marinara separating?
So I have yet to make a marinara sauce that doesn't taste good (to me, anyways, and I use the term marinara loosely). However, it always seems to separate somewhat once I've plated dinner.
I let tonight's sauce simmer longer than usual, which I thought would help, but it still happened.
Is this normal? If it matters, this is how the sauce-making normally goes:
1/2 diced onion softened in olive oil, plus red pepper flakes, salt, oregano, and whatever other spices we feel like. Then tomatoes, usually a mix of 3-4 fresh chopped tomatoes if I have them and a can of diced tomatoes (2 cans if I don't have fresh on hand), and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Simmer, blend with immersion blender to desired smoothness or chunkiness (this varies, tonight I went smooth with it, but the sauce separates regardless of how much I blend). Cook for a while (tonight was almost an hour), serve.
Thoughts? Thanks in advance :)
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20 Comments:
At that point, i would pull the pasta out of the water while it's just a little short of being done and toss it into the sauce to finish cooking. Add a little pasta water, as needed, to get the right consistency. The starch in the water also helps the sauce to cling to the pasta.
Then serve.
Is that what you're doing, or ???
dbcurrie at 11:00PM on 11/04/09
Joyy - I've always had this problem too. I'm guessing the commercial stuff may have something in it to keep this from happening? They aren't necessarily thicker sauces than mine.
I've reduced this problem by simmering the veggies and commercially canned tomatoes quite a while before I add or refresh the herbs, and adding the paste at the end.
Fresh tomatoes have a tremendous amount of water when cooked down. I usually cook down my own tomatoes before canning, and still the tomatoes separate with a layer of water at the top after they've sat awhile, especially if not paste tomatoes. If you're wanting the flavor of fresh tomatoes in the sauce how about adding them near the end too, so they won't have given up all their water.
lemonfair at 6:21AM on 11/05/09
Both fresh tomatoes and canned diced tomatoes are very watery. I would add more paste to help sauce thicken, but more importantly, cook longer. I like to simmer sauce for several hours on very low heat. Be sure to leave uncovered so excess water will evaporate.
dmcavanagh at 6:41AM on 11/05/09
I agree with dmcavanagh-
The addition of more paste or draining the canned tomatoes before adding, along with a longer simmer time to evaporate more liquid would help.
A good quality diced tomato (Dei Fratelli, Tuttorrosa, etc.) have almost a sauce-like liquid, rather than watery liquid which would improve your situation too.
I use canned, diced or whole tomatoes (chopped) mentioned above along with tomato puree instead of paste and I don't have separation problems.
Keep working on it.
Still TASTES good though. Doesn't it? ;o)
CJ McD at 9:06AM on 11/05/09
How about thickening with a little corn starch?
JUST KIDDING! But the starch in the pasta water will definitely help thicken as well as mixing the pasta into the sauce instead of serving the pasta and then plopping the sauce on top which basically forces separation of the water from the solids like a strainer. Also, how about a little parmesan cheese at the end to thicken? My partner made the best marinara the other night and he finished it with the cheese, which I've never done.
Alton Brown drains the canned tomatoes and reduces the tomato liquid with dried herbs so that its flavor is more concentrated and less watery. This all happens while sauteing the aromatics. You don't have to roast the tomatoes as he does (I never do), but of course that also would dry them out.
I now like to simmer my marinara in my Dutch oven in the oven at 325 for a couple of hours rather than on the stovetop. It really cooks down thick and chunky. I'll bet a slow cooker could prove useful here as well.
Otabenga at 11:51AM on 11/05/09
Marinara sauce is actually supposed to be a quick preparation (~45 minutes or less). Longer cooking sauces do tend to separate. As the water is driven off, the oil has less "room to hide" (in suspension) and, being of less relative density, floats on top of the tomato portion of the sauce.
My favorite simple tomato sauce preparation (Marcella Hazan's - I hesitate to call it a Marinara sauce, though) actually instructs you to cook it until it breaks: http://orangette.blogspot.com/2007/09/start-with-tomato-sauce.html
My solution would be to start with less oil and, if you're trying to play up the flavor of a fruity olive oil, stir a few tablespoons in at the end.
dvchurch at 12:04PM on 11/05/09
@Otabenga - OMG I totally thought about it ... I didn't. But the thought did present itself. You know, the same way one occasionally (out of nowhere) pictures themselves falling off a cliff while standing at an overlook even though they have no intention of jumping.
This is actually one of the reasons I don't like spaghetti itself - just doesn't seem to hold the sauce well enough for me. And for no good reason, I am annoyed by spaghetti being turned into the sauce to finish, but that's probably more of an issue with my own inability to match sauce and pasta quantities than anything.
