They're absolutely real. I remember cooking with fire roasted tomatoes and they did give a slightly smoky edge when used in the tight way, and I do think San Marzano as a variety of tomato make an exceptional sauce -- hence why their specified in cans of plum tomatoes, and I also have made fantastic sauces with fresh grown ones too.
Thank you. And we have an old Neapolitan spaghetti sauce that insists on San marzano, so we use them, and they’re very good. But we do wonder. We also recently got turned onto Italian canned cherry tomatoes, and they make a superb sauce!
I do love tinned cherry tomatoes when I want to use tinned tomatoes (or have to because it is winter and the winter tomato varieties are not quite right for sauce) and actually want big bites of tomato - I've got a prawn saganaki recipe in the book that simply would not be the same without them!
On the cookbook aspect, how many many article ideas as a freelancer have I pitched that have been turned down only to be published in a matter of few weeks under the by-line of a male staff writer.
Argh, it drives me around the bend! I interviewed to work for a former cabinet minister once and had to write a speech as part of the application process to work in his Parliamentary office. You know where this is going, don't you? Parts of it appeared in one of his speeches, and I want to bet so did other applicants elsewhere in the speech. I've always wondered if it was him, or more likely a lazy staffer or civil servant who was responsible...
Though returning to cookbooks to be fair publishing is SO subjective and individual opinion based I just got a tiny cross section of editor opinions, to be fair to them.
Such a useful deep dive into tinned (or what we Americans call canned) tomatoes! I couldn’t live without them, using them in every incarnation in so many things I make, from soups to stews to sauces.
The recipe for the fish stew sounds really delicious, though it’ll have to be without the fish for my pescaphobic mate!😒 By the by, I do use those fire-roasted tomatoes a lot. I hope they come to Britain soon.
Jarred beans aren’t so readily available in the U.S., except in more expensive specialty groceries—at least here in L.A. I prefer to use dried beans when I have the time, though they do take a lot of advance planning! I will have to give the jarred variety a try.
I've not tried it, but perhaps halloumi pieces simmered until beautiful and soft might be a good swap?
And it literally makes no sense we don't have them, they have so much more potential! Though it does not surprise me that jarred beans are harder for you to get, because this is exactly what it was like here before the pandemic: they were all Spanish imports sold in fancy delis (I seem to remember rows of them in the big European deli in the corner of The Original Farmers Market) but a company started called Bold Bean Co. which got lots of food influencers on board here because their beans are actually fantastic, and they're now getting in all our grocery stores so they're quite simple to get now -- though still a little pricy compared to tinned! And because they're such a trend, a few other brands of jarred and preserved products are launching them too, I'm looking forward to trying the new ones from the people who make my preferred harissa that have just launched, as one probably I've found with jarred beans is they come in such big jars!
I always wondered about fire roasted and San marzano. I know what they’re supposed to be, but are they real or just a marketing gimmick?
They're absolutely real. I remember cooking with fire roasted tomatoes and they did give a slightly smoky edge when used in the tight way, and I do think San Marzano as a variety of tomato make an exceptional sauce -- hence why their specified in cans of plum tomatoes, and I also have made fantastic sauces with fresh grown ones too.
Thank you. And we have an old Neapolitan spaghetti sauce that insists on San marzano, so we use them, and they’re very good. But we do wonder. We also recently got turned onto Italian canned cherry tomatoes, and they make a superb sauce!
I do love tinned cherry tomatoes when I want to use tinned tomatoes (or have to because it is winter and the winter tomato varieties are not quite right for sauce) and actually want big bites of tomato - I've got a prawn saganaki recipe in the book that simply would not be the same without them!
Yes, that pop of tomato is always a surprise in a way, even for the chef who put it there.
Great article, thanks for the mention!
Thank you -- and right back at you with the great article! x
On the cookbook aspect, how many many article ideas as a freelancer have I pitched that have been turned down only to be published in a matter of few weeks under the by-line of a male staff writer.
Echoing Rachel’s agent comment: FFS
Argh, it drives me around the bend! I interviewed to work for a former cabinet minister once and had to write a speech as part of the application process to work in his Parliamentary office. You know where this is going, don't you? Parts of it appeared in one of his speeches, and I want to bet so did other applicants elsewhere in the speech. I've always wondered if it was him, or more likely a lazy staffer or civil servant who was responsible...
Though returning to cookbooks to be fair publishing is SO subjective and individual opinion based I just got a tiny cross section of editor opinions, to be fair to them.
If I let them, those tales would have my teeth ground down to stumps. But then what I eat with...
Such a useful deep dive into tinned (or what we Americans call canned) tomatoes! I couldn’t live without them, using them in every incarnation in so many things I make, from soups to stews to sauces.
The recipe for the fish stew sounds really delicious, though it’ll have to be without the fish for my pescaphobic mate!😒 By the by, I do use those fire-roasted tomatoes a lot. I hope they come to Britain soon.
Jarred beans aren’t so readily available in the U.S., except in more expensive specialty groceries—at least here in L.A. I prefer to use dried beans when I have the time, though they do take a lot of advance planning! I will have to give the jarred variety a try.
Thanks for another great post, Rachel!
I've not tried it, but perhaps halloumi pieces simmered until beautiful and soft might be a good swap?
And it literally makes no sense we don't have them, they have so much more potential! Though it does not surprise me that jarred beans are harder for you to get, because this is exactly what it was like here before the pandemic: they were all Spanish imports sold in fancy delis (I seem to remember rows of them in the big European deli in the corner of The Original Farmers Market) but a company started called Bold Bean Co. which got lots of food influencers on board here because their beans are actually fantastic, and they're now getting in all our grocery stores so they're quite simple to get now -- though still a little pricy compared to tinned! And because they're such a trend, a few other brands of jarred and preserved products are launching them too, I'm looking forward to trying the new ones from the people who make my preferred harissa that have just launched, as one probably I've found with jarred beans is they come in such big jars!
Thanks for the sub suggestion. Might be interesting.
I hope the jarred beans you mentioned become more available here. Perhaps I haven’t looked hard enough. I will check further. Thanks again, Rachel!