That being said, spaghetti sauce. Yeah, home made is better, but “doctoring” a jarred sauce gets 95% as good without hours of work. You can’t fix the canned shit, but I’ve not found a jarred sauce that I can’t tweak with fresh herbs and some quickly sweated aromatics and end up with something that people love. It also satisfies my picky ass. Now, I will say that fucking ragu is pretty shit overall, and doctoring it only goes so far. But it is still good enough that making sauce from scratch ain’t happening.
Edit:
There seems to be a lot of range in spaghetti sauce recipes. It’s also important to note that I’m not talking about marinara.
So, the real time involved is split between prep and simmering.
Here’s how we do it. Remember this is an american talking here, so don’t redirect expect something traditionally Italian. And I’m a southerner that’s mostly german and Scots-Irish, so don’t expect any new York style stuff lol.
You take your tomatoes, skin them however you prefer. I use a quick dip in boiling water, aka blanching.
You give those peeled tomatoes a rough chop into nice size chunks. Now, the kind of tomato matters for that because something like a roma e isn’t gong to need as many chops as a beefsteak. You’d usually be using something like a roma anyway, but if your neighbor drops off a giant bucket of tomatoes, you can only use what you got, you know?
You chop up an onion, maybe two. You mince some garlic, maybe half a bulb if you really like garlic. I love garlic, so I go heavy.
Now, that’s your usual start. Most people in my family don’t add anything else in the way of veggies. Me? I like to char a couple of red or yellow bell peppers, skin them, and get them in there too. If I’m feeling frisky, I might have zucchini, eggplant, or whatever else cut up and ready to add at the appropriate time too, but that’s optional.
You get the onions sweating. While they’re starting, you feet your herbs together. Idgaf about fresh vs dried, each has benefits for flavor, you do what you prefer. I do oregano, basil, marjoram, a little thyme, and that’s it. I’m simple.
A little black pepper, a little salt (you really don’t need much, maybe a teaspoon for a big batch; salt your damn pasta water instead) to taste.
Once the onions are almost ready, I add the peppers since the quick char and steam to peel them tends to get them halfway cooked anyway.
This is around a half hour of work for most people. For me, it’s closer to an hour. Yay disability!
Then you add your tomatoes, herbs, and any optional veggies. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer.
After that, it’s patience. You’re making sure any veggies added are tender, and after that it’s cooking things down and letting the flavors develop. And, I promise you, anything under a half hour of simmering isn’t going to taste right, and will be super runny. You’ll usually have what amounts to chunky tomato water until close to the hour mark. For a big pot (my biggest is 6 quarts, and it starts damn near full when I do it) an hour and a half is bare minimum for the right thickness.
Now, if you’re going to jar that up, you’re done except for that part, which isn’t involved in what I originally said.
If you’re going to add meat, you’ll want to start browning it off about a half hour ahead of when the thickness will be right. You add the cooked meat in and let it simmer for 15 minutes at minimum. Do yourself a favor and deglaze the pan used with a nice, semisweet red wine, add that to the pot and go at least a half hour after adding it.
Now, exactly how long it needs to simmer is variable because you’re dealing with tomatoes, and the water content varies between varieties, time of year, weather conditions, etc. But I’ve never had a full sized batch take less than an hour and a half counting from the initial bring-to-boil stage.
I dunno, maybe there’s time savers I’ve never thought of. Maybe the folks saying it’s a half hour are doing a different version of “from scratch”, or whatever. But that’s how we do it, and it’s pretty much what the typical recipes I’ve seen online do (I went and checked because I wondered if I was crazy lol), plus or minus some details that don’t really change simmer time.
I’ve had some batches need a full two hours of simmering. And, yeah, you don’t have to stand over the pot the whole time, but chances are you’ll still be in the kitchen cleaning, keeping an eye on things stirring occasionally, adding any herbs or spices to adjust taste as it goes, etc. So it isn’t like you can just pop down to the local pub (or equivalent in your location) and go by time alone. You’ll still be in the general vicinity, with the added heat and humidity from cooking.
But that’s why I rarely go from scratch. I can pick up a jar of whatever, add some herbs, extra garlic and/or onions, brown any meat and then the deglaze and be done in under an hour from start to finish, including prep. The taste isn’t the same, nor is the texture, but it’s still yummy.
