food Red Savina Marinara - Doesn't Taste Right

LunchBox

LunchBox

I need advice from you marinara experts.

I made a bad ass marinara from scratch...I browned some garlic, and red chile flakes in olive oil that came from Greece...added some finely minced red savinas...I then added a can of crushed tomatoes, some greek oregano, hungarian paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, a pinch of basil, dried parsley, coarse black pepper, and some sugar. I added some Marsala wine throughout the 4 hour simmering process.

The flavor is great...but there's a subtle, but bitter after-taste right before the heat. It's good...but I want great. I'm usually very good at tasting what is missing...but I'm not feeling it on this one.

I realize this is hard to diagnose without having it in front of you...and honestly, I'm not opposed to shipping some to someone to see what went wrong(ish).

Any ideas?
 
well i cant tell ya what went wrong, but da minute you added red pepper flakes and da red savinas it went from a marinara to a fra diablo. semantics aside i never made a sauce/gravy with marsala just good table red: chianti, burgandy etc,. evertything else you put in sounds like a good old fashioned sauce.
 
If the basil was dried, that's it right there. Use fresh only!

No oregano (for me) in marinara. No sugar. No paprika.

No garlic/onion powder. Fresh only!
 
I am guessing since you said you browned the garlic that it began to burn. This turns it bitter and would give you that nasty taste you described.
 
JayT said:
I am guessing since you said you browned the garlic that it began to burn. This turns it bitter and would give you that nasty taste you described.
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I'm wondering if that is the issue...I've made this marinara in the past with the same ingredients (less the savinas) and it's amazing. I think I may have over-cooked the garlic.
 
JayT...you nailed it. I've eaten raw or cooked and eaten half a dozen savinas in the lst 2 days. My ass hurts...but the bitter taste is nowhere to be found in the peppers. Lesson learned.

Thanks!
 
You could could try adding some shredded carrots to the sauce and simmering it till they turn to mush and they may help to pull some of it out. Plus the carrots will help with anyone that has stomach issues from tomatoes.

Cheers,
RM
 
RocketMan said:
You could could try adding some shredded carrots to the sauce and simmering it till they turn to mush and they may help to pull some of it out. Plus the carrots will help with anyone that has stomach issues from tomatoes.

Cheers,
RM
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Great advice...I've been exploring the world of carrots lately, and I think that would compliment the flavors well.
 
JayT said:
I am guessing since you said you browned the garlic that it began to burn. This turns it bitter and would give you that nasty taste you described.
Click to expand...

As soon as bitter and browned garlic were mentioned I had a good guess of what caused it. It is a taste nearly impossible to hide when you over-brown your garlic at the beginning of a recipe. Many people remove the garlic once it begins to brown so that it cannot give a bitter flavor by being over cooked later in the process, most of the good flavor is infused into the other ingredients by that time anyway.
 
Made te marinara again for some home made stromboli...undercooked the garlic on purpose, and it came out perfect. It was the garlic.

Thanks!
 
I have had "off" flavors from peppers from times that I used too much nitrogen with jalapenos or habs in dishes that didn't lend themselves to citrus flavors. I have done it, and would totally eat that sauce even if it wasn't perfect.
 
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