Cooking puzzle: Help me nullify the acidity of tomato sauce (and heartburn) in this recipe I've concocted. [more inside]
posted on Jun 26, 2008 - 21 answers

I'm getting ready to make my first serious attempt at marinara. Recipes that I have seen vary on whether one should use whole tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato puree, or tomato sauce. What effect does it have on the finished product to use or not use any of these in particular? [more inside]
posted on Dec 28, 2007 - 30 answers

Why was my jar of tomato sauce under pressure and the sauce bubbly? I had a half-full jar of tomato sauce that was closed and refrigerated. When opening the jar in order to use the sauce, the air pressure inside the jar was higher than the air pressure in the room and air escaped with a woosh, similar to opening a bottle of carbonated liquid (like seltzer.) Bubbles developed in the sauce in the jar, and a quick tasting of the sauce revealed that the sauce caused a sensation similar to carbonation. What was going on here?
posted on Apr 16, 2007 - 16 answers

Stain-on-favorite-shirt-filter: Is my favorite button-down oxford still salvageable? [more inside]
posted on Dec 7, 2006 - 13 answers

I am on an eternal quest to make the perfect tomato pasta sauce. Every recipie I've read says to start with a pan and some olive oil and then fry up onions and garlic. I then dump in my tomatoes--I ususally use whole canned tomatoes, chop them up a bit and let them simmer a while, then season, etc. The garlic is what I'm asking about, because I notice if I do this, the garlic will cook for quite a long time and the resultant sauce ain't so garlicky, even if I've added several cloves--it seems I've cooked away much of the flavor. I've tried adding the garlic later on, but that's not quite right either. How do you ensure your pasta sauce is full of garlic goodness?
posted on Apr 25, 2006 - 25 answers