I know this is a revived zombie, but there is a very interesting TED Talk on this exact topic. It dives into the differences in taste-test results and full-meal results.
What one wants one bite of is very different from what one wants a full stomach full of.
I haven’t heard that TED talk, but I assume it’s basically that when you’re doing a taste test or cooking competition where judges only get a bite or two of food, you want to POW! those taste buds instead of creating something a little more subtle that is more suitable for prolonged eating? That’s why I don’t trust cooking competitions all that much–what’s good for one bite is not usually good for an entire meal. (And in the rare event I enter a cooking competition, I just jack up the MSG and spices and, ya know, it actually works.)
Haven’t used either Ragu or Prego in ages. But I had thought that Ragu was the sweet ‘Chef Boyardee’ of sauces. Perhaps that’s changed.
I’ll usually use something like Newman’s Own and doctor it up a bit. Almost always with hot Italian sausage.
I suppose if I was picking one, I’d pick Prego. I have it in my head (entirely due to marketing, I’m sure) that Prego is a higher quality product. Come to think of it, does Ragu even advertise?
In real life, I buy sauce from some Chicago outfit named Cipriani’s. Which is different from the more famous New York Cipriani’s and I guess they had a legal fight over the trademark and the local outfit backed down despite having a much better claim to the trademark (going back to 1920 vs 1985 for NY) but not the millions of dollars to spend on it. So now it’s just called Cip’s. Tastes good, locally owned/made and I like that the word “sugar” doesn’t appear on the ingredient label, unlike Prego or Ragu or even Newman’s.