Bahaha why is it an excellent idea? This sauce is 5/10 at best. Too much onion, too little garlic, too finely chopped garlic. Yes, you can have too much basil and that's too much for this little sauce. Unnecessary tomato workout, keep it simple and cook long enough. A brit can't make a good sauce, a brit doesn't have tasty tomatoes.
@@Xof_D-Dawg_Foxthats just your opinion😂 your not objectively right since theres nothing fundamentally wrong with the sauce, the basics are for the most part correct, stop being a dumbass lmfao
He didnt specifically mention it but it is smart to tie up the basil like he did so you can more easily fish it out before serving. Just in case anyone wanted to skip that step
In Italy we dont use garlic and vodka, put add a Little bit of Sugar to adjust the acidity. And use bald tomatoes (skinless) then just squeeze with your hands. You gotta Cook It for at least 20min, the tomato sauce gotta be orange-ish not dark Red like raw passata. Just Cook It till It "explodes" then low flame for 20min (or so, It depends on the quantity) It has to "restringere" with translates to tighten, all the water evaporates and the sauce becomes less, but more fuller/dense At the end gotta be a light red thick sauce. PS. Chef Stefano Barbato let the garlic Cook in the olive oil and then add the squezed tomatoes and add 1/3 of the water, so if the tomato sauce is 3L he adds 1L of water. When It starts to boil he adds a team spoon of salt and the tip of the teaspoon with baking soda (bicarbonate) Then let It Cook for 45minutes at low flame and adds the rest of the salt and also some basil. You can ofc change the recipes based on your tastes, like i also did sharing mine. You can use the sauce for many different recipes
@@Martick05545 never realized that this also works, but yes we also use carrots for "soffritto" with white onion and celery, its delicious. sicily has one of the best cousine in the world, you lucky!!!!!
For some more sweetness to offset the acidity from the tomatoes, I usually caramelize the onions first. Nice and slow. Also don't add the garlic too soon, as it literally only needs seconds to cook. Adding the garlic a few seconds before you add liquid to it usually works best, as soon as you add the liquid the garlic won't burn anymore.
Good but changes the taste of tomato sauce a lot. It depends what you’re going for. Sometimes you want that rich sweetness and other times you want that bright tomato freshness
I don't know what the man was smoking, but it's far too complicated for a tomato sauce. In Italy there are two versions of tomato sauce. One of them is called Spaghetti alla Pomodoro. Put olive oil in the pan, uncut garlic cloves in the pan. When the garlic is ready, put basil leaves in the pan with good quality passata. Most people do this for around 20-30 minutes. But many people let it simmer for around an hour to two hours. I always do this for 30 minutes. At the end, remove the garlic cloves and season with salt and pepper. Boil the spaghetti, add it to the salsa with a bit of pasta water so that the salsa sticks to the pasta. Serve on a plate with a few basil leaves on top. If you want, you can also put Parmigiano Reggiano or Mozzarella di Bufala/Burrata on top. Then there is Salsa alla Marinara, which is famous in Napoli, Italia. The process is the same there, only the garlic is chopped up and left in the salsa at the end. It depends on how you like it. Personally, I'm for Salsa al Pomodoro. Because I want a light garlic flavor with the tomatoes. And I don't want to notice the garlic very strongly. Contrary to today opinion about Italian’, we Italian’ aren't crazy about garlic, we usually take the garlic out after cooking. And give the cooked garlic to the children if they want. Salsa al Marinara is an exception. Onions just interfere with the salsa. And other spices too. The only place you would find a sauce like this here would be in Michelin-starred kitchens. But these have nothing to do with tradition. Instead, they want to show how complicated it can be to make such a simple dish.
Interesting reply from an Italian. I do remember an Italian friend telling me years ago that you should either have onion or garlic in the sauce, but not both, and your recipes both just stick to garlic only, and not too much. I'll give your versions a try, because let's be real here, who's got the time to be chopping up fresh tomatoes when you can buy a bottle of passata!?
What about done with a sofreto (carrot/celery/onion) i thought that was most tradional no..little dash of milk at the end? Im not Italian ....just look it minus the arragonce
@@Steve-d5x8s What you are talking about is part of the Ragù alla Bolognese. But I am talking about the two simple tomato sauces that are traditional in Italy. The same thing that the cook above makes.
@@paulelephant9521 Onions only interfere with the sauce. With simple tomato sauce, it's all about keeping it simple and aromatic, so that the sauce sticks perfectly without any other vegetables. If that's not enough for people, we have so many different tomato sauces. Just google traditional dishes. You'll quickly find what you're looking for.
you should add the vodka with the tomatoes, the alcohol is meant to dissolve flavors that arent water or fat soluble, so you could be missing out on flavor by adding it too early.
@@zackgraymes3665 my comment is not about reducing the alcohol its about certain flavor compounds not being water or fat soluble while being soluble in alcohol.
I know what your comment was about. I am just saying that the compounds might be soluble in whatever alcohol is left after its reduction, which doesn't remove that much alcohol anyway. You won't be missing out on flavor and you may find it harder to take the alcoholic edge off since it is harder to boil the alcohol off of a larger volume of liquid.