I came here to hard disagree, especially with the crepes example, but egg on my face and apologies all around: I am with you regarding spaghetti sauce.
I just don't consider any of that an answer to the question. For the most part, nobody is expecting every individual ingredient of a meal to be made from the raw ingredients (I don't actually think sauce is a lot of hands on work, but I don't usually bother to make it either). While I have a pasta maker and love fresh homemade pasta, if I make a lasagna from store bought noodles, jarred sauce, and store bought ricotta, nobody is going to yell at me for calling it homemade. The version with fresh pasta, homemade sauce, and homemade ricotta is going to be better (OK, I haven't done ricotta so I might make it gross), but the first one still counts.
I’m the exact opposite on spaghetti sauce. I find an incredible sauce is very easy to make heaps of with San Marzano tomatoes and tastes almost zero effort, just lots of time. But then I have like ten spaghettis’ worth and it’s wrecks shop on any jar sauce!
Italian scratching his head here. I can think of only one particular type of ragu that takes a few hours to make properly and is obviously not what’s being discussed here due to jars, doctoring sweating and general confusion.
Mate putting together a tomato sauce from scratch for some spaghetti shouldn’t take longer than the time it takes to the water to boil plus the 9 or so minutes that it takes to cook the pasta you are overthinking it
I’m American, and do use jarred sauce if I have it, but more often what I have is tomato paste, a half bottle of wine hanging out in the refrigerator and some garlic or olive oil and butter. Anchovies. Usually have canned peeled tomatoes too, but those do have to cook awhile to taste good.
I guess I don’t set out to replicate jarred sauce, generally speaking, but can quickly dress pasta for supper with something good.
I learned from America’s Test Kitchen to look at the ingredients. If the first ingredient is tomato paste or tomato concentrate, pass. If it is tomatoes, it will probably be fine. Although usually this means a more expensive jar, there are plenty of expensive/fancy looking jars that don’t pass this test.
That said, Del Grosso’s has a premium line with “Aunt Mary Anne’s Marinara”. It is our go-to and far and away the best I’ve tried.
I’m a huge fan of Rao’s sauce, but the price jumped from about $4 a jar to $10 last year and I just can’t justify that. I sometimes find it on sale for under $5 and def grab it, but it’s rare these days.
I used to doctor storebought sauces too. Recently though, I’ve just been buying those cans of cento crushed tomatoes. They’re a blank slate, and probably better quality tomatoes too.
If you’ve got a pressure cooker you can make pho ga (chicken pho) in under 30 minutes and it’s almost as good as beef in my opinion. Also way cheaper to make than beef pho.
I've got to disagree. When I make it, it tastes so much richer than the more quickly made stuff you can get at any restaurant. The two don't even compare.
Edit: Even more so, bo kho. The homemade stuff takes me about 14 hours for a big batch with lots of leftovers. I can't even bother eating the stuff made at restaurants where they cut corners and don't simmer all day.
I used to think this until I spent a month tinkering with different recipes and ideas to make a good “cheater pho”. Pho that doesn’t take 1 day to make yet gets about 90% of the tastes of a great pho. I think i succeeded but it’s probably basphamy to some people.
I found the food networks recipe to be a great starting place if you want to give it a shot.
I disagree on this one, corn tortillas are really simple if you have a press. The dough is literally just mix masa and water. And to cook them, you just put it on a hot surface for 30 seconds. Meanwhile corn tortillas from the store are always so dry and tasteless, they’re rarely worth buying
I agree a lot of commercial corn tortillas are not good. I particularly don’t like the fake-soft ones that have dough conditioners and preservatives for no reason. But with as much cooking as I do, I can’t bring myself to make tortillas when I make masa - I always end up doing pupusas, arepas or tamales. My main use of corn tortillas is enchiladas casserole style so homemade ones are kind of pointless since they 75% disintegrate.
Yup I can’t find anything in the stores that compares and I don’t mind making them. Really only do this in the summer when there’s some garden ingredients though, with a ground meat or bean sauce for protein.
Pho. I have a killer recipe for the instant pot but it basically works out to the same price as just buying it from our local takeout. And they’re Vietnamese.
