Hazan's three tomato sauces are the most widely referenced Italian sauce recipes in the English-speaking world — particularly the butter-onion-tomato sauce (sauce II) that requires only three ingredients, 45 minutes, and the discipline to leave it almost entirely alone. Each version represents a different relationship between tomato and fat, producing different flavour and texture profiles appropriate for different pastas and preparations.
**Sauce I — Tomato sauce with olive oil:** - Tomatoes (fresh or canned), olive oil, garlic (optional), salt. Cooked 25–40 minutes. The olive oil is emulsified into the tomatoes during cooking — the sauce is velvety, slightly oily, assertively tomato-forward. **Sauce II — Tomato sauce with butter and onion:** - Canned tomatoes (San Marzano preferred), butter, halved onion, salt only. The onion is cooked whole in the sauce, imparting sweetness without sharp onion flavour, then removed at the end. - Hazan's instruction: add the butter at the start; simmer for 45 minutes; correct salt; remove onion. Nothing else. - The butter emulsifies with the tomato's water during cooking, producing a sauce that is sweeter, richer, and silkier than the olive oil version. [VERIFY] Hazan's exact quantities. **Sauce III — Tomato sauce with vegetables:** - Soffritto base (HZ-01) + tomatoes + long simmer. The most complex of the three. **Canned tomatoes:** - San Marzano DOP: lower water content, fewer seeds, sweeter and less acidic than most canned varieties. Hazan's preference. The DOP certification matters — many "San Marzano" products are not from the protected area. - Pass through a food mill (passatutto) rather than blending for a smoother sauce — blending incorporates air and changes the colour and texture. Decisive moment: For Sauce II: the moment the butter and tomatoes have completely unified — approximately 35 minutes. The sauce at this point looks slightly separated if stirred immediately but pulls together into a unified emulsion when tossed with pasta. The colour: a deep, slightly brownish red rather than the bright orange-red of under-cooked tomato sauce. Sensory tests: **Sight — butter sauce:** The surface of the finished sauce should show a subtle sheen — the emulsified butter visible as a slight iridescence. **Taste — Sauce II:** Sweet-savoury, round, with a butter richness that tomato sauce without butter never produces. No single component identifiable — the tomato, butter, and onion have merged.
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