Mixing brands of tomatoes

BWinCA

BWinCA

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Hi,
When I have made pasta sauce/gravy in the past, I haven't hesitated to use different brands of canned whole tomatoes (San Marzano) because I have thought it would give a more interesting, deeper taste profile. And it has.

Today I was making marinara sauce to add to a recipe and I only had puree as a base to build my sauce from. Furthermore I had two brands of puree (Hunt's and Cento). When I combined the two the taste was horrible. I did everything the same as I do when I use whole tomatoes (baking soda to reduce acidity, a little cream, Italian spices, s&p, etc.) but couldn't overcome the strange taste there was.

What's your experience using different brands in making sauce/gravy with puree, paste, and whole tomatoes?
 
BWinCA said:
What's your experience using different brands in making sauce/gravy with puree, paste, and whole tomatoes?
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When I had a garden in the UK I grew one type of paste tomato (rio grand ) for sauces for the freezer. For sauces, plum/paste tomatoes are best, and the most prized of the plums is the San Marzano. Plum tomatoes are oval or pear-shaped. They`re meaty, have few seeds and cook down to make a rich, deep red sauce without the addition of tomato paste. They don`t taste acidic. I just sweat a load of onions and garlic in my stock pot with olive oil, throw in the chopped up pastes and simmer till they are right for freezing. Later this month we will buy a load of local pastes to make sauce for the winter.
 
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BWinCA said:
Hi,
When I have made pasta sauce/gravy in the past, I haven't hesitated to use different brands of canned whole tomatoes (San Marzano) because I have thought it would give a more interesting, deeper taste profile. And it has.

Today I was making marinara sauce to add to a recipe and I only had puree as a base to build my sauce from. Furthermore I had two brands of puree (Hunt's and Cento). When I combined the two the taste was horrible. I did everything the same as I do when I use whole tomatoes (baking soda to reduce acidity, a little cream, Italian spices, s&p, etc.) but couldn't overcome the strange taste there was.

What's your experience using different brands in making sauce/gravy with puree, paste, and whole tomatoes?
Click to expand...

I can only refer to tomato sauce brands I have here in Italy and yes, sometimes it occurred to me to mix different brands (2 at most), but I don’t add tomato puree (you mean paste?) as base and not baking soda to reduce acidity (only a piece of carrot which releases its natural sugar or at most a piece of pumpkin) and never little cream addition because it’s not necessary.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
I can only refer to tomato sauce brands I have here in Italy and yes, sometimes it occurred to me to mix different brands (2 at most), but I don’t add tomato puree (you mean paste?) as base and not baking soda to reduce acidity (only a piece of carrot which releases its natural sugar or at most a piece of pumpkin) and never little cream addition because it’s not necessary.
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Tomato puree is still a liquid form which I consider to be a type of sauce with solids.
 
To me tomato puree is the very concentrated stuff you get in tubes or very small tins (some people call it tomato paste) - I don't think it makes a very good base for a tomato sauce. I think of tomato puree as more of a seasoning than a base ingredient: I often use a tsp of it in beef, pork or mushroom dishes to add extra depth of flavour. I sometimes do use a small amount in tomato sauces but only in addition to whole tomatoes or passata, never instead of.
 
MrsDangermouse said:
To me tomato puree is the very concentrated stuff you get in tubes or very small tins (some people call it tomato paste) - I don't think it makes a very good base for a tomato sauce. I think of tomato puree as more of a seasoning than a base ingredient: I often use a tsp of it in beef, pork or mushroom dishes to add extra depth of flavour. I sometimes do use a small amount in tomato sauces but only in addition to whole tomatoes or passata, never instead of.
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I agree, definitely
 
Here, and I only say this now because the OP is in California, tomato paste and tomato purée are decidedly different products. If you were to compare (US) canned tomato sauce, tomato purée, and tomato paste, each one is thicker than the previous one. Purée falls in between sauce and paste.
 
A tomato puree is what happens when you stick properly ripe and skinned tomatoes in blender with some water and salt. That's it. These are typically sold in can form. A puree will look like this:

tomato-puree.jpg


In a pinch, it's a great way to throw together a quick pasta sauce. Cento brand canned San Marzano tomatoes tend to be excellent. Hunts brand? Not so good. If you're wondering why the taste was off, I'd see the Hunts as the prime suspect.
 
We grow our own tomatoes but we also get tinned for like $1 a can, cheap as chips. When making curries I add the paste, real thick concentrated paste. I use two sachets for my butter chicken.
Pics of both plus seasoned as well.

Russ

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TastyReuben said:
Here, and I only say this now because the OP is in California, tomato paste and tomato purée are decidedly different products. If you were to compare (US) canned tomato sauce, tomato purée, and tomato paste, each one is thicker than the previous one. Purée falls in between sauce and paste.
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Same in the UK. Paste is concentrated purée.
rascal said:
When making curries I add the paste, real thick concentrated paste. I use two sachets for my butter chicken.
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I've never seen paste in sachets here. Its usually in tubes but sometimes tiny cans. I've never used it in a curry as I think it would be too strong. Using it in butter chicken may be an exception though I've never tried it.
 
Morning Glory said:
Same in the UK. Paste is concentrated purée.
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I'd disagree....in my experience tomato paste and tomato puree are exactly the same product in the UK - they're both very thick, concentrated and usually come in tubes or small tins. I know in general cooking terms a puree is an ingredient blitzed to a mush, but when it comes to ready-made tomato products the name tomato puree has a specific meaning. The product that consists of pureed and sieved tomatoes is usually called passata in UK supermarkets, if you search for tomato paste for example in Ocado, you get the same results as searching for tomato puree.
 
...ok. I think its my mistake as was thinking of passata. It does seem that purée and paste are used interchangeably on UK product labels.

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MrsDangermouse said:
To me tomato puree is the very concentrated stuff you get in tubes or very small tins (some people call it tomato paste) - I don't think it makes a very good base for a tomato sauce. I think of tomato puree as more of a seasoning than a base ingredient: I often use a tsp of it in beef, pork or mushroom dishes to add extra depth of flavour. I sometimes do use a small amount in tomato sauces but only in addition to whole tomatoes or passata, never instead of.
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I think that is another US/UK difference. What you describe is tomato paste here. But, I believe I have heard British chefs call it tomato puree.

CD
 
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