ARTindividual/Getty Images/iStockPhoto
1127973172
Why does pasta sauce in restaurants taste better than any of the store-bought, jarred sauces? —Doug A., St. Louis
There are several reasons, some obvious, others less so—and some people contend that with specific brands, there’s no difference at all. Let’s start with the most obvious factors.
1. Ingredients: Store-bought sauces use commodity ingredients purchased in bulk; restaurants generally pay more attention to each beginning with the tomatoes used. Some chefs opt for hand-selected fresh tomatoes, while others start with a great canned product. (Many cooks swear by the San Marzano brand.) Better restaurants opt for fresh herbs, which is not typically true with jarred counterparts.
2. Base Spicing: Jarred sauces tend to appeal to the masses, so they contain more sugar and tend to be sweeter. Since each batch of sauce is different, chefs can add more or less sugar, salt, and pepper to account for differences in the taste and acidity of the tomatoes.
3. Preservatives: Jarred sauces must be shelf-stable, which means the addition of taste-altering preservatives and stabilizers. (I know more than a few home cooks who passed on trying to sell their prized salad dressing or barbecue sauce at retail, because the shelf-stable version tasted nowhere near the original product.) And the reason you don’t see fatty meats or animal fats in jarred sauces is because both can get rancid.
4. Last-Minute Additions: In a restaurant, chefs are constantly altering sauces as they tend to change complexions in a restaurant setting: possibly a little more water, some milk, maybe a jolt of fresh herbs, fresh grated cheese, fresh seafood, etc. With store-bought sauces, whatever’s in the jar is what you get.
5. Exceptions: By no means should this be a castigation of all store-bought pasta sauces. There are organic sauces out there, and for our money, price tends to be indicative of quality. Chefs have their favorites as well. (In this recent Ask George column, Frida's chef-owner Natasha Kwan endorses Schnucks' Culinaria Arrabiata Pasta Sauce, and BEAST Butcher & Block's David Sandusky prefers the Rao’s line of sauces.) I’d also wager that, especially when pressed for time, most home cooks have gussied up a store-bought sauce with a little of this or that, especially if it’s been in the fridge for awhile.
Are there any store-bought sauces that you would consider restaurant-quality? Let us know in the comments section below.
Follow George on Twitter and Instagram, or send him an "Ask George" email at gmahe@stlmag.com. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
