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Snow!
posted by kristen on 12-04-2009 11:53:pm
Oh the weather outside if frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And if you've no place to go, stay home and cook something delectable and watch the snow, watch the snow, watch the snow. Today it snowed. So, I spent the day in the kitchen cooking spaghetti sauce. For some reason, it was bitter. I added some sugar and the bitterness went away, but I've never had that happen before. I wonder if it was the wine. The wine I put in the sauce, not the wine I drank. :) I don't know. It's fine with some sugar added.


I am sure it was not the wine ;) I personally do not like using tomato paste, nor do some chefs, even though it is common. Way to overpowering for my liking, so I use tomato puree or even sauce. A chef trick shared with me when using paste to avoid bitterness is: Sautee or roast the tomato paste a bit (add in after carmelizing the onions), until it is a mahogany color, and then add your canned or fresh tomatoes. This carmelizes the sugars cutting down on the bitterness, and gives it great body and flavor. Of course, I have also heard of the addition of sugar, and many shared recipes include it as an ingredient. As long as it tastes delectable, that's all that counts ~ right ;)
posted by passion pour la cuisine on 12-06-2009 1:21:am

I do usually use tomato paste, puree, sauce, and diced tomatoes when making sauce. I recently made Bolognese and didn't use paste and it was wonderful. No bitterness. I think I'll 86 the paste from now on. :)
posted by kristen on 1-27-2010 11:06:pm