Marinara Sauce

Hi guys, new to the board here. I have a question & looking for some opinions on marinara sauce. We use a blend of 2 Stani products for our marinara which we portion into souffle cups and store refrigerated. However, we feel that the products tastes better either warmed up or at room temp. We have toyed with the idea of leaving them out at room temp until used, but are unsure if that would be very “food safe”. Other ideas are pulling them out when one was needed and sticking it on the oven to heat while the item is made - this could easily be forgotten though.
The easiest thing obviously would be to leave it at room temperature, but would just like some confirmation if that is ok to do…or looking for other suggestions.

Thanks,

Dan
Papa Roni’s Pizza

Go buy a round counter-top steam well/table something like this one:
http://www.partyshopmaine.com/images/2010pics/steamtable.jpg
You’ll also need drop in round metal pans, slotted lids, ladles and a probe thermometer. Heat up your tomato sauce and hold it above 140 F. Portion it out as needed.

Brad,

Thanks for the suggestion. We had thought of that, but were hoping to avoid making a capital purchase of equipment. Also that will require portioning as ordered - could slow down productivity since now we portion it out during slow periods. Is that really our only solution though?

Dan

These work very well and are neater and quicker, but a little pricey

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public/KUAEfh-VM__QlFgHZGK3OvgyOCuEzBZlwWaMWChRLAgbJO_iBONWSGlwHDp0KGgKLjB-A0EY-wXTsAsihVKC7esULDgllwdSPFeKW5e53pnqrAmYL-dOr9tSy5skfym4m5cTx69mUXs3yS0Qbijfqs3ZlQ

I’ve also seen the portion cups with the sauce “nuked” to the order, but this even takes about 20-seconds. I’ve also seen a home type crock pot used to keep the sauce hot. Just mount a thermometer in the sauce to monitor the temperature. I don’t know if it will pass the approval of your local health department though.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

Ours is held in a 1/2 pan along side our Italian Beef in a standard Nemco warmer. I don’t see “portioning” as a problem though. We use our marinara for a dipping sauce with a couple of apps, and of course with our pastas…I’d think if you tried it “un-preportioned” you soon find out it’s not a hassle in anyway.

General guidelines from Food Code say that you may use time as a food safety control if you have a written procedure and document time the food left temperature control. Food can stand outside refrigeration for up to 4 hours if you label ON THE CONTAINER OR PRODUCT the actual time it left refrigeration and passed safe temp. Key here is that it must be discarded at 4 hours, no hedging.

We have a cheap microwave that we use to heat sauce in souffle cups to order. takes 25 seconds each from cooler temps, at most. Spent like $30 on the USED unit, and it has lasted nigh on 6 1/2 years.

This is our pizza sauce and not a marinara, which is a cooked sauce. Albeit lightly cooked.

Thanks for the replies everyone, we got an 11qt food warmer for cheap that we will give a shot!

Thanks

-Dan

get some “1/2 pan” liners from your supplier…they’ll make clean up a BREEZE!

will those work for this -http://www.webstaurantstore.com/11-qt-vegetable-inset-pot/92278204.html

what I am finding so far is this: http://www.webstaurantstore.com/1-2-size-deep-steam-table-pan-liner-200-cs/572PTL2314.html

Are these what you use?

Thanks

-Dan

You should be able to find them in the soup insert size…we use solely a 1/2 pan (23X17) and we get by with it in the 1/3, 1/2 pan, as well as a std. crock pot. We do 2-3 soups, Italian Beef, Marinara everyday and each pan has a liner. At the end of the day the small price for the liners is WAY cheaper than having our dish guy scrubbing out the marinara that got baked on all day!