1 packet of vietnamese meatballs (these cook separately to the other meat)
CHARRED VEG
1 root of ginger (around 3 inches long), unpeeled, cut in half lengthways
1 onion, skinned and cut in half
FLAVORS
10 pieces of star anise (aniseed)
1 tablespoon coriander seed
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon salt
1 clump of rock sugar
6 tablespoons of fish sauce
MSG (? amount)
TOPPINGS
Fresh Cilatro
Culantro (sawtooth, big leafy shit)
Basil
Green onion
Lime
Sliced onions
Bean sprouts
Hoisin Sauce
Sriracha
OTHER
Rice Noodles
Bring a big pot of water to the boil and drop the meat (except the meatballs and flank) into the boiling water. Furiously boil for 10 minutes. Drain and wash the meat under the tap.
Turn on the broiler, put the ginger and onion in, cut side up, until nicely charred.
Fill the instant pot to 1 inch below full line (12 cups/3 quarts or a little more). Add the washed meat (not the meatballs, not the flank) to the water and adjust water if overfilled. Then add the charred veg and the flavor ingredients.
Lid on, pressure cook button and set to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Prep toppings. Add the noodles to cold water and soak for at least 30 minutes. Let the pressure cooker depressurize naturally when done. During this time, prepare a pot of boiling water for the meatballs and noodles.
Once the Instant Pot beeps finished, boil the meatballs in water for 10 minutes. When these are done, remove, and leave the water boiling ready for the noodles. When ready to serve, dip the noodles in the boiling water for 1-2 minutes and remove immediately.
Open Instant Pot and remove meat to cut and plate. Strain the broth. If you have time, strain it a second time through a piece of kitchen towel to remove extra impurities. Return broth pot to Instant Pot and turn to low saute - taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Plate up the food, starting with noodles, then meat, flank, broth, then toppings and sauce. Get slurpy.
You do you, but those are not difficult to make IMHO. I make a ton of batter and keep it in a squeeze bottle so I can easily make my kid pancakes in the morning
For me it’s macarons and most baked goods
I still make lasagna from scratch but that’s because I have to use gluten free pasta. All the pre made versions are awful
Significantly? One is thick and fluffy due to a couple of extra ingredients and one is thin and light. They’re basically the same thing base ingredients, prep and cooking method wise.
Macarons are one I picked up a few years back. I’d be damned if I’m paying almost $3 for a cookie after my niece asked for some at the store. I went home, compared recipes and had a few dozen in front of her that night. They’re time consuming, but much of the time is waiting for them to set, which is perfect for my ADHD ass cause I just forget about them for 30 mins to a couple hours. It’s a skill that has definitely paid off, and I love giving them to everyone who has never tried one because of the price.
Now I dont “love” them as a standalone but I do a few really nice loaded versions for catering family events. I tried to “elevate” my dishes by making my own and while I could and they were a little better it took half a day and a shitload of mess.
Honestly, you could probably make loaded hash browns and just make them slightly smaller and it would be pretty awesome. But I do agree that I’m not a big fan of the soak time for potatoes and getting them to bond and cook right.
Macaroons. I have made them from scratch. I can appreciate the sophisticated sublime expression of culinary caution it takes to split egg white, whip them until hard peaks, and then gently and precisely fold in the other ingredients to get the flavor you are after… But holy hell is it tedious with lots of potential for failure most of the way.
Alternatively, making cinnamon rolls from scratch. Not because it’s hard, just because it takes too long. I believe the recipe I was using allowed the dough to rise three separate times. Simple enough to make, but planning ahead for them to be breakfast is a 16:00 the previous day commitment.
Because I’m dumb, do you mean macarons? Or do you actually flavor your macaroons? If you do what flavors do you recommend for them? I assume something tropical to go with the coconut?
French Fries. For those who don’t know, when starting with a potato, you have to fry them twice. Once at a low temp to cook through, then again at a high temp to crisp up and brown. The frozen fries at the grocery have already had the first fry.
The double frying is just too much effort when the frozen stuff is just as good, even in an air fryer. So long as they’re hot, the drive thru can compete with anything you make at home.
I used to feel the same way about egg rolls, but the product you get from scratch is superior to frozen or even take out.
I’d rather make Kenji’s crispy potatoes instead now. You add baking soda and boil potatoes for 10 mins, it get the outside super mushy, you toss in a bowl with oil and they get covered in this potato paste, then oven high heat until cwispy.
Try letting them soak in water for a while after cutting them. Then dry them off before coating in oil and frying them. We do them in the air fryer that way. Not the same as deep fried but it’s good and close enough for us while being little effort.