@@zackgraymes3665 ah yes, the famous alchol soluable flavour compounds I find it best to directly apply the alcohol to the variable that is most unpredictable in cooking: the chef and maybe the guests a glass of wine for the chef, one for each guest, and my tomato sauce suddenly just tastes better
I do almost the same, but at the end I blend the sauce and pass through a sieve to smooth it. It's so good, but it's the type of sauce you really need good tomatoes.
Love how this assumes a level of cooking competence while still actually tracing you something, really refreshing in an era of short-form, throwaway content
@@deojnwedofuWE I mean it's kinda both? Like I think many people when they read "how to make tomato sauce" they assume it will be a video on how to turn tomatoes into sauce (ie, passata), not how to flavour a tomato sauce
@@merren2306 It'd definitely not both. Passata is chopped and sieved tomatoes, if you're serving it as a sauce then you're having very disappointing meals. And if you were wanting someone to tell you how to make your own passata, well, you chop tomatoes and sieve them
We live in a society where it's become acceptable to french kiss, lick a pussy, suck a dick or lick a butthole, but if the chef puts the spoon back in the hot cooking pan it's yucky
The reason for the vodka is that ethanol (alcohol) brings out certain flavour compounds that water or oil can’t, the reason for the large amount of olive oil (use more than you think) is that tomato is really great at absorbing oil, and olive oil tastes great so you can get more of that great flavour in there without excess oil floating on top
I always make it in big batches. Blend my sofrito (onions, carrots, celery), cook in olive oil for 10-15 minutes. Then add some sliced garlic and my hand-crushed tomatoes. Then maybe 1/3 of my basil at the start and the rest at the end. Always have a little more as a garnish.
@@HabituaILineStepperIts alla vodka, and the reason to add vodka is to help with the texture / creaminess of the sauce, I.e to stop it separating from the watery tomato base. Wine does a similar thing, but vodka is higher in alcohol % so you need less of it, which means less chance of tasting it and it overpowering other flavours.
Okay, i have a question. What does the vodka do here? I mean, its just ethanol and water, and you evaporate the ethanol, so you're just left with plain water?
Vodka contains flavour compounds that help to bind and enhance the flavour of the sauce. Either Adam Ragusea or Ethan Cheblowski have really good videos on the topic!
I do not understand the purpose of adding vodka. Vodka is just a blend of ethanol and water. Once you boil off the ethanol, you are left with water. Why not just add water?
This is very similar to what my itslian immagrent freinds taught me. Before I retired, when I'd come home from work tired, I would make a good quick spaghetti sauce: BOBBIE'S RECIPE 1 small can of tomatoe paste 1 small can of water (Fill the tomato Paste can) 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce 1 lb Tomatoes 1 small clove garlic 1 Onion 1 or 2 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning Olive Oil In a large pot coat pan with olive oil. Heat over medium low flame. Add to pot: italian seasoning, diced garlic and onions. Cook until onions are browned and partly translucent. Add diced tomatoes and coat with more olive oil if needed. Then add tomatoe sauce, tomatoe paste and water. Reduce to simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes. NOTE: ●WHILE cooking vegtables, heat pot of water for the pasta. ●while sauce is summering, cook pasta.
I'd probably use a basil infused olive oil to drizzle over it towards the end, but I also like to do weird things like using roast garlic & ketjap manis soy sauce for their combined kick of sweetness, umami & a richer colour for my tomato sauce.
At 1% or less alcohol enhances the release of aromatic esters into the air. This allows the sauce to smell more fragrant, enhancing taste. But it should be saved for the end Source: Harold McGee “On Food and Cooking” And Kenji Lopez-Alt “Food Lab”
ignore klucero, it's to deglaze the pan to get any flavour from the caramelised bits cooked onto the pan. id prefer a red wine for it as it's a red sauce.
@@SrgntPickles I mean, yes it deglazes the pan as well but you can easily use stock or any other liquid for that. The question, as I understood it, was: why use vodka when it’s clear and neutral
@@kapitanstark1922 Your first certification as a chef de cuisine is in sanitation and this is something an actual professional would not only never do but would spend time teaching future chefs to never do. My 20 years as a chef would have fired any employee who did this....on the spot.
@@drk321 I cook often and I never do this either because i also find it disgusting but that doesn't mean there's any harm done. Look at Indian Food Vendors lol
As a European chef, I will have to say this is way too complicated. You just need good tomatoes, salt, pepper, and basil. That’s a good base that you build on to adjust it to the sauce needed to the dish
I do this the same way but I add Worcestershire sauce in my tomatoes. Also add stock if you want to add to bolognaise . That’s what I do also add sugar to the tomatoes , I buy really nice tomatoes for my sauce if I decide to make it myself
Luckily I've never tried the tomato sauce in London, but in Italy our "tomato sauce" is the "passata" and to make it we definitely pick better tomatoes. Those tomatoes shown in the video are usually used for salad, in Italy as their flavour is not as strong and they have less meat and more water.
