How do I make a good tomato sauce?

Tinned tomatoes vary enormously and it's the single biggest factor in the result — whole plum tomatoes from a decent brand are consistently better than cheap chopped ones, which are often lower-grade fruit padded with juice. Beyond that, tomato sauce needs time and salt more than it needs ingredients.

What you'll need

• Tin of whole plum tomatoes (400g)
• Garlic
• Good olive oil
• Salt
• Fresh basil (optional)
• Pinch of sugar or a carrot (optional)

Step by step

1. Warm a generous glug of olive oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat.More oil than feels right — it carries the flavour and emulsifies into the sauce at the end.
2. Add sliced or crushed garlic and cook gently until fragrant but not coloured, about 1–2 minutes.Pale gold at most. Browned garlic turns the whole sauce bitter.
3. Crush the whole tomatoes by hand into the pan, or break them up with a spoon.Hand-crushing gives a better texture than a blender, which aerates the sauce and turns it orange.
4. Add a good pinch of salt and a basil stalk if you have one.Salt now, not at the end — it draws out moisture and concentrates flavour as it cooks.
5. Simmer gently, uncovered, for 25–40 minutes, stirring occasionally.Partly cover if it spits. You're evaporating water and concentrating flavour, so it needs to be uncovered enough to reduce.
6. Stop when the sauce has thickened and the oil starts to separate at the edges.That separation is the classic sign it's reduced enough.
7. Taste and adjust — salt first, then a pinch of sugar only if it's genuinely too sharp.Acidity varies by brand and season. A grated carrot cooked in from the start is a less blunt fix than sugar.
8. Tear in fresh basil off the heat, and remove the stalk.Fresh basil loses its aroma if cooked. Off the heat, at the end.

Tips

• Buy whole plum tomatoes rather than chopped. Chopped tins often use lower-grade fruit and contain added juice or calcium chloride that keeps the pieces firm — which is the opposite of what a sauce wants.
• Make a triple batch and freeze it in portions. It costs the same effort and freezes perfectly.
• For a smoother sauce, pass it through a food mill rather than a blender — a blender incorporates air and lightens the colour.
• A parmesan rind simmered in the sauce adds considerable savoury depth. Keep them in the freezer for this.

Common mistakes

• Browning the garlic — Bitter garlic flavours the entire sauce and can't be removed.
• Not cooking it long enough — Under-reduced sauce tastes thin and raw — the time is what develops the flavour.
• Adding sugar automatically — Salt fixes most perceived acidity. Taste properly before reaching for sugar.
• Using a blender — It aerates the sauce, turning it pale orange and slightly frothy.

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