_++ Marjoram, onions, garlic (as mentioned already), stick a bay leaf in there while it bloops. Consider fresh plum tomatoes instead of canned tomatoes. Dash of olive oil (as also already mentioned). But yeah. Start off just replacing the commercial stuff, to get the low sodium. Then improve on it, may as well since you’re at it. Try a little fennel seed, see what you think. Parsley. Sprinkling of hot red pepper flakes. Dice some red and green bell peppers. Throw in some mushrooms.
Or don’t. What you propose will work and will be lower sodium.
Although your gripe is arguably legitimate, I will say that I decided to pay the extra $5/month or whatever it is for the recipes, and I don’t regret it at all. The range of recipes is vast, and pretty down-to-earth: not too difficult or time-consuming and only rarely are the ingredients rarified or insanely expensive. They also often offer vegetarian or vegan substitutes for animal-based ingredients. And the comment section is usually both informative and hilarious.
My biggest complaint is that sometimes the recipes are written in an ambiguous manner, and they frequently call for Diamond Crystal kosher salt, whereas most of us peons only have access to Morton’s, which shouldn’t be substituted with the same volumetric measurements. I wish they’d give the Morton’s equivalent in their recipes.
The games/puzzles are also extra, and I refuse to spring for those, but I’m sure some people find the additional cost well worth it.
Traditional journalism is an economically precarious endeavor these days, so I kind of understand why the New York Times and other publications have to monetize their products wherever they can.
On the subject of sugar in jarred sauces, don’t be fooled by the lack of ‘sugar’ in the ingredients list. I’ve found that comparing the “Nutrition Facts” between added sugar and no added sugar varieties they often have very similar sugar content, and subjectively also test badly sweet. I think it has to do with what tomatoes they are starting with, and all shooting for the same level of sweetness.
I usually add some frozen or canned tomatoes to a jar of commercial sauce, and add a bunch of basil, oregano, and garlic.
Funny enough, as much as I cook, I don’t pay for the recipes, but do pay for the crossword. I can usually find the NYTimes recipes somewhere else, but I can’t live without my daily NYTImes crossword.
Even that recipe says, “okay, yes, you also need to add salt.”
Tomatoes have a lot of MSG, and salt brings it out. If you’re starting from scratch and don’t add any salt your sauce will taste flat and disappointing. But the folks who say you should always stick to canned tomatoes are correct. Don’t use fresh unless you have some truly remarkable fresh tomatoes.
Dead easiest bachelor spaghetti sauce:
Put pot on stove.
Throw some of that jarred minced garlic in there, with just a bit of olive oil. Saute until you can smell that the garlic is cooking.
Dump a can of plain jane supermarket tomato sauce in there.
Add whatever seasonings you think you might like.
Simmer for a good 20-30 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Taste it. Add more seasonings if need be. Add salt if it tastes bland.
That’s it. Done. From there, you can iterate on the recipe. You can (should) do fresh garlic. You can add extra vegetables to the saute. You can upgrade to diced or whole tomatoes. You can add fresh herbs just before you start the simmer. You can use an immersion blender at the end. But your basic recipe is really just “simmer tomatoes and stuff until tasty.”
But the simmer is important. Before you make the recipe, reserve like a spoonful of the canned stuff. When it’s done, compare them side by side. You’ll be surprised how much of that good tomato “saucey” flavor comes out.
Making your own sauce from scratch is fine and, in fact, can be aesthetically rewarding. However, it lengthens the process considerably because you have to simmer away all of the excess water while frequently stirring the ingredients so nothing burns at the bottom of the kettle. If you don’t do this, your sauce will be watery and a failure.
The point made upthread about canned diced tomatoes containing calcium chloride is a good one. Most American canners do this. The chemical-treated tomatoes fiercely resist being broken down into sauce.