Yeah the biggest annoyance is the tapioca. It’s hard to get just right (chewy but not too soft), you cant really make large batches and save it for later and it takes a long time just to make a single serving for one drink.
I’m with you on this one. It’s one of the few things I refuse to make from scratch on Thanksgiving. I don’t know how or why, but every time I’ve tried to make them from scratch they get fucked up and turn into an inedible mess. I consider myself a decent cook and so does everyone else I’ve ever cooked for, but I cannot make mashed potatoes from scratch.
In terms of nutritional value it's actually quite a huge difference, with homemade mashed potatoes being a lot better for you. Something about food being healthier when it's less processed.
Still, the powder one is not the worst thing, and boiling up potatoes takes too long some days. I like keeping some texture though, so for me it's homemade whenever I feel like having it. :)
It's more recent science, but it seems every step of processing food (boiling, mashing, drying etc) breaks down cell structures, and that this in turn can make it harder for the body to take up nutrition. So you end up eating more but getting less nutritional value.
Research is still ongoing though, and of course mashed potatoes from powder is obviously still much better than ultra-processed food.
If homemade mash tastes exactly like the box to you, you’re doing something wrong when you make them. I’m not saying instant is bad to have in a pinch, but having the dehydrated potatos in flakes immediately makes them starchier and have a more gluey consistency. Plus, there are tons of additives that definitely make it taste different from freshly cooked potatoes.
If your flakes come out gluey, you’re not using enough liquids to rehydrate it. I feel like everyone disagreeing here likes lumpy potatoes. One person already admit they don’t even remove the skin when they make theirs. Gross. They’re supposed to be smooth and creamy.
That’s me! This has to be a fundamental difference in what we consider mashed potatoes. You are going for something textureless and processed like whipped potato porridge, I like them to be, well, mashed potatoes. Recognizably potatoes, mashed up and seasoned. The pressure cooked ones are fluffy as hell, they yield to a gentle fork smash.
My stepson, the first time I was around for his birthday, asked me specifically for “mashed potatoes made from potatoes”. I don’t think most people would agree with you on this one. Instant pot whole potatoes, mash with milk and butter, salt and pepper. I never peel them. So good and so easy.
Santa (aka my credit card) brought me an instant pot for Christmas. Do you have pressure and times for the potatoes? I didn’t even think of cooking them in there and then mashing.
Peeling, boiling, mashing, mixing taking like 30-60 minutes, depending on how much you’re making vs 3 minutes boiling water in a microwave and mixing a bag of flakes in for the same starch paste.
Any differences are marginal and so not worth the effort and time it takes.
I am not peeling nor boiling, have never peeled a potato. Boiling them in chunks I agree won’t yield something so much better than dehydrated powdered potatoes - that puts too much water into the equation and makes them similarly gluey. You can microwave chunked potatoes and mash them if you don’t have a pressure cooker or instant pot.
Yes it takes longer than boiling water but in the context of cooking other things it’s easy and potatoes pressure cooked whole are so fluffy and easy to mash.
I have used the flakes for potato bread, they are useful like dry milk is. But just like dry milk, or instant coffee, something is lost in drying and rehydration.
This is a very subjective prompt though - if the marginal time savings are worth it to you, they are. I don’t usually have an urgent timeline for mashed potatoes so letting them cook while I do other stuff works out.
I don’t peel, wait to boil, or even mix. I’ll literally throw whole garlic cloves in at once, and between the heat and the mashing they’ll take care of themselves. It also helps a lot of you have an actual potato masher and you’re not just using a spoon or something. Unlike this gif I found though, I just mash them in the pot as they cook. https://media.tenor.com/6A0aFauRdZ8AAAAM/super-recipes-foodie.gif
Yeah, flavor wise, there’s not any significant difference. Texture wise, that’s where scratch cooked excels. But if you’re going to rice it or cook it down all the way anyway? Dehydrated is going to be as tasty once finished.
But making mashed potatoes from scratch is so easy and has way better texture.
Btw when you say “they come in all sorts of flavours”, what does that mean? Like strawberry or something? I have never seen flavoured mashed potatoes. Is it an American thing?
Almost anything that involves phyllo dough. Banitsa is worth occasionally doing homemade only because you can't really find it anywhere, but anything else is just not worth it.
Add comment