Simple Italian-Style Meat Sauce
By America's Test KitchenPublished on August 26, 2013
Time
1¼ hours
Yield
Serves 8 to 12 (Makes about 6 cups sauce, enough for 2 lbs pasta)
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Except for ground round (which tasters found spongy and bland), this recipe will work with most types of ground beef, as long as it is 85 percent lean. (Eighty percent lean beef will turn the sauce greasy; 90 percent will make it fibrous.) If using dried oregano, add the entire amount with the reserved tomato juice in step 2. Leftover sauce can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to one month.
Instructions
- Process mushrooms in food processor until finely chopped, about 8 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed; transfer to bowl. Add bread, milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to now-empty processor and process until paste forms, about 8 pulses. Add beef and pulse until mixture is well combined, about 6 pulses.
- Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add onion and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are browned and dark bits form on pan bottom, 6 to 12 minutes. Stir in garlic, tomato paste, and pepper flakes; cook until fragrant and tomato paste starts to brown, about 1 minute. Add reserved tomato juice and 2 teaspoons oregano (if using dried, add full amount), scraping up any browned bits. Add meat mixture and cook, breaking meat into small pieces with spoon, until beef loses its raw color, 2 to 4 minutes, making sure that meat does not brown.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer until sauce has thickened and flavors have blended, about 30 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and remaining 1 teaspoon oregano; season with salt and pepper to taste.
Time
1¼ hoursYield
Serves 8 to 12 (Makes about 6 cups sauce, enough for 2 lbs pasta)Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
For a quick meat sauce recipe that tasted as if it had simmered for a good portion of the day, we discovered a few tricks: Instead of browning the meat, we browned mushrooms to give the sauce browned flavor without drying it out; we used a panade, a mixture of bread and milk, blended into the meat before cooking, to keep it tender; and for good tomato flavor, we added tomato paste to the browned vegetables in our meat sauce recipe and deglazed the pan with a little tomato juice before adding canned tomatoes.
Before You Begin
Except for ground round (which tasters found spongy and bland), this recipe will work with most types of ground beef, as long as it is 85 percent lean. (Eighty percent lean beef will turn the sauce greasy; 90 percent will make it fibrous.) If using dried oregano, add the entire amount with the reserved tomato juice in step 2. Leftover sauce can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to one month.
Instructions
- Process mushrooms in food processor until finely chopped, about 8 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed; transfer to bowl. Add bread, milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to now-empty processor and process until paste forms, about 8 pulses. Add beef and pulse until mixture is well combined, about 6 pulses.
- Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add onion and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are browned and dark bits form on pan bottom, 6 to 12 minutes. Stir in garlic, tomato paste, and pepper flakes; cook until fragrant and tomato paste starts to brown, about 1 minute. Add reserved tomato juice and 2 teaspoons oregano (if using dried, add full amount), scraping up any browned bits. Add meat mixture and cook, breaking meat into small pieces with spoon, until beef loses its raw color, 2 to 4 minutes, making sure that meat does not brown.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer until sauce has thickened and flavors have blended, about 30 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and remaining 1 teaspoon oregano; season with salt and pepper to taste.
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