What did you cook or eat today (July 2020)?

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MypinchofItaly said:
Or a banana 😂
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I'm so sweet, I just stick my little finger in for about 10 seconds. :laugh:

Morning Glory said:
I didn't know that - which goes to show how romantic my ideas are of Italian tomatoes!
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Are you imagining everyone in Italy driving around in a 1960's FIAT 500, eating juicy tomatoes, and singing opera? I wasn't, but I am now! :) 🇮🇹 🚗 🍅
 
Chicken & Prawn fried rice with Chinese curry sauce.
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MypinchofItaly said:
Ah that’s not so true since Italy is not all the same 🙃
Tomatoes that come from the South of Italy (Campania, Basilicata, etc) are surely special and luckily here in the North of Italy we can get them in supermarkets, but tomatoes that grow here are not special at all and sometimes tasteless, inly with a good look but so disappointing.
Sometimes also in Italy there is the habit to put a bit of sugar in tomato sauce because it’s a bit acidic. But putting sugar sounds so chimical to me, something wrong as concept, whilst put something natural like carrot or even pumpkin (when in season), sounds more natural to me.
Or a banana 😂
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I don't like to put sugar in my sauce. But, I use canned tomatoes, usually from Italy, because they are almost always better tasting than what I can buy fresh.

I have heard about using carrots to balance acidity in tomato sauce. I have not tried it -- I hate carrots. I probably wouldn't taste them in a big pot of sauce. I should try it.

CD
 
TastyReuben said:
Talk to a lot of cooks over here, and you'll find there's a huuuuuge argument about using sugar with tomatoes, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, etc. Some say using it reduces the acidity in the tomatoes, some say it's an absolute no-no, and eventually, you'll hear, "My sweet little nonna never did that, and she was from a tiny village outside Rome!" followed by, "Well, my sweet little nonna did, and she was from an even tinier village in Sicily, so there!"

My personal feeling is, when you're making sauce, and you've got good sweet tomatoes, you probably don't need the sugar, but if the tomatoes are too acidic, a little sugar will help them. Taste the sauce and use the sugar if you need to. Easy! :)

However, in this case, I think the sugar didn't really have much to do with the tomatoes, it was just a part of the vinaigrette. Sugar (or honey) is a frequent ingredient in vinaigrette, here at least it is, and I think that's why it's included. The dressing is just a simple herb vinaigrette.

Even with the sugar, MrsTasty said it was too vinegary! :)
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Same here, taste then add sugar or not. Like everything else, I prolly add sugar 50% of the time. Depends on if store bought or home grown.

Russ
 
We add a pinch or 2 of sugar if the sauce is too acidic.

The Everglades tomatoes I grow are very sweet. The plants are starting to produce well. Hopefully a galette is in our near future.

Tonight's dinner was a joint effort of penne with a sauce made with beef stock and red wine reduction, with pancetta, mushrooms, sage, rosemary, butter, Parm R, and pasta water. I told Craig I'd happily pay for that dish in a restaurant.
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medtran49 said:
We add a pinch or 2 of sugar if the sauce is too acidic.

The Everglades tomatoes I grow are very sweet. The plants are starting to produce well. Hopefully a galette is in our near future.

Tonight's dinner was a joint effort of penne with a sauce made with beef stock and red wine reduction, with pancetta, mushrooms, sage, rosemary, butter, Parm R, and pasta water. I told Craig I'd happily pay for that dish in a restaurant.
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My friends say the same to me about meals I serve up, a true compliment. And yes I'd be all over that.

Russ
 
TastyReuben said:
Yep, and it's why you can pick up a somewhat reddish tomato at Kroger and it's so hard, you can play baseball with it.


Serious Eats put some science to this and found out it's largely an old cooks' tale. They're fine to refrigerate (cucumbers, too) - just be sure to let them come back up to room temp before eating.

Ignore the Headlines: Sometimes Tomatoes Belong in the Fridge
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Well I always refrigerate cukes because they become mushy, which is totally horrible. I also only like what is referred to as "English cucumbers" which are long and sealed in cryovac. They have very few seeds. When I had a garden big enough to grow them I was less picky. I still cut out the seeded pulpy part, though.
 
JASOH1 said:
Well I always refrigerate cukes because they become mushy, which is totally horrible. I also only like what is referred to as "English cucumbers" which are long and sealed in cryovac. They have very few seeds. When I had a garden big enough to grow them I was less picky. I still cut out the seeded pulpy part, though.
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That's how we buy our cuces, but we also grow our own, telegraph brand.

Russ
 
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