Pizza sauce and vapor pressure

[Randy]

I am making spaghetti sauce this afternoon and it got me thinking about pizza sauce too and vapor pressure and tomato cell structure.  A whole lot to think about.  Italians form the old country as well as Lebanese and those of that region cook their sauce all day.  Now it occurred to me that one could reduce the moisture in a tomato sauce by closely guarding the evaporation rate.  That is to say hold the temperature at a level to promote evaporation without exceeding the vapor pressure of the sauce and therefore not damaging the cell structure.  To further this technique I would think stirring would be regular and frequent to bring the moisture to the surface.  It is the only way I can figure out how they can cook a sauce all day and not loose flavor.
If my sauce is successful tonight I will try it on pizza sauce next week.

Randy

[canadave]

Oh no...don't tell me I've got to go out and buy a barometer now!? 

Just kidding.  Actually I'm curious to know how your experiement turns out

[Randy]

After cooking it for several hours the flavor was still bright but cooking is too strong of a word.  I had the setting on below simmer where actually the sauce was not much above warm, certainly not hot.  I used a glass lid held over the top to reveal yes there was moisture being lost.

Randy

[friz78]

One of my other passions is spaghetti sauce. You are right on the money with cooking the sauce at the lowest possible temperature for a long period of time.  Sometimes, if I don't have all day, I will first warm the sauce a little quicker at a little higher heat initially, just to get the pan warm faster, then I lower the heat and let nature take its course.  My mother is first generation italian (Naples) and this is the way she does it too.

[Randy]

Thanks, that is great feed back and from the old country too.  I am  a bush leaguer when it comes to spaghetti sauce.  But his confirmation will give me something new to try on spaghetti and pizza sauce.

Again, thank you.

Randy

[Trinity]

From what I have heard. You cannot cook the lycopene out,,, So Thumb's up!!!

[Pete-zza]

Trin,

Nor only that, but I have read that there are higher levels of lycopene in cooked tomatoes, as in sauces, than in raw tomatoes.

Peter