Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not
so great) words of knowledge:

The basic "secret" to a good pasta sauce is the amount of time spent
simmering it - the longer the better. I usually simmer my sauce for a
minimum of 3 hours.

Think about this for a moment. If you have ever had left over lasagna
or a baked ziti, the sauce tastes better because it is reheated and the
flavors blend together more. Another plus to a long simmering is that
it greatly reduces the amount of acidity from the tomatoes.

> Hi everyone,
> I read the [entire] faq and I hope only posting a thank you won't be
> considered OT (?) I printed all your pasta suggestions and went through
> each one to find the suggestions that most people gave, then I looked
> at what I had and what I liked and at the end I threw in a bunch of
> stuff that had been mentioned (ok in a little bit of a panic) and my
> pasta was absolutely delicious!! Everyone loved it!! I was going to ask
> for a basic cookbook title since I already have Better Homes and
> Garden. The problem I have with cooking (and cookbooks) is that it
> never tastes that great. I can follow a recipe but I don't know what to
> add beyond that that makes it really good (like your pasta sauce
> suggestions.) So with your permission I think I'll start reading here
> more often and hopefully you won't mind a question now and then...
> Thanks so much!!
>