Tomatoes

Preparation

1. Acidic

   Step 1

   Canned tomatoes sometimes get an unpleasantly acidic flavor. In this case, add 1 teaspoon sugar to a 28-ounce can. If you don’t want the sweetness of added sugar, try mixing in 1 teaspoon baking soda.

2. Bland

   Step 2

   In winter, canned tomatoes will often have more taste than the “fresh” tomato-oid objects sold in supermarkets. Cooked tomatoes go nicely with basil, celery seed, ground cloves, oregano, or sage. Of course, if you’re making a salad, canned tomatoes are probably not what you want. In that case, add something with zing to your dressing: good mustard, some kind of hot pepper sauce, or grated fresh onion will help.

3. Difficult to peel

   Step 3

   Did you know that there are peelers made specifically for soft fruits and vegetables like tomatoes? They’re revolutionary! But if you don’t have one, pour boiling water over the tomatoes and let sit for 3 minutes. Or hold them over an open flame, skewered on a long fork, until the skin breaks. This heat treatment is permanent, so you can boil now and peel later if it suits your purpose.

   Step 4

   If you don’t want to heat the tomatoes at all, try stroking the skin with the dull edge of a kitchen knife until the skin is all wrinkled. It should come off easily at this juncture. (If it doesn’t, perhaps you are at the wrong juncture.)

4. Green

   Step 5

   Green tomatoes will ripen off the vine when wrapped in newspaper and stored in a cool place. However, they will ripen fairly slowly—at least 4 or 5 days from green to red. Wouldn’t you rather make tomato pickles (see your cookbook) or perhaps the following, which are especially good with lamb?

5. Have one kind, need another

   Step 6

   In cooking, 1 cup of drained canned tomatoes is equivalent to 1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped, then simmered for 10 minutes.

6. Old

   Step 7

   When your fresh tomatoes are getting on in days, try turning them over. Tomatoes will keep longer when stored stem side down.

7. Seedy

   Step 8

   You may wish to remove the seeds before cooking, since they can make sauces and soups bitter. Cut the tomato in half crosswise and flick the seeds out with the point of a small knife, or use a food mill to purée them and remove the seeds and skins all at once. For ripe plum tomatoes, cut off the stem end and squeeze the tomato; the seeds should come shooting out.

8. Too many

   Step 9

   You can use tomatoes in dozens of ways at every meal, from tomato omelettes for breakfast, to homemade Bloody Marys for a brunch (put 1 tomato, 1 shot of vodka, and 1 dash of Worcestershire sauce in a blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute), to tomato sorbet for dessert. The only important thing to remember is that tomatoes should never be frozen, as they become hopelessly mushy (at which point they’re suitable for cooking only).

9. Unripe

   Step 10

   They will ripen faster in a closed paper bag in indirect sunlight.