

[Anonymous No.15021297]

Bad canned tomatoes, burnt garlic, too much oregano or vinegar or wive, these can cause excessive bitterness and acidity. For very acidic sauce you could add some sugar or even a little baking soda. If it's also bitter, eeeeeh you did something wrong. Or your tomatoes are very bad.

[Anonymous No.15021324]

Use a pinch of sugar to balance any bitterness in your tomato sauce.

[Anonymous No.15021330]

>>15020310
Here is how I make tomato sauces that are not too astringent
>caramelize onions until about 3/4 caramelized (very soft and dessicated, brown throughout but no burnt parts anywhere)
>add any peppers (if using any)
>add sliced up tomatillos (if using any)
>add any mushrooms (if using any)
>add shredded carrots (must shred)
>add finely chopped garlic
>add any herbal seasonings (oregano, rosemary, thyme, etc)
>cook for about 15 minutes
Here’s where it’s more up to you
>deglaze with something (red wine vinegar or red wine is a good choice, you may also use lemon/lime juice but fresh squeeze is a must)
>fully scrape the pan for maximum flavonoids
>add any fresh tomatoes, cut however the fuck you feel like
>add tomato PURÉE (not any other form of tomato is acceptable except for paste, but you must add water if you use tomato paste)
Basically just add the tomato sauce until it looks like it’s the right consistency for you. You MUST cook everything together with the tomato part added for at least like 5-10 minutes to ensure proper flavor mixing, as well as this is the part where you add things like salt, pepper, paprika, and whatever the fuck else you might wanna use. Generally for seasoning I’d put it all in before the tomato part, so the heat can really rev up those flavors before you add all the tomato shit.

[Anonymous No.15021350]

Better tomatoes, i recommend San Marzano. Also cook it on low for at least 1 hour. I honestly cheat it a bit and add honey or some form of sugsr if im pressed on time.

[Anonymous No.15021551]

>>15020310
Below is my recipe for pasta sauce. One possibility I haven't really seen mentioned is that you're just burning it. What heat level do you use?

1 lb meat (I prefer 80/20 ground beef)
1 red onion
1 bell pepper
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
28oz stewed tomatoes
6oz tomato paste
1 can mushrooms
Garlic, basil, parsley, and black pepper to taste

[Anonymous No.15021918]

>>15020310
better tomatoes and proper preparation will result in a sauce that is not bitter, but if you're a lazy fuck you can add a bit of molasses for a quick sauce saver.
don't rely on this trick. it's not meant to make your sauce good, it's meant to make your sauce not shit. your best bet is to just spend a little more to buy better tomatoes and try a little harder to prepare them properly. if you can't do this, i reccomend making an absurdly large batch of shitty sauce and drowning yourself in it

[Anonymous No.15021924]

>>15020393
Cook your tomatoes for longer

[Anonymous No.15022211]

>>15020310
wesson canola oil

[Anonymous No.15022483]

>>15020310
.put onions into a pan with some olive oil
. cook them until they're brown with prefferably low fire, take your time, the more you brown the onions the sweeter your sauce will taste
once they're wll you throw in some red pepper, then cook that too, once that's done ad a single garlic clove that has been cut very tiny and cook it, careful to not burn the garlic

Once that's done, just pour in the tomato sauce and the more time you spend with the sauce mixing with the onions, pepper and garlic the better it'll taste

[Anonymous No.15022529]

Render some fat back and get a good bit of pork juice in it.

[Anonymous No.15022652]

what do you even do with tomato sauce? like say i were to make a batch for a week would i have to just eat tomato+pasta+meat every day? or put this shit on a homemade pizza?

[Anonymous No.15022764]

>>15020310
Sprinkle in a very small pinch of baking soda and stir thoroughly if it gets too acidic.

[Anonymous No.15022822]

>>15020402
based san marzano lobbyist

[Anonymous No.15024101]

>>15020310
Use garlic to fix the acidity, but if your sauce tastes bitter, you probably burned it

[Anonymous No.15024225]

>>15020310
alkali

[Anonymous No.15024971]

>>15020310
Pureed carrot is the cheat code to making your sauce sweeter and less acidic. Larpers will tell you that it's a hack but I know multiple real Italian nonnas who do it.

[Anonymous No.15024991]

>>15020393
>Tomato paste
>Anchovies
>Butter
>Worcestershire

[Anonymous No.15025057]

>>15020310
A pinch of Baking soda will balance out the pH and make it less acidic without changing the flavor

[Anonymous No.15025759]

>>15020335
>>15020346
american

[Anonymous No.15026118]

>>15020331
this. tomatoes should be acidic, not bitter. cook them longer to caramelize the natural sugars, add onions and (or) carrots, and dont use the cheapest shit.

[Anonymous No.15026138]

>>15025759
Ok chud

[Anonymous No.15028085]

>>15020310
Just use this recipe

[Anonymous No.15028156]

>>15020385
>>15021924
The best solution along with 3/4th a stick of butter and you're golden

[Anonymous No.15028244]

>>15020310
Adding sugar is the bitch way.
A true kitchenChad secretly grates a carrot in there instead.

[Anonymous No.15028258]

>>15020310
cook long time with onion, remove onion later

[Anonymous No.15028275]

Don't use the seeds.

[Anonymous No.15028282]

>>15021924
I always dice my tomatoes finely and fry them in some oil with garlic while continuously smashing them with the spatula, sometimes with a few spoons of canned tomato paste, too lazy to use a blender. I do this in a wok though, so I don't know how efficient it would be in a stock pot or skillet.

[Anonymous No.15028491]

>>15028085
>5 tbs butter

[Anonymous No.15029578]

>>15028491
desu it's for 16-24 oz of pasta

[Anonymous No.15029688]

Follow these advices, they should help you:
> Get better tomatoes
> Cook them medium heat for enough
> Always make soffritto
> Basil leaves when cooking and fresh after finish the sauce
> A touch of evoo on finished dish

in cases these are not enough, you can adjust the acidity with carrots or in extreme cases, a pinch of sugar

[Anonymous No.15029840]

>>15020331
came here to post this

[Anonymous No.15029964]

>>15020310
salt, vinegar, sugar, butter/olive oil, pepper

[Anonymous No.15030091]

>>15020385
This is the real answer OP. I had the exact same problem as you because I wasn't cooking them long enough. I let sauce simmer for about an hour now and it's delicious.

And fuck anons telling you to add sugar. Miss me with that diabetes shit. wtf is wrong with you guys.

[Anonymous No.15030119]

>>15021330
I stopped reading at "tomatillos". We ain't making no goddamn salsa, you fucking beaner.

[Anonymous No.15030193]

Sugar is in all the canned red sauce im sure of it. Use fresh tomatoes blanched to remove skin. Then simmer with whatever seasoning you prefer. Basil is nice for Italian. Use a imulsion blender to break down larger chunks of tomatoes. You can blend it till you like the consistency. Add garlic as well.salt will help with bitterness to. Roma tomatoes make good red sauce. Slicing tomatoes or beef eaters aren't good for sauce.

[Anonymous No.15030492]

>>15020310
lazy mode: add honey. disregard the retards, a half tablespoon rounds up the flavours, just dont overdo it
also you can use onions to sweeten, just caramellise them for a bit more than you usually do. make sure they dont burn, if they start to burn before they are done deglaze with some water or whit wine. adding a tablespoon of tomato paste to the onions a the end also helps a lot, fry it for a minute and then add your canned or roasted tomatoes or whatever you use.