Pesto genovese and its cousins, and the sauces built on a single ingredient.
Jarred amatriciana is defined by three ingredients and most jars get one of them wrong. How to read the label, and why pancetta in the list is the tell.
Jarred anchovy-based pastes sold as anchovy pesto cover several unrelated preparations. What separates them from bagna cauda and colatura, and how to read a jar.
Freezing preserves pesto far better than a jar does, with two components that suffer. How to freeze it, how to thaw it, and what to leave out first.
Pesto behaves in specific ways when cooked, baked or used as a marinade. What survives, what splits, and where the limit sits.
The DOP specification names the mortar, and the reason is mechanical. What tearing does against cutting, how much of the difference is real, and when a machine is fine.
Jarred nduja pasta sauce is mostly tomato with a little nduja. How to read the label, what the chilli content tells you, and when the plain salume is the better buy.
The Sicilian pesto built on almonds and raw tomato. What it swaps out, why the almonds are not a substitution, and how to buy or judge one.
Artichoke pesto is mostly artichoke and oil with no basil and often no nuts. How to read the percentage, why the colour tells you about handling, and when it is worth buying.
Sicilian pistachio pesto sold in jars where the pistachio content ranges from most of the jar to a fraction. How to read the percentage and the Bronte claim.
Seven ingredients, a DOP standard, and a long list of cheaper swaps. How to read a jar, what the substitutions cost, and why the mortar is in the specification.
Red pesto is not one product. Sun-dried tomato, Sicilian ricotta-based and Trapanese almond versions all sell under the name. How to tell which jar you have.
The Neapolitan ragù is whole pieces of meat braised for hours in tomato. Why it is not bolognese, and why the jarred versions are something else.
A Tuscan meatless sauce built to taste like a meat ragù. What the name records about poverty cooking, and how to judge a jar against a plain tomato sauce.
Pesto rosso is built on dried tomato rather than basil, and the differences run deeper than colour. What is in it, how to judge a jar, and where it belongs.
Ligurian walnut sauce is thickened with soaked bread and enriched with prescinseua. What a jar substitutes for both, and how to judge one.