<p>American chef Mario Batali is known for his TV appearances, Italian cooking style and orange Crocs.</p>

Last month, I examined the great disconnect between the career of a once respected and hard-working chef and the product he now hornswoggles the masses into purchasing. Do I believe for one second that Marco Pierre White actually uses Knorr Homestyle Stock in his home kitchen? Of course not Knorr do I believe his motives go anywhere beyond his bank statement and his face on the screen. But I cant deny the man his right to make a buck, and in fact, while I thought the product was beneath him, I dont think what White is doing is entirely reprehensible. Hes part of the naturally evolving push to get America cooking better food.

Its naturally evolving because people really want to come out of the dark ages this country crawled into in the 50s and 60s with readymade TV dinners and affordable microwave ovens. The housewife of the nuclear family was all too ready to take a break from slaving away in the kitchen making scratch food from recipes handed down through the generations, but she got comfortable and stayed away too long. A Swansons salisbury steak or a trip to McDonalds was far more convenient, and became heavily relied upon. Sure, Thanksgiving, Christmas, maybe even Sundays were cause to actually cook, but for many families even to this day breakfast was cereal, and evening supper cooking didnt go beyond Hamburger Helper. Its a fast-paced, get-it-to-go and eat on the run society the polar opposite of the way much of the world lives and eats.

With the Food Network on basic cable (eventually becoming so ratings-conscious and reality-based that Cooking Channel had to be added for the more serious foodies) and a sudden surge in culinary school enrollment, Middle America started to get excited about food again. Of course, while unholy alliances like White and Knorr can be accused of avariciously exploiting this, in the end theyre giving the consumer what it wants: a shortcut to gourmet. They want to hold the power of the celebrity chef without the experience or education. Theyll buy any fancy-pants product sold by a guy with an apron and an accent. Great stock takes bones and vegetables and precise temperatures and procedures. But here, splorp this gel into the pan and voila, youre a chef!

Ive made it seem bleak, I know. But all that buildup was necessary for the juxtaposition. Ive vetted a chef-endorsed product thats absolutely excellent. Mario Batali, who studied under Marco Pierre White in Chelsea, London for a time, is a well-known American celebrity chef who owns multiple restaurants and has appeared on many television shows. I saw his name and face on a jar of marinara in the pasta sauce section of the grocery store and felt safe. He isnt selling someone elses product; this is his product. And it lives up to his name and reputation for quality ingredients and solid cooking. In fact, its the most basic pasta sauce Ive ever seen, short of something youd make and can at home.

Here is the list of ingredients, verbatim: San Marzano Imported Italian Plum Tomatoes, Fresh Onions, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Carrots, Fresh Garlic, Sea Salt, Fresh Italian Parsley, Fresh Thyme.

That is all, my friends. Im still in a state of disbelief as I grip the jar. Ive never seen a packaged product so devoid of preservatives and chemicals and other such unpronounceables. And how does it taste? It tastes real. Far too real to come from a jar. I know if I visited a Whole Foods Id find a lot more items like this, but I (and I assume most of my readers) do general grocery shopping at Safeway and Freddys, and I think its a triumph that I can find a product like this there. Do I ever use pre-fab pasta sauce? No, I dont. I may use some canned tomatoes in the winter, but I like to cook it down from scratch for hours and hours. Batalis sauce is also brighter in color and thinner than that of the dark, thick and rich sauces I make, but Ive got to praise him for going for it.

The garlic is in evident chunks; you bite into a piece and boom, fresh garlic. Tomato seeds and skins (Im a concasse purist who eschews both) can be crushed between your teeth, and I think he left them in on purpose, to represent freshness. The sweetness achieved in lesser sauces by corn syrup is accomplished here by the tomatoes and the natural sugars of carrots and onions. You can specifically taste the herb thyme, not natural and artificial flavors. No tomato paste or puree. The real deal. Is it worth $8? Not to me. But Im recommending it anyway. If youre going to take the shortcut to chefdom, its going to cost you. For that first dinner date you want to impress someone with when you cant really cook. For someone who routinely buys Prego and is feeling flush with a few extra bucks in the pocket; treat yourself, and see how good it can be. Making something the right way with real ingredients and no shortcuts in a green facility cant be cheap, and Im sure Batali is offering it up as affordably as he can. Eight dollars is a lot when several shelves lower you can find sauce on sale for a dollar a can sometimes, but its a completely different league. And it tastes eight times better, I promise.