And actually, I prefer to use the canned fire-roasted tomatoes (which seem to have a thicker sauce than non-FR), but my bf moans like a little girl if I don't put fresh in because he's much more into whole, fresh ingredients (what a PITA, huh? :P), so I used up the ones on the counter for last night's dinner.
@dvchurch - 5 T of butter in tomato sauce? yikes!
joyyy at 12:31PM on 11/05/09
@joyyy - That's what I thought until I tried it! Just remember that butter is only ~80% fat, so it's equivalent to 4 TB of olive oil (1/4 cup). That's how I justified it the first time :-) Now? It just tastes good!
dvchurch at 1:03PM on 11/05/09
Sounds like you need to let your sauce reduce a bit more, or, as suggested, eliminate the water/juice from the tomatoes at the start.
You will, however, never form a permanent emulsion with water and oil - they'll always eventually separate. How much oil are you adding? If it's more than a tablespoon, it will always float to the top of your sauce.
You might try a gravy separator, or try skimming the oil off the top of your sauce before serving.
Personally, I love and crave the oily part of the sauce that's been infused with sweet tomato and garlic - perfect for sopping up with a giant chunk of Italian bread.
WickedGoodDinner at 1:05PM on 11/05/09
I oil separating from your sauce, or is it a watery liquid?
dbcurrie at 1:08PM on 11/05/09
I use one can of Cento tomatoes in purée and one can of diced tomatoes. Much richer sauce. Never have a separation problem. Hope that helps!
Foodie,foodie! at 1:09PM on 11/05/09
Cento is a very good brand for making marinara too. There tomatoes are not watery.
Foodiefoodie- thanks for mentioning it.
CJ McD at 1:33PM on 11/05/09
@wicked & dbcurrie - it's watery, not oily. I only use a tablespoon or so of olive oil to cook the onions at the start.
joyyy at 1:43PM on 11/05/09
Are you draining your pasta thoroughly? Are you rinsing it with water? If you are rinsing, stop. My mom does it this way and it drives me nuts. Worse than fingernails on a blackboard. And hers always comes out watery.
I also second the rec for tossing just-before-al-dente pasta with your sauce for a quick simmer before serving.
Kerosena at 2:08PM on 11/05/09
First I take out all the seeds,then take out as many stems as possible......oh shit....wait a minute....i THOUGHT the post was marijuana separating.....sorry......
onepercent99 at 3:39PM on 11/05/09
Ok no cornstarch! Use more tomato paste and saute it with the onions which makes a tomato paste/rouxish thing which will thicken your sauce. A lot of chuncked up tomatoes need a home to live in, so add some water or wine or stock to the party to thin out the tomato paste once it has sauteed.
Here is my question are you pouring oil in the pasta water. Some genius one thought this was a great idea. The starch is needed so the sauce will adhere to it. Do not rinse pasta and do not put oil in the pasta water.
JerzeeTomato at 5:48PM on 11/05/09
@ all ya'll
I drain the spaghetti well after it is boiled in plain old salt water. I do not rinse the pasta. If the bf is in the kitchen, he'll throw a little olive oil on it back in the dry pan. The only oil involved is at the start of the sauce when I cook the onions. Also, I'm only using about a T of tomato paste (frozen, since I never use the whole can, I freeze it in ~1T chunks, usually tossing one into a pot of sauce). Does that sound about right? Would more help?
This is part of the reason I loved the SE baked ziti so much, where you cook the noodles in the sauce and then bake it - never have that problem when using that technique.
joyyy at 5:57PM on 11/05/09
Use 2-3 TBS and saute it with the onion in the olive oil.
JerzeeTomato at 9:17PM on 11/05/09
I didn't read all the responses but have you ever added tomato paste? I usually add one 7-ounce can of tomato paste and one tomato-paste-can of water to every 28 oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes I use. It tastes great and does not separate.
What makes marinara "marinara" is the fact that it's meatless. It's "in the style of the mariner" who needed a product that would not turn rancid when brought out to sea for long periods of time.
therealchiffonade at 7:48AM on 11/06/09
I'm with @dvchurch. Don't cook it too long. Marinara is my go to I have no time to make dinner dinner because it cooks in a half hour.
I use a tablespoon and a half or so of olive oil, a good pile of minced garlic, hot pepper seeds and salt to two big cans of peeled plum tomatoes that I squish in a bowl by hand before adding them to the pan. Cook until just thickened about a half hour then add some fresh basil.
I don't think marinara is supposed to be really thick like a "Sunday gravy" it should be light.
VerasTastyFreeze at 11:20AM on 11/06/09