My tomato sauce is very watery

Question

It has flavor, but its consistency is too thin. Will letting sit over medium low heat evaporate enough to increase its density or is this useless? Would bringing it to a boil help more. I don't want to ruin its flavor and am afraid bringing it to a boil with high heat will do just that.

Answer 1

Yes, cooking it more to evaporate off some of the liquid will definitely help. This is called reducing a sauce. A moderate simmer would be the appropriate temperature. You want to see occasional bubbles but definitely not a rolling boil. Stir it occasionally, making sure to get the bottom of the pot to avoid any scorching. It is possible to have it be quite liquid on top and rather dense in pockets on the bottom, which can then get well above 212 F and reaching the point of burning.

Answer 2

There are a few things you can do to thicken your sauce:

• Simmer - you can simmer the sauce at a low heat for quite a long time without affecting the flavour (generally improves it). Many Bolognese sauces are simmered for 30+ minutes.
• Thicken - add 1-2 tbsp of corn starch (or flour tempered). Many commercial sauces do this.
• Add paste - add a small tin of tomato paste (in addition to either of the above). Adds both flavour and thickening mojo.

Answer 3

Beware of hard boiling tomato sauce. Once it starts to thicken it'll burn to the bottom of the pot if not stirred every few minutes. That'll impart a 'Carbon-ara' taste that most people don't like. Dried mushrooms, Shiitake or other, such as you can get cheaply in asian food stores, make an excellent thickening agent for tomato sauces. They hydrate in 10 minutes or so when boiled, and suck up a lot of water in the process. If you don't want chunks of mushroom in your sauce, the dried material can be powdered in a coffee grinder before adding to the tomatoes.