So I’ve been reading The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn which has inspired several changes in my kitchen. First I’ve decided not to buy salad dressing anymore. I found recipes for all but one that my family eats and well someone else can buy French/Catalina dressing if they really want it. Second I cut up a whole chicken today. It wasn’t quite as funny as the duck or lobster scene in Julie & Julia but I did wash my hands repeatedly so I could refer back to the Youtube video from Gourmet magazine. I now have parts of a chicken in my fridge ready to roast later this week. The part of the book that I adore is the taste tests conducted before or after the cooking demos during the class. The first one in the book was salt, I don’t want to test salt but I do want to figure out which pantry staples I really do like as opposed to the ones I buy out of habit. Last week I tested vegetable stock. My local grocery store only carries 2 brands and I was making a stew and a soup so it was easy. I can say that Kitchen Basics is the brand for me. Today was different, Adrienne & I tried crushed tomatoes:
I bought every brand & variety available at the two major local stores.
The winner:
Cento had a bright tomato flavor and no additives.
Second place went to:
We detected salt in this one but it still had a nice tomato taste. Our local grocery store, Wegman’s also had decent crushed tomatoes in a variety of flavors. There were 2 brands that didn’t make the cut into the sauce pot, one was “fire roasted” which meant burned to our taste buds, the other had a strong oregano flavor which made sense because it is an Italian herb but it’s not the only Italian herb.
I used my vanilla beans today too but more on that another day this amateur domestic goddess is exhausted and needs rest before work tomorrow.
Let’s All Read Tammy’s Blog – What Adrienne Thinks About That Said:
on May 7, 2012 at 12:40 pm
[...] tomatoes, an idea we got from reading The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn. Tammy wrote about our project on her blog. I thought some of the foodies out there might be interested in our results and maybe trying such a [...]
tadmack Said:
on May 8, 2012 at 7:05 am
You guys are your very own Cook’s Illustrated panel!
Only far, far less snarky…
I had JUST THE OTHER DAY vowed “no more jarred sauces!” because while they’re super-convenient, a four-pack of crushed tomatoes are forty-nine cents. A fist of garlic, an onion, and a handful of herbs, and we’re still not up to the two bucks the jarred stuff sometimes runs… although, I hadn’t gone as far as testing which crushed tomatoes I like best… hm. There are UMPTYMILLION British varieties. There’s an entire aisle called Tinned Tomatoes. These people are WAY too into their canned foods…
Adrienne Said:
on May 9, 2012 at 8:10 am
I’ve made the kind of tomato sauce that takes two days to make, but it is not better than what can be made in an easy half-hour.
I like the term “tinned” better than “canned.” I think I have to adopt that Britishism.
tonderdo Said:
on May 9, 2012 at 6:30 pm
I don’t make anything that requires 2 days of work, in fact I might be the queen of fake it don’t make it. I highly recommend buttery tomato spaghetti made with tinned tomatoes.
The tinned foods are a hold over from the world wars.
Adrienne Said:
on May 9, 2012 at 8:13 am
I’ve made the kind of tomato sauce that takes two days to make, but it’s not better than what can be accomplished in an easy half hour.
I also like “tinned” better than “canned.” I have to adopt that Britishism.
tadmack Said:
on May 10, 2012 at 5:03 am
Doesn’t it make every short-cut item sound that much more witty and urbane? It’s not Spaghetti-o’s. No. It’s Tinned Pasta.
*snort*