Dish · italian
Tomato Sauce
Crushed tomatoes simmered with garlic, onion, basil, and olive oil until they cook down into a smooth, thick sauce. It's meant as a base for pasta or other dishes rather than a finished plate on its own.
Where it comes from
Tomato sauce spread through Italian cooking only after tomatoes, native to the Americas, became widely grown and accepted in Italy by the 18th and 19th centuries. Before that, pasta was more often dressed with cheese, butter, or oil alone.
What cooks argue about
Simmer time is the central fight: a short cook keeps the tomato bright, a long simmer deepens flavor but can turn the sauce flat and overly sweet.
Versions
Nobody has published a tomato sauce here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
crushed tomatoes
garlic
basil
olive oil
onion