In search of the perfect pizza sauce

[so haaad]

In my opinion it's the sauce that makes the pie at Red's Savoy Inn the Twin Cities' favorite. (Pizza Man seems similar, too) But I can't figure out what makes it so good. Does anyone care to share thier favorite pizza sauce recipes, or have opinions on what makes Savoy's sauce so good?

[CALVINIST]

I would like some tips on making thin crust pizza. Anybudy got a good recipe and technique? And we gotta have the great sauce to compliment it, otherwise, why bother!!!

[Fishin Beast]

Most restaurants get their flavor using heavy sodium. It brings out the flavors in the food but not always the healthiest.

I mess around with Sauces and have found a few good mixtures.

I would start with a basic store bought pizza sauce as the base.

In a pan cook up some very finely chopped onions and finely cut bacon. Fry up with some light E-V-O-0 and add worcestershire sauce near the end. When those are nice and happy, throw in some real garlic, cajun seasoning to taste, and italian seasonings.

Then dump in the pizza sauce in the pan and bring to a light boil while stirring every minute or 2.

[so haaad]

Thanks. Anyone else? Cheffrey?

[pulsar_nx]

I take a bag boboli pizza sauce and spread it out over the pizza crust and then add McCormick garlic pepper blend (in the shaker) and go pretty liberal with it and then give it a dusting of McCormick garlic bread sprinkle and a dusting of parmasan cheese.

I usually do this on a chibatta bread and top it off with a bag of mozzarella, an extra dusting of garlic pepper blend and a lil bit of salt.

[nofishfisherman]

Here is the best pizza recipe that I have used, fresh is the key word here, fresh dough for the crust and all fresh ingredients.

Take your favorite pizza crust (I like the fresh pizza dough you can get at Trader Joes, they last forever in the freezer. The boboli premade crusts jsut aren't as good)

One package of fresh italian sausage, brown in a skillet.

Several fresh tomatoes, cut them into pieces, size it up to you.

Fresh basil, I pick it right from my plants.

Fresh mozeralla, the bagged stuff works but fresh is always better.

Put all the toppings into a large bowl and mix it up like a salad. (Skip this step if you are using a bag of shreaded cheese just add toppings like normal in that case)

Once mixed spread the topping evenly over the pizza, and bake until done (melted cheese, light brown, you all know what it looks like)

You don't need any sauce, the fresh tomatos add all the moisture you will need. Its by far the best pizza I have ever made myself and it rivals any that I paid for.

Give it a shot sometime, its really quick and easy.

[IndyEFI500]

I have been using the generic store brand pizza sauce from Rainbow. My wife who hates store brand products likes it a lot better than the big name brands we had been using.

Another good place to get crust is at Appert's in St. Cloud. You can get premade ones or dough balls. Premade is faster and easier but I lean toward the dough ball for being thicker when rolled out.

[Woolybugger]

Hey Nofish, that sounds great. I am kind of on your side about not needing a true sauce to make a great pizza. I like to sweat out some diced onions and garlic in EVOO for a few minutes to soften them a little. I will toss in some tomato chunks with as little of the seeds and liquid as possible. Tear up some basil from the plant and a few sprinkles of dried Oregano. The tomatoes will only be in the pan for maybe 2 minutes until they are heated through - not breaking down. Halved sweet cherry tomatoes work nice. This "sauce" is a great background for fresh light toppings. My favorite is artichoke hearts and mushrooms. For cheese I like to use fresh mozzarella and provolone - extremely creamy and stringy.

Wooly

[Ebiz]

We really like the Green Mill sauce, you can buy it at Cub. Little on the expensive side but it's worth it.

[nofishfisherman]

Woolybugger,

That sounds just about perfect. I think i might know what I am having for dinner this week.

[PierBridge]

This is torture!

I'm so hungry now.....

[so haaad]

Excellent everyone! Keep them coming...

Still haven't heard from cheffrey...

[Kidd]

My wife makes (in my opinion) fantastic spaghetti sauce, and of course when she makes it it's a two day ordeal so she makes a lot of it. After a major batch we will take about 1 or 2 quarts and make pizza sauce. The way we do it is by adding more garlic, fennel and basil and then reduce the sauce to a marinara consistency. Once it gets to that point, we quarter tomatoes and add that, stir and cook only for a short time. We then make our pizza and freeze the remainder of the sauce.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s lunch time and I have a hanker’in for Cossetta’s sausage and peppers.