I can't really help you with the enamel pan part of your question as I never use them. But I have read that if the coating is at all compromised they can change the flavor of the acidic foods like tomatoes. Just like aluminum does - a metallic or bitter taste.

But the Roma tomatoes have never been known for any flavor - one reason why so few use them - and a mealy texture. And they contain so little moisture that it is difficult to cook them down to the desired thickness. Some folks seem to prefer that aspect of them but I never have. I much prefer making all my sauces out of a mix of varieties - the more varieties the better. It gives you a high quality, complex flavor to the sauce and you can get almost any desired thickness you wish.

Since you know you had good sauce with your past choices I'd recommend going back in that direction when planting this year.''hope this helps.

Dave

I would guess that it was because you used romas too. Romas are good for making a paste, but not all that great for sauce as far as my opinion goes. And paste has it's uses, but not to make up a whole sauce in my opinion too. I generally only use paste to help tighten up a sauce if needed, or in addition to something like a stew for a tomato hit. And generally, I tend to use dehydrated tomatoes instead of paste- I dehydrate as much as I can every year.

For making sauce, I'm with digdirt. I use a variety of tomatoes- beefy, meaty, juicy tomatoes. I tend to grow at least 4 varieties in my garden every year so I can make a more complex and satisfying tomato-y flavored product- be it dehydrated, canned, or sauced.

You could also be having a problem because of your pot. Like digdirt said, a compromised pot can lend a taste you don't want. And also, if your pot was a lot bigger than your burner, you might have had uneven cooking, which could lend to some stuff getting overcooked, while other areas are steady, and others under- no matter how much you stir the pot. This too can lend to off flavor in the finished sauce. Now, if you have used this same pot before with good results, and only had a bad result with the romas- I would blame the tomato rather than the cooking style.

Thank you for the responses. After reading both I looked in the Burpee seed catalog, and guess what. Burpee has roma listed as a paste tomato. In my novice hubris I didn't differentiate between sauce and paste. Good catch. No more romas! Once again thank you.

Burpee has not been known for accurate info/descriptions for several years and some of their info is downright misleading. But that said the labels "sauce" and "paste" aren't as important or accurate as many assume. More accurate are the labels beefsteak, plum, heart, cherry, etc.

Sauce can be made from any tomato variety. Tomato paste too. So rather than getting hung up on those labels grow for taste, for flavor, and then make anything you want to out of them.

That isn't to say that there aren't good tasting so-called "paste" tomatoes. There are many. But experienced growers have never considered Roma one of them.

And I do suggest you consider finding a different pot too. :) No enamel and no aluminum.

Dave

A great tasting paste tomato is the one touted for drying - Principe Borghese. It is an heirloom so you can save some seeds and have free plants the next year(s) - going on 7 years for mine. I use them for sauce, paste and dehydrating but add a sweet beefsteak heirloom tomato or three for sauce. Check out rareseeds.com for a huge selection of heirloom tomatoes. Their flavors are much more complex and tasty than the hybrids, though not always as prolific. Quality vs. Volume.
Nancy

I have had much better luck with beefsteaks than with paste tomatoes, but I do try a new paste variety each year with the hopes I'll find something I like. Something I did one year that really changed the taste (for me) was the addition of citric acid rather than lemon juice in various tomato products. I know people use it and prefer it sometimes but I didn't care for the taste at all, I found it very astringent and bitter. It's possible that there were other factors involved that year but the thing that stood out for me was the change in acid. lori