Simmering Tomato Sauce

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Amateur1

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I have this recipe for tomato sauce. When I tried simmering it burnt after some time. The only way that seemed to work was moving it to a low setting on a slow cooker.
Do I need to stir while it simmers even though it says to leave the lid on?
Is there anything better than moving it to a slow cooker to simmer?

SERVES​

4

INGREDIENTS​

  • Olive oil
  • 3 onions, roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 small glasses of red wine
  • 4 tins chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 400g spaghetti

METHOD​

  1. Set a large pan with a lid over a low-medium heat with a good glug of oil. Add the onions along with a pinch of salt, pop the lid on and sweat until very soft (about 10 minutes). Then add the garlic and sweat for another couple of minutes.
  2. Turn up the heat, add the tomato purée and stir well. Then add the bay leaves and red wine and bring to a simmer.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar and a little more salt and black pepper. Pop the lid on and leave to simmer on a very low heat for about three hours. Then remove the bay leaves and blitz until smooth with a hand blender.
  4. When you’re ready to eat, cook the spaghetti in a big pan of well salted boiling water until al dente.
 
Did you simmer it on the stove or in the Crock-pot?

Do you have a gas or electric stove top?

It sounds like your heat source is too high.
 
When I simmer mine, even when I'm supposed to leave the lid on, I keep it cracked just a bit, or else the sauce bubbles too much, even on very low heat, and sprays sauce everywhere.

I do stir it every so often, and I'm using electric heat.
 
It shouldn't burn if the stove/hob temperature is right for a simmer. At a simmer, your sauce should just barely bubble, It shouldn't look like a boil.

The only other thing I can think of is a thin cooking vessel. I use a cast iron pot to simmer sauces. It disperses heat very evenly. A single layer steel pot could cause some burn on the bottom. Of course, never use an aluminum pot to cook tomatoes.

CD
 
caseydog said:
It shouldn't burn if the stove/hob temperature is right for a simmer. At a simmer, your sauce should just barely bubble, It shouldn't look like a boil.

The only other thing I can think of is a thin cooking vessel. I use a cast iron pot to simmer sauces. It disperses heat very evenly. A single layer steel pot could cause some burn on the bottom. Of course, never use an aluminum pot to cook tomatoes.

CD
Click to expand...
Good call. A thick bottom makes a HUGE difference.
 
I stir every sauce from time to time, just to make sure nothing burns and produces a bitter taste, while I make something else.
Good luck with the next tomatoesauce.
Stay healthy
 
I have a gas stovetop too. I always simmer tomato sauce in very low heat with the lid slightly open. After the sauce is boiling I turn down the heat, partially uncover the pan and let it simmer. If I find the sauce is too thick I add a bit of white wine (or water) and let it simmer a bit more.
 
Amateur1 said:
Pop the lid on and leave to simmer on a very low heat for about three hours
Click to expand...
My first thought is that 3 hours seems like a very long time to cook a basic tomato sauce - it shouldn't need anything like that long. I know there are lots of recipes out there for "slow cooked tomato sauce" but if you're starting with tinned tomatoes and tomato puree then I don't actually think there's any benefit to slow cooking them.

Slow cooking is useful when you want to breakdown the cell walls in food or reduce the water content to intensify flavour - so if you started with fresh tomatoes then yes a long, slow simmer is exactly right. But seeing as tinned tomatoes are already soft and you're also using tomato puree (which is already double-concentrated for the flavour intensity) 30 mins or so should be more than enough - you only need to cook the sauce long enough to reach your desired consistency.

As a general point, if you don't have a small enough ring on your hob to cook on a really low heat then you need to get yourself a diffuser like one of these: Large Hob Heat Diffuser 19cm
 
MrsDangermouse said:
My first thought is that 3 hours seems like a very long time to cook a basic tomato sauce - it shouldn't need anything like that long. I know there are lots of recipes out there for "slow cooked tomato sauce" but if you're starting with tinned tomatoes and tomato puree then I don't actually think there's any benefit to slow cooking them.

Slow cooking is useful when you want to breakdown the cell walls in food or reduce the water content to intensify flavour - so if you started with fresh tomatoes then yes a long, slow simmer is exactly right. But seeing as tinned tomatoes are already soft and you're also using tomato puree (which is already double-concentrated for the flavour intensity) 30 mins or so should be more than enough - you only need to cook the sauce long enough to reach your desired consistency.

As a general point, if you don't have a small enough ring on your hob to cook on a really low heat then you need to get yourself a diffuser like one of these: Large Hob Heat Diffuser 19cm
Click to expand...
Holy smokes. I agree! I just skimmed the recipe and didn't see that long cook time. Thanks for pointing that out to the OP.
 
Here's how I simmer a big pot - 300F oven:
55641
 
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