Saw Rao's pasta at the store yesterday and picked up a pound
(18 oz, really) of standard Linguine for $3.49, to pair up with
the jar of Emeril's Vodka Sauce I got a week or two ago meaning
to try it out.

Eh.

Neither was special. The sauce tasted better cold
than heated. It was terribly bland even though I'd added
sicilian rope sausage to it. Attractive roasted-something
smell, but otherwise not impressive enough to buy again.

The pasta was, basically, pasta. Nice linguine, is about
as excited as I'll get over it. At nearly 3X the price
of store-brand, it's certainly not worth the vig.

I paired this up with a Bolla Bardolino, which has
rapidly become my favorite Italian wine for pasta meals,
supplanting Col di Sasso Sangiovese. Very nice. The rest
of the bottle is sitting on the counter calling my name.

It was a decent pasta dinner. I wouldn't have complained
eating this at any restaurant. But I would have tried
the osso buco next time.

--Blair
"Hey, you think Emeril makes
a store-brand osso buco?"

"Blair P. Houghton" > wrote in message
...
> Saw Rao's pasta at the store yesterday and picked up a pound
> (18 oz, really) of standard Linguine for $3.49, to pair up with
> the jar of Emeril's Vodka Sauce I got a week or two ago meaning
> to try it out.
>
> Eh.
>
> Neither was special. The sauce tasted better cold
> than heated. It was terribly bland even though I'd added
> sicilian rope sausage to it. Attractive roasted-something
> smell, but otherwise not impressive enough to buy again.
>
> The pasta was, basically, pasta. Nice linguine, is about
> as excited as I'll get over it. At nearly 3X the price
> of store-brand, it's certainly not worth the vig.
>
> I paired this up with a Bolla Bardolino, which has
> rapidly become my favorite Italian wine for pasta meals,
> supplanting Col di Sasso Sangiovese. Very nice. The rest
> of the bottle is sitting on the counter calling my name.
>
> It was a decent pasta dinner. I wouldn't have complained
> eating this at any restaurant. But I would have tried
> the osso buco next time.
>
> --Blair
> "Hey, you think Emeril makes
> a store-brand osso buco?"

Thanks, Blair. I've been wondering about Emeril's different pasta sauces.
Now I know I'm better off making my own. I LOVE a good vodka sauce!

Kilikini

Blair P. Houghton > wrote

> I paired this up with a Bolla Bardolino, which has
> rapidly become my favorite Italian wine for pasta meals,
> supplanting Col di Sasso Sangiovese. Very nice. The rest
> of the bottle is sitting on the counter calling my name.

Yes!
That is absolutely my favorite red for pairing with Italian foods!
(Especially pasta with hearty red sauce)

I first tried it at my favorite pizza place. Now it's a staple in my
wine rack.

I haven't tried the Sangiovese you mentioned, maybe I will.

Hmmm...now you got me thinking about spaghetti with a nice hearty meat
sauce, garlic bread and a big glass of Bardolino!

kilikini > wrote:
>Thanks, Blair. I've been wondering about Emeril's different pasta sauces.
>Now I know I'm better off making my own. I LOVE a good vodka sauce!

I've never made a vodka sauce before. I make a fairly
simple tomato-sausage sauce from scratch that kicks the
cooties out of this stuff. I may try steaming a couple
of jiggers through it next time to see if I can pick up
the change it's supposed to evoke in the tomatoes.

--Blair
"I hope it's not supposed to make
them bland."

What exactly is vodka supposed to do to a tomatoe sauce? How does it change
it?

SDB

"Blair P. Houghton" > wrote in message
...
> kilikini > wrote:
> >Thanks, Blair. I've been wondering about Emeril's different pasta
sauces.
> >Now I know I'm better off making my own. I LOVE a good vodka sauce!
>
> I've never made a vodka sauce before. I make a fairly
> simple tomato-sausage sauce from scratch that kicks the
> cooties out of this stuff. I may try steaming a couple
> of jiggers through it next time to see if I can pick up
> the change it's supposed to evoke in the tomatoes.
>
> --Blair
> "I hope it's not supposed to make
> them bland."

BJ42 wrote:

> What exactly is vodka supposed to do to a tomatoe sauce?
> How does it change it?

That's an interesting question.

I was watching Lidia's Italian Kitchen a few weeks
ago, and she was making a sauce with vodka in it.
She commented on how the vodka itself has no flavor
and the alcohol gets cooked out of the sauce,
so she wasn't sure what it was doing, but that it does
make a difference.

One possibility is that a little alcohol from the vodka
remains in the sauce and in so doing is contributing
to flavor. Even if the sauce is heated above the
boiling point of alcohol, a significant amount will
remain behind without evaporating.

But I think it is more likely that the alcohol is acting
as a solvent, allowing flavors to meld that otherwise
would remain separated. It could be extracting
flavors from solid ingredients into the liquid, then
evaporating away but leaving the extracted flavors
more uniformly spread around in the sauce. This
could have a dramatic effect on the flavor of the sauce.

Mark Thorson > wrote:
>But I think it is more likely that the alcohol is acting
>as a solvent, allowing flavors to meld that otherwise
>would remain separated. It could be extracting
>flavors from solid ingredients into the liquid, then
>evaporating away but leaving the extracted flavors
>more uniformly spread around in the sauce. This
>could have a dramatic effect on the flavor of the sauce.

I don't know about dramatic, but it's surely not action-adventure.

--Blair
"Maybe a bit chick-flickish, really."

On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:07:42 -0400, BJ42 wrote:

> What exactly is vodka supposed to do to a tomatoe sauce? How does it change
> it?
>
> SDB
>
> "Blair P. Houghton" > wrote in message
> ...
>> kilikini > wrote:
>>>Thanks, Blair. I've been wondering about Emeril's different pasta
> sauces.
>>>Now I know I'm better off making my own. I LOVE a good vodka sauce!
>>
>> I've never made a vodka sauce before. I make a fairly
>> simple tomato-sausage sauce from scratch that kicks the
>> cooties out of this stuff. I may try steaming a couple
>> of jiggers through it next time to see if I can pick up
>> the change it's supposed to evoke in the tomatoes.
>>
>> --Blair
>> "I hope it's not supposed to make
>> them bland."

I had a Vodka, tomato, cream sauce in Ottawa a week or so ago. It was
excellent, and was called Vodka Monterosa Sauce at €œJohnny Farina.€� It was
on a Sea Food Fettichine and was excellent. I was hoping that someone here
might know the sauce.

Lacking that I figured I would sauté a little onion and garlic, add heavy
crème, a bit of tomato paste and vodka boil it down and see what happens.

--
JakeInHartsel

"BJ42" ..> wrote in message
...
> What exactly is vodka supposed to do to a tomatoe sauce? How does it
change
> it?
>

The vodka sauce I've had (and experimented with) in the past is more of a
tomato cream sauce with slivers of pancetta. I serve it over ziti-like
pasta. It's really good!

Kilikini

Glenn Jacobs > wrote:
>I had a Vodka, tomato, cream sauce in Ottawa a week or so ago. It was
>excellent, and was called Vodka Monterosa Sauce at €œJohnny Farina.€� It was
>on a Sea Food Fettichine and was excellent. I was hoping that someone here
>might know the sauce.
>
>Lacking that I figured I would sauté a little onion and garlic, add heavy
>crème, a bit of tomato paste and vodka boil it down and see what happens.

Y'know, it wouldn't take much cream to turn Emeril's Vodka Sauce
into a pretty standard tomato-cream sauce.

--Blair
"Starts out kinda creamed."