I buy whole plum tomatoes canned in Italy, and Italian canners do not add calcium chloride as far as I can tell. Strianese is a good brand and isn’t too expensive. Though the tomatoes come whole, those puppies break down quickly, and they always taste sweet and ripe. IIRC they only ingredients in the can are tomatoes and salt. I always have a can or two in the cupboard and they can be converted into spaghetti sauce in about 15 minutes, with the help of a little olive oil, garlic, and basil.
Yum, I think I know what we’ll have for dinner tonight.
The only fairly complicated sauce that I actually liked, but haven’t made in a long time is this one, and over the years I’ve pared it down to just making the meatballs and adding them to a much simpler sauce.
I have a feeling that it is not used as much in the UK as in the US.
You have to look at the labels here. My store-brand Kroger crushed tomatoes don’t have calcium chloride, either, nor do my usual Escalon 6-in-1s or the Cento All-In-Ones or crushed. Nor do the Red Gold crushed (Vine-ripened tomatoes, tomato puree, less than 2%: salt, citric acid.) I suspect for a crushed product, calcium chloride is pointless, as you don’t want to retain any tomato firmness.
Oh, and that’s another thing – I look out for tomatoes packed in puree, not juice, whenever I can. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I’ll prefer the version with puree most of the time.
I get the NYT digital edition I pay like $6 a month and I get full access including puzzles and food. I did sign up a couple years ago to get their free weekly email food/cooking newsletter which I still get.
If I use unsalted paste, which is usually available at grocery stores in mine area, the only salt is what I add myself. The optional mushroom adds a more “earthy” taste. The optional squash adds a mellower, sweeter taste; similar to an earlier suggestion of carrots.
I should note that many people don’t like the taste of toasted garlic. If you don’t like it, don’t toast it, maybe by putting the onions in first and garlic second.
Even the best Italian restaurants use canned tomatoes for consistency; the one’s at Rao’s are canned, fire-roasted and from San Marzano. Fresh tomatoes are much more work, you generally need to add sugar, and the results are inconsistent. I will concede they can give ethereal results with luck and knowledge.
Some domestic Canadian tomatoes are sold as “San Marzano Style” and these are cheaper and pretty good for grocery store tomatoes. No bottled sauce compares to homemade and despite the mythology, it is very easy to make great sauce. My recipe above does it - one could complicate it with lemon juice, anchovies, mushrooms, etc.
Another one I see in Italian-American joints is 7/11 ground tomatos. (Which are very similar to the 6-in-1s I referred to before. I called them “crushed,” but they are labeled as “ground” tomatoes):
Not if you saute the onions first. That should only take 5-10 minutes.
I grew up with my mother making her sauce “fresh” - not bottled Ragu or whatever. Brown 1 lb ground beef, add in celery; saute a bit, then add in onion and green pepper. Saute until veggies are softened. Somewhere in there, add garlic, spices. Add in canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste. simmer for an hour, then worry about boiling water for pasta.
I don’t do that very often any more, mostly because of time crunches. Most of the time it’s brown ground meat (most of the time it’s ground turkey; sometimes it’s italian sausage), add veggies, add bottled sauce. Add more garlic and spices; simmer long enough for water to boil to cook the pasta.
By adding the meat and veggies, you’re adding “bulk” to the sauce without adding salt (OK, yeah, there’s salt naturally in foods, so you’re adding trace amounts). If nothing else, this “waters down” the salt content per serving. If you are normally adding a cup of sauce to your pasta, there will be half the salt in a cup of this than there is in a cup of straight bottled sauce just 'cause there’s more “stuff”.
Here in the midwest of the US of A, we can get tomatoes all year round. Unfortunately, that means tomatoes grown in (Peru? Venesuela?) and shipped here in the winter. Picked green and “ripened” in transit. Yeah, they taste like shit. You’re probably getting better flavor from the canned-after-picking-ripe.
I grabbed a generic can of diced tomatoes from my pantry. Ingredients say "less than 2%: salt etc. Look at the nutritional info: Sodium 250mg (11%) for half a cup. 2% is a lot. You’re better off looking at the nutrition chart for comparisons.