Tomato sauce: short or long simmer
Tomatoes are acidic and sweet, and every minute of simmering evaporates more water. About 20 minutes keeps the sauce fresh and bright. An hour or more concentrates the sugars into a jammy, savory depth. Both are fine. They just taste different.
Add some fat and maybe sugar
Oil carries the fat-soluble flavor and color compounds in tomatoes, so a generous splash rounds out the sauce. Still sharp? A small pinch of sugar balances the acid. Good tomatoes may not need any, so taste first.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
Your 10-minute tomato sauce tastes thin and sharp. What helps most?
Simmer longer so water evaporates. Less water concentrates the sugars and flavor, so it tastes rounder.
True or false: A little olive oil in tomato sauce carries fat-soluble flavor and color compounds such as lycopene.
True. Lycopene and many flavor compounds dissolve in fat rather than water, so oil carries them.
What went wrong? You fry garlic in oil until dark brown, then add the tomatoes. The finished sauce has a harsh, bitter edge.
The garlic browned too dark and turned bitter. Stop at pale gold, or add the tomatoes sooner to cool the pan.
Fill the blank: Tomatoes taste sharp because of acids such as citric and ___ acid.
Tomatoes taste sharp because of acids such as citric and malic acid. Malic and citric acids are the main sour acids in tomatoes.
How many minutes should a quick, fresh tomato sauce simmer?
About 20 minutes. About 20 minutes gives a fresh sauce, and much longer concentrates it into a deeper one.
