Why does my spag bol go watery????!


Question:

Why does my spag bol go watery????

Everytime i cook spag bol and put it on the pasta it goes really watery, i drain the mince and i drain he pasta for ages! its really annoying! any ideas????

Additional Details

4 weeks ago
Yeh i do use tinned tomatoes, next time ill drain them 1st see if that works, thanx bob


Answers:
4 weeks ago
Yeh i do use tinned tomatoes, next time ill drain them 1st see if that works, thanx bob

What goes watery? The sauce or the pasta? Give us your recipe and let's go from there.

thats a mystery that one, do you use tinned tomatoes? if so drain excess juice before cooking too.

If you use sauce from a jar, it has this annoying habit of thinning once it come into the slightest bit of water. One way is to thicken the sauce. I usually take a bit of the water from the drained pasta and boil it untill theres very little left (reducing i think is the proper term for it). The water will evaporate and you will be left with a minute quantity of starch, a natural thickening agent. Add this to your sauce and it will thicken, then add your pasta and it wont dilute down. If that doesnt work, a small measure of made up cornflour should be added to the sauce and this should thicken the sauce enough to be ready for the pasta. Another little tip is dont mix the pasta into the meat and sauce. Put the pasta onto the plate/bowl then add the bolognese on top.

Good luck with your future cooking efforts and i hope that helps, if not, try the bbc website recipe book for hints. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food

You could cook the bolognese gently but for longer with the lid off to evaporate some of the liquid, or you could add tomato paste if you dont already to thicken things up.

Alternatively you could thicken the sauce with cornflour by mixing a couple of teaspoons of flour with a little water and adding to the sauce, then bring back to the boil.

Hi,
Your question raises a lot of questions as there can be various reasons why this happens but as it does not happen to me let me try to give you some tips.
First draining of either mince or pasta is not the solution.
When you cook the sauce, start with frying your onion, garlic, mince and other veggies you put, then add some tomato paste mainly to deepen the colour of the sauce, now add your canned tomatoes and wine or some water and simmer on low heat for????? depending on the quantity of the sauce, finished product should have 60sauce /40filling ratio, now cook your pasta according to packing instruction, drain and rince with cold water, add back into the sauce and mix or serve separate, this way you will have no problems.
Starch will not help a lot as single starches like corn starch or potato starch desintegrate when they contact your sliver so the moment you taste with a spoon and return the spoon back into the sauce without cleaning it you will have this happening sometimes fast sometimes slower a bit, you see this clearly when you eat soup in a Chinese restaurant.

Hope this works for you

at a little bit of cornstarch...it thickens the sauce really quickly...but not too much

Already some good answers and tips but I do think it is from the tinned toms. By far the easiest way of sorting the problem is to add a tablespoon or more (depending on how much you are making) of tom puree from a tube about five minutes before the sauce is done. It thickens the liquid and has a great side effect of making your sauce taste richer and more authentic.




The consumer Foods information on foodaq.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007 FoodAQ - Terms of Use - Contact us - Privacy Policy

Food's Q&A Resources