*&^@%! Hunt's tomato sauce...what a rip off

[dixiegrrrrl]

I made a pot of chili today.
Added a can of Hunt's Tomato sauce, a new can, since my pantry full of all the old sauces has finally been used up.
NOT tomato paste, but sauce.
And it poured out of the can like ready to eat soup. Thin, and watery. Did not even have to use a spatula to scrape out the remainder,
cause there was no remainder, the can looked practically clean.
Problem was, I had no paste to thicken the chili, and did not want to add another can of watery sauce, cause I had enough liquid.

When did Hunt's change the contents..anyone else have that experience?
Worse yet, I still have 4 cans in the pantry...now I know why they were on sale, maybe.

[Shandris]

1. I've never known Hunts to NOT be runny as sauce. Memory conflict maybe? Or...

...perhaps I haven't cooked chili enough over the years lol.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Hmmm..might be memory conflict....

or I am used to store brands most of the time.
Thanx for the feedback

[yeoman6987]

27. Try Prego in the jar. That is the only sauce I buy for the last 10 years

Never had an issue.

[Little Star]

2. I've always used Hunts Tomato Sauce & it's always been runny....

as far as I know.

[bigwillq]

3. #firstworldproblems

[cali]

4. It's always been like that. It's a crappy product. You're much better off

using tomato puree or chopped tomatoes.

[qwlauren35]

32. Definitely agree on the puree.

I use Hunts because it's cheap. When I make chili, I combine sauce and puree. For me, paste is too thick.

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. Yeah, paste is too thick, indeed.

I am getting a lot of helpful tips here, and agree with yours.

[OriginalGeek]

39. If I recall correctly (and I might not)

my mom always used both sauce and paste to get the right consistency. For chili, spaghetti or any other tomato based dish. Just adjusted the amount of each for the particular dish.

[qwlauren35]

45. I grew up

with paste, but when I discovered puree, I was hooked.

[underpants]

5. (drop the mic) Hunt's is runny

[Dr Hobbitstein]

6. Hunts tomato sauce has always been runny.

I just made a pot of chili with it the other night. 2# ground beef, can of Hunt's tomato, can of RoTel, can of drained and rinsed black beans, can of drain and rinsed kidney beans, secret hobo spices. Simmer forever, then I stir in a slurry made from masa and water, and simmer until thickened.

It was delicious.

[bluedigger]

7. I can't believe the Admins are letting Cooking & Baking run roughshod through GD!

This place used to be so much better back in the old days.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Tomorrow I will have a gardening question....be sure to tune in.

[JonathanRackham]

25. No soup for you!

[snagglepuss]

9. Snagglepuss is here and ready to save your runny chili.

To thicken your chili simple toss in 1/3 cup of regular rolled oats and let it simmer about 10 minutes. I guarantee that you will never have had a silkier thick sauce. There will be NO lumps of oatmeal just silky yummy sauce

[cali]

12. Better way: mash some of the beans

[MerryBlooms]

17. Many don't use beans in their chili.

[daleanime]

28. Blasphemy

[JonathanRackham]

30. Octane booster

[WillowTree]

35. Those don't meet my definition of chili.

[OldHippieChick]

56. LOL! Chili is everything I can find

including chocolate and coffee. If a few rolled oats sneak in there I doubt anyone would notice if the consistency is helped.

[JonathanRackham]

26. Rec

[shanti]

13. good idea, thanks

i hate watery chili.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. aha! great idea...

and we have oats.

Wonder if dried potato flakes would do?

Thank you for hearing me....

[Codeine]

42. I've used potato flakes

to thicken vegetarian chili before. Work a charm! Corn starch mixed with water, tapioca powder, and well-crushed crackers all work as well, in addition to the rolled oats trick someone else mentioned.

[Nac Mac Feegle]

33. One suggestion,

You can use crushed tortilla chips to thicken a chili.

[Katashi_itto]

10. Whole lot of Cooking and Baking bullies now. Damn sauciers roaming wild through GD

[cali]

11. .....

[Katashi_itto]

14. :)

[pinboy3niner]

15. Thanks, Obama!

That never gets old.

[MerryBlooms]

16. I've always used Contadina, so I don't know Hunts, but you can always thicken with Masa.

[HughBeaumont]

43. Same here.

Contadina crushed tomatoes and tomato paste with the usual garlic/onion/basil/salt/pepper mix. Easy.

Hunts tastes like sweaty hands. Seriously, it's not a good product.

[SheilaT]

18. As others have already noted,

tomato sauce is always runny.

I haven't made chili in forever, but I think maybe I use a can of tomato paste, as well as tomato sauce, and a can of chopped or diced tomatoes.

