By ShowMeStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by Food Wishes.
This is Chef John's secret pizza sauce from Food Wishes, and once you make it you will not go back to the jar. It starts with good olive oil, a couple of anchovy fillets for depth, garlic, and both fresh and dried oregano. Real San Marzano tomatoes from Italy do the heavy lifting.
You crush the tomatoes by hand, simmer everything gently, and finish with one tiny grandma trick that mellows the acid. The result is a spicy, garlicky, all-purpose sauce that works on any homemade pizza.
Oregano is the signature herb of pizza sauce, so start there. Pull the leaves off the stems, then chop them up on your cutting board. You want them fine but not a paste. Set the chopped oregano aside for now. It goes into the oil in a few minutes, and you will use dried oregano later too.
Tip
Fresh and dried oregano taste different. Chef John uses both here for a brighter top note and a deeper, smokier one.
Pour a good amount of quality olive oil into a saucepan and set it over medium-low heat. Drop in two anchovy fillets. Do not worry, you will not taste them as fish. They melt into the oil and add a savory backbone that people can never quite name. Let them warm up until they start to sizzle.
Tip
The olive oil is part of the finished sauce, not just a cooking fat, so use one you actually like the taste of.
Once the anchovy is sizzling, stir in the very finely minced garlic. Cook it for about 60 seconds, just long enough to smell it and take the raw edge off. Keep the heat gentle. You do not want the garlic to brown, because browned garlic turns bitter and that flavor carries all the way through the sauce.
Turn the heat down as low as it goes. Stir in the fresh chopped oregano and let it cook in the oil for a couple of minutes. Then add the red chili flakes for a little heat and the dried oregano for that deeper, smokier flavor. Everything is bubbling gently in the oil now and smelling like a pizzeria.
Tip
Adjust the chili flakes to your taste. Chef John likes his pizza sauce a little spicy, but you can go lighter.
Empty a can of San Marzano tomatoes into a bowl. Look for the real ones from Italy, not the ones labeled San Marzano style. Now crush them with your bare hand. Keep squeezing until you have a rough puree with a little texture left. Bare hands are fine here. It is the same way you handle the pizza dough.
Tip
Real San Marzano tomatoes from Italy are the world's best sauce tomato. The Italian ones are worth the small extra cost.
Pour the crushed tomatoes into the saucepan and stir. Bump the heat up to medium and bring it to a simmer. While it heats, season the sauce with salt, a little sugar to balance the acidity, and some black pepper. Give it all a good stir so the herbs and oil work their way through the tomatoes.
Let the sauce simmer gently for about 35 to 40 minutes. Not raw, not cooked for hours, just enough to pull it together. Stir the olive oil right in, never skim it off. At the end, add one tiny pinch of baking soda. It foams up and neutralizes some of the acid, which mellows the sauce a little.
Tip
The baking soda trick is optional. It softens the sharp tomato acidity and some people find it easier on the stomach.
Give it a final taste and adjust the salt or heat if it needs it. That is it. You have a thick, glossy, deep red pizza sauce that is a little spicy, a little garlicky, with both fresh and dried oregano coming through. Spread a thin layer on your homemade dough. Go easy, since too much sauce is how a pizza gets ruined.
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