@@laurenceotoole1700 A habit is a habit. If you are making a tutorial, supposedly as a teacher of a technique, presumably to people that want to learn culinary techniques, in front of a worldwide audience (the internet), why in the actual fuck would you pull a bonehead amateur move like that?
I'll give this a go! To be honest, I just use fresh tomato (or good quality whole plumb or cherry tomatoes from a tin), some crushed garlic, salt pepper and basil and a little olive oil. I don't cook it because I really enjoy the fresh taste of tomato. This looks and probably tastes great though!!
Fun fact! Alcohols boiling point is very close to water which means it takes around the same time to boil off like water. Just because you burn the vapors does not mean the alcohol is gone.
Nah definitely not, simple is great but for a chef or an enthusiast a lot of these extra things that get done do make a difference and has a reason which wont be noticeable to most
Was wondering the exact same. Must be for flavor? I know there are vodka sauces, but hadn’t heard of one in a “standard” tomato sauce. Maybe the boys will respond and let us know.
It doesn't all evaporate. Some of it does. Not even close to all of it though. This is just something that chefs and cooks state because they don't have a clue about what really happens. It takes about half an hour to cook off half of the alcohol. There are loads of examples of things that chefs/cooks say and do that "work" in the sense that it improves a dish, but don't "work" the way they say/think.
I don’t think *all* of the alcohol evaporates, and a lot of flavour compounds are actually alcohol-soluble, so they dissolve in alcohol but not fat or water, so adding a small amount of alcohol to a dish can help draw out those alcohol-soluble flavour compounds in the ingredients and bring out more flavour
No. Passata is puréed and sieved. It's a very different product. Try making a fresh pasta sauce from chopped tomatoes and it will not be smooth.@@paraigmcgee
Where do you source your good quality olive oil? I heard an olive farmer in Greece talk about how the companies buy just everything and mix it up and every product ends up being a mix of whatever.
Did I just watch an English man explaining me how to do a tomato sauce? What’s next? An Italian tell me how to do the perfect cup of tea? The world went bananas. 😉😂
@@thomasober2096 Unless they are grown in your garden, like beef tomatoes for example, they have lots of flavor. Moreso than canned tomatoes. You are right about most store bought tomatoes though, especially the ones used in this video.
Its the combination and hes right. You cant really overpower the tomato. It will always come through and pair nicely with basically any amount of basil. In fact if its too little and the tomatoes are very aromatic it just wont be there. Which is pointless
I simmered for over 30 minutes and I put a half onion in while it simmers then take it out before serving. Crushed red pepper flakes to spice. I also use olive oil at the beginning. I also love canned san marzano tomatoes here in the states. In the UK the produce is better.
How important is the vodka… I’m slightly concerned about setting fire to my kitchen 😂 also probably a very silly question but do you tie up the basil so you can pull it all out easily after absorbing the flavour or do you leave it in and remove the string? soz… newbie home cook hahaha
Vodka adds a complexity to the flavor by mellowing the acidity of the tomato and bringing out umami and sweetness that wouldn't be there without it. You can leave basil in the sauce if you would like but i would usually mince or chiffonade the basil if I were to leave it in and then either blend or sieve the mixture at the end. Otherwise, yes they tie the basil to be able to pick it out at the end.
Interesting point regarding if Monaco had a national team theyd fall under the monanco fa, however when Swansea qualified for europe they were drawn under the english fa if im not mistaken
I'm lazy and hate preparing veg, so I use canned chopped tomatoes, premade passata and then frozen chopped onions, garlic and basil. Never heard of adding vodka but I almost always add wine in my tomato sauces.
I was in after you said 'How to make a simple...'. Still present for the vodka. But after the 'Passata', I almost bailed. Still, it was well worth the patience. Thanks for the recipe!
You don't need to slice the onion horizontally because of the later structure. You can just slice towards the base, leaving a little bit at the end so it doesn't fall apart, then slice as thin as you can and you'll get the same result he did
for a cheap version : same start wih olive oil, 1onion and a pinch of salt, no garlic yet, then hand crush 1 can of tomatoes, add the garlic then put 1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate, second good pinch of salt, 1 tea spoon of dried oregano, and let it bubble on low heat for 10 minutes, THEN add chopped basil on top of the plate after dressing.
You're literally the first person I've ever heard from that doesn't tell me to get the pan "Screaming Hot!!!" And cause a giant smoky burnt mess in my house, despite using avocado oil or beef tallow, not letting it burn, etc. etc. I've burned too many steaks with this method, and it's not helping the longevity of my All-Clad plan by any means. Seriously thank you, now I'm going to make this steak dinner in your honor.
Just roughly chop tomatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, and some protein like pork, chicken, beef, or something. Put them in a pressure cooker, add some oregano, Paprika, salt, pepper, bit of vinegar and sugar, cook it for 45 minutes with high pressure. Get the meat out, blend the rest, chop the meat if is not grounded, add it again, reduce till its nice and red. And there you go. Easy af
The alcohol will in fact not evaporate super quickly. After 15 minutes of cooking, roughly 40% of the alcohol remains. It takes roughly 3 hours for all traces of alcohol to be cooked off.