Maybe I should make some soon.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. I am looking at a big can of crushed tomatoes....

will use that next time.

The chili came out pretty well, tho, I used a mixture of ground beef and ground venison, very flavorful.

[GummyBearz]

19. I join you in saying F-you to Hunts

I bought a bottle of their ketchup months back. I've usually only bought Heinz, but went with Hunt's as it was on sale.

That fucking bottle of ketchup fights me to the extreme to get a single drop of ketchup out of it. We're talking plastic bottle here. I've tried storing it upside down, right side up, and sideways, but this god damn thing makes me squeeze it like I'm throttling cheney's neck for a good 5 minutes before I can get a tiny layer of sugary-tomato-goodness on my hamburger. Pisses me off just typing about it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. I have to add a bit of water to the bottle and shake well

Which is also a neat trick for bottled salad dressing like Ranch...I always add a bit of water and shake well, it comes out slightly runier, but tastes just as good and lasts a lot longer.

[JonathanRackham]

24. Fire off a tactical complaint to corporate

Maybe they don't know they a problem. Could be just a odd batch. Maybe they dropped quality across the board. You just might get a refund or some free sauce. Be stern and report the facts.

Do they have a 1-800 number on the can?

Chew their asses out, venting will make ya feel good.

[betterdemsonly]

29. Add more sauce and boil it down or

add flour or cornstarch like you do with gravy.

[Botany]

31. use diced tomato not sauce

Dei Fratelli has worked for me

[Trajan]

34. I understand the disappointment, but there is an easy fix

Boil the sauce down to reduce it until it's the right consistency .... with or without the other recipe contents, as desired ...

I dont use sauce with chili - I use chopped tomatoes, as well as the liquid from the kidney beans, to form a sauce with the rest of the ingredients ....

Hunt's does suck though ....

[Snobblevitch]

36. I have made chili for over 30 years.

I make venison chili for 12 each year to be a our first meal at deer camp. The last several years, I have made the chili without any tomato product at all, only chiles, beef broth, and beer. I use ground tortilla chips as a thickener. (I tried using masa, but I preferred the chips.)

I don't make Texas chili. We like our chilie to have beans, either black or mayacoba.

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. I use pinto beans, ground beef,onions,spices.

Mr. Dixie likes it the next day when it has thickened up, with flour or corn tortillas.

We were given some ground beef mixed with venison, and I loved the flavor.

[KamaAina]

40. But, but, but it's flash-steamed!

[Bonx]

41. When was tomato SAUCE ever not runny ? It's not tomato PASTE.

[dixiegrrrrl]

47. There is 'sauce" and there is watery....

I have used sauce that was not as thin and watery as this can was.
But..am gonna be using "pureed" tomatoes from here on in.

[Bonx]

49. Eh, Hunts has always seemed about the same as the others to me.

And I thicken my chili with masa flour, the consistency of the tomato sauce doesn't really matter.

[hedgehog]

44. This thread is useless without a back-up plan for those other 4 cans!

[dixiegrrrrl]

46. LOL!

Actually....swiss steak....it needs a runny tomato base.

[dmr]

48. Wonder if there's a recall. I couldn't find one can of Hunts sauce today at the store.

Not one can. Small, medium or large. My son went to another store yesterday to buy sauce, & they had no cans. I wanted to make chile today, too.

Best to check if there was a recall, & if your sauce is alright to eat.

[dixiegrrrrl]

50. I can lend you some.......

[dmr]

52. Ha!

I Google Hunts sauce & saw nothing on recalls, or even tomato shortages .....

They had everything else made by Hunts. Maybe they had a big sale & I missed it. Drats!

How's your chile?

[dixiegrrrrl]

54. Delicious! You know how stuff like that tastes better the 2nd day......

Mr. Dixie likes it.
'Course, he likes most stuff he does not have to cook.

[LanternWaste]

51. I get their spaghetti sauce because it's so inexpensive

I get their spaghetti sauce because it's so inexpensive, but yeah... far too viscous for what it should be. I'm now in the habit of letting it simmer during prep, and reducing it.

So far as I know though, the spaghetti sauce has been like that for years, but I can't attest to the tomato sauce.

[dixiegrrrrl]

55. I had been using off brand sauce for a good while,

the Hunt's sauce was something Mr. Dixie got at the store last week.

btw....around here, Ragu spaghetti sauce can be had for under 2.00.
I can make the sauce, but honestly, it is easier to use theirs and it tastes very good.

[pansypoo53219]

53. thanks for the warning. tho i tend NOT to get hunt's. i think i usually use del mote or contadina.

hunt's wimpy catsup for cooking. not for eating.