I’ve been meaning to try Emeril’s sauce for a while, but it was about $5 and no sauce is worht that.
Well.
Yesterday it was on the shelf, on sale for $2.60!!!
Must not be selling well.
So I tried some.
i lvoe it, its great!
Unlike most of the other brands, its not too sweet.
I used the Vodka kind, though, as I don’t like spicy.
So…what store brand of spaghetti sauce do you prefer?
Why use any store-bought brand when you can have homemade ready in a half-hour? A 28-oz. can of crushed tomatoes is cheap. And I always have olive oil and onions and garlic and red wine and dried basil on hand.
I’m with you Uke, although I always try to keep fresh basil in the icebox.
I hope" Basil "doesn’t mind…
Garden Select over whole wheat spaghetti…mmmmmm There are a few varities, but I like the chunky vegetable.
Guess I know what I’m having for supper tonight.
My husband loves the caramelized onion and portobella mushroom pasta sauce from Trader Joe’s. I usually make my own but will put a jar of this stuff in the cupboard to use in “need sauce now” quick-cooking times.
I think the kind I like is called “Bertolli” I might be wrong. It’s the kind that advertises “from the vine to the jar in one day”.
I like all their varieties.
Vanilla, I actually know someone named Basil. He once gave an ex-girlfriend of his a jar of “Ready-To-Use Basil” when they split up.
Keep some Italian Parmesan cheese in the fridge as well. Then great as needed. Almost anything is good with enough freshlu greated parmesan 
We usually make a wicked meat and tomato sauce, but I’ve been experimenting with cream sauces as of late, and have almost perfected my Carbonara. You just cannot buy stuff as good as homemade.
I make a very large pot of the *****ucci family recipe (sorry, Calabrese secret, I’d have to kill you) about every 2-3 months and freeze it in margarine containers. It’s like having an old Italian woman as a housemate. It’s great with a full-bodied red like a Côte du Rhône, Barolo or Barbaresco.
I’ve never tasted store-bought sauce that was in the same league as homemade, not even the “fancy-store” kind. Emeril’s is probably not available in Canada, though if it’s not too sweet I’d bet it’s worth a try.
My favorite is Barilla. No added sugar. Second favorite is Paul Newman’s, when it’s on sale.
Ah, I’m too cheap for that…I’d always end up throwing more than half of it away.
Besides, fresh basil in sauce is great in the summer if you’re making a quick-cooked sauce of fresh tomatoes, but it doesn’t stand up to the lengthier cooking of a wintertime tomato sauce.
I set the chopped onion cooking in olive oil with S&P and a tsp of dried basil while I’m getting the rest of the stuff ready. After about 6-8 minutes I add a few minced garlic cloves and a bay leaf, give it a stir, then pour in a little red wine (which sparks up the flavor of canned tomatoes). When the wine cooks down I add the 28 oz. can of tomatoes and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes, enough time to get the water boiling and the pasta in. All set.
Bertolli’s Marinara with Burgandy Wine. Just like my decidedly non-Italian Mom’s. It’s sweet, but I like it that way 
I like to braise an inexpensive cut of steak (usually blade) in a sauce similar to Ike’s. You get a tasty steak out of it, and the steak lends a meaty flavour to the sauce that makes it great on pasta.
Oh, my god…I call that “Creole Daube,” and it is the BEST.
You cuisinart the tomatoes with onions and garlic until you have a smooth, raw sauce…then put it in the pan with a big piece of beef chuck (flank steak is good, too…less fatty. And I’ve used a pork tenderloin with great success). Simmer for about four hours. Season with NOTHING but salt and pepper. Then either slice the meat or shred it into the sauce and serve over pasta.
Got the recipe from an old Jane & Michael Stern book…they got it from a roadhouse outside of New Orleans.
Same here. I also prefer to make homemade, but I like to have some in a jar on hand for breadsticks and when I don’t have time to make any. Barilla is the best one I’ve tried, esp. the roasted garlic version. Right now I have Paul Newman in the house because they were out of Barilla at the store. It’s not bad, but not as good as Barilla. I refuse to buy the cheaper brands like Prego or Ragu, they are waaaaay too sweet.
Homemade really is the best, but Barilla is very good for a store brand.
You might think this was a typo, but I actually did take Paul Newman home with me, when they were out of Barilla. He is in my kitchen right now, making sauce.
no, really.
My homemade sauce is like Ike’s, except that I looooove my herbs. In addition to basil, I throw in little piles of thyme, rosemary, oregano, and marjoram. I like the sauce to pucker your mouth with all the herbs.
If it’s too puckery, I add a spoonful of honey near the end of the simmer, to take off the edge.
My fiancee makes her sauce without all the herbs, but with red pepper flakes. Different, but also way yummy.
Daniel
I used to eat Barilla’s Mushroom & Garlic until one day they played a dirty rotten trick and snuck olives in the mix without stating so on the label. Bastards.
So I tried Classico D’Abruzzi. Delicious! Lots of good flavors, but my favorite is Italian Sausage with Green Peppers and Onions. (They also make Four Cheese, Basil, Portabello Mushroom, and others.)
The side benefit is that the sauce comes in Mason jars. Buy a box of bands and lids and you can use the jars in the summer if you have an abundance of home-grown tomatoes (cooked for hours with red wine, garlic, ground sausage, a secret blend of herbs and spices, and mushrooms and onions added during the last half hour to make sauce so thick it’s almost a salsa…saulce-a, I call it.)