If you are Italian, you know that burning the sauce is a tragedy and very possibly a sin. I know this isn’t on quite the same level as Saving Private Ryan, but it’s very serious. The ingredients alone are worth at least 50 bucks! This has only happened to me a couple of times in life. It usually happens when I’m really busy and doing 12 things at once. Now that I’m retired I’m down to about six things at once, so it’s better, but I still recently burned sauce and was heartbroken. My brother and sister-in-law ate it, but I knew it had that off taste and I was crushed.
So, I did what my money-saving parents would have wanted me to do. I took the burned sauce out of the pan it was in, being careful not to scrape the bottom of the pan because then the burned bits would mix in. Then I froze the sauce for a time when I could defrost it and actually figure out how to fix it. I didn’t think it was fixable and almost chucked the whole thing, but my friend, the internet gave me some handy tips.
A website called, The Tasting Table had a bunch of hints on how to save the sauce. Just click on that link to see them, or keep reading. There were some things I would have never guessed…like lemon juice!
Tip#1. Remove the sauce from the pan (do not scrape the bottom where all the burned bits are) and put it in a
clean pan.
Tip #2. Add a squeeze of lemon juice
Tip #3. Add more tomato sauce. (I added a small can of pureed tomatoes and I had a half used bottle of
DeLallo’s Traditional Pasta Sauce I needed in a prior sauce emergency, so I used that too.)
Tip #4. Add some sweetener, I chose apple juice concentrate. It’s the only sweetener I ever use in sauce.
Tip #5. Add some additional herbs. I put in a few dashes of dried Italian seasoning and some fresh basil.
Tip #6. Add some cream. I added a little whipping cream.
Tip #7. Add some butter. I did not do this because all the above worked, but it’s worth a try.
I did all the above and I have to tell you I ended up with a delicious sauce that I would now serve to guests. The only guest I had tonight was me. So I made myself some stuffed shells to use up some leftover ricotta and topped them with my new non-burned sauce. It was the first solid food I’ve eaten for a couple of days.
That’s because I am getting over perhaps the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. That was to get my Covid, Flu and RSV vaccine all in one day. My theory was, it would be better to just get it over with in one day. My friend, Carolyn told me about some 80-something tiny, little woman who did it and was fine, so I thought, well, if she can do it, I can do it!
So, instead of just getting the chills – or being nauseous, or having a killer headache, I had all three…for almost two days. (I’d forgotten the part about the woman doing tons of traveling and always getting inoculations for every possible illness, so she was used to it.)
It was a good excuse to be a slug on the couch and watch more episodes of Seinfeld, a show I never watched in the 80s and 90s because I was too busy working, running a household, and taking care of kids. But I now find myself laughing out loud over it. They make me feel so well-balanced, although slightly insecure when I see all the dates they go on…but then again…it is fiction and comedy.
So, back to the sauce. I hope you never have to use this method, but if so, never fear, there is always a way to save the sauce and you don’t have to put a group of soldiers in harms way to do it.
If you enjoy this blog, stories and the recipes and would like to be a supporter so I can stay caffeinated enough to turn out a blog on a regular basis, just click on buymeacoffee.com/FranTunno
And please feel free to share and become a follower by entering your email in the box on the top right if you’re on a computer, or the bottom if you’re on your phone. I am trying desperately to get to 2,000. And Thank You!