Replacing tinned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes

A

Amateur1

Senior Member
Joined
17 Jan 2021
Local time
10:23 PM
Messages
431
Location
London
In this recipe what changes would I make if I wanted to replace the tinned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes without getting rid of the skin.
I think this would make the sauce healthier. The recipe is on Slow cooked tomato sauce with spaghetti recipe

INGREDIENTS​

  • Olive oil
  • 3 onions, roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 small glasses of red wine
  • 4 tins chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 400g spaghetti

METHOD​

  1. Set a large pan with a lid over a low-medium heat with a good glug of oil. Add the onions along with a pinch of salt, pop the lid on and sweat until very soft (about 10 minutes). Then add the garlic and sweat for another couple of minutes.
  2. Turn up the heat, add the tomato purée and stir well. Then add the bay leaves and red wine and bring to a simmer.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar and a little more salt and black pepper. Pop the lid on and leave to simmer on a very low heat for about three hours. Then remove the bay leaves and blitz until smooth with a hand blender.
  4. When you’re ready to eat, cook the spaghetti in a big pan of well salted boiling water until al dente.
 
I'd probably add them with the tomato puree, or even earlier with the onions themselves depending on if you've chopped them or not & how well you've chopped them.

That said unless you are buying dirt cheap tinned tomatoes with added sugar and salt, there is little reason why in the UK in winter fresh tomatoes will be any better or healthier than a decent tinned tomato. Just avoid the "value basics" range and you'll be fine. Fresh tomatoes in winter in the UK will all be imported and won't have a great flavour.
 
I get Waitrose Essential Tinned tomatoes or tinned tomatoes with basil. Just noticed the ones with basil which are more expensive have more sugar. I thought the nutrients in tomato are near the skin which I thought gets removed in tinned tomatoes. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
A recipe doesn't get more vague than that. Add a little more time for the fresh tomatoes. Basically keep cooking until the tomatoes break down and make a sauce. I would add the red wine before the tomatoes and deglaze and reduce the wine a little first, and try not to add sugar if the final sauce isn't acidic.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Fresh tomatoes in winter in the UK will all be imported and won't have a great flavour.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. I get home grown tomatoes from Thanet Earth (down the road from me) and from the Isle of Wight which are sold in supermarkets around the UK. They are grown using hydroponics. I've no complaints - they really are as good as the expensive imported types.

Having said that. There isn't really anythin 'unhealthy' about tinned tomatoes as SatNavSaysStraightOn says. They are much cheaper and generally very good quality.
 
If 4 tins is 1600g, should I add the same amount of fresh tomatoes?
Should I add the same amount of tomato puree as in the recipe?
 
Amateur1 said:
If 4 tins is 1600g, should I add the same amount of fresh tomatoes?
Should I add the same amount of tomato puree as in the recipe?
Click to expand...
Yes and yes.
Tomato puree? maybe they mean tomato paste. 2 tbsp of additional tomato puree, which is basically just more sauce and 2 tbsp with a recipe that doesn't actually give measurements for the ingredients is kind of strange really. If it is actual more tomato puree, then it won't make any difference to the recipe.
 
Just a thought about the tinned tomatoes. I know it says "400 gms" on the tin, but I wonder whether that includes any added liquid? or the weight of the can?
 
Amateur1 said:
I thought the nutrients in tomato are near the skin which I thought gets removed in tinned tomatoes. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
I believe that that is only the case for Lycopene and only for red tomatoes, not any other colour. plus the redder the tomato the more Lycopene it contains.

garlichead said:
Tomato puree? maybe they mean tomato paste. 2 tbsp of additional tomato puree, which is basically just more sauce
Click to expand...
tomato puree, concentrate & tomato paste all have different meanings across the world.
this is tomato puree in the UK (https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/napolina-tomato-puree-142g). It is what you know as tomato paste.
The likelihood is that in this recipe, it is looking to enhance the tomato flavour so it is refering to what I believe you know has tomato paste, especially as it is a UK newspaper recipe. If it says double or triple concentrate, that's the stuff.
(We, as moderators, have been having extensive discussions regarding it recently...)

karadekoolaid said:
Just a thought about the tinned tomatoes. I know it says "400 gms" on the tin,
Click to expand...
you'll find somewhere on the tin, it will say 400g net or with an e alongside it. Either way a 400g size tin contains 400g of contents. Occasionally they will actually give you the drained weight. find the Mutti brand that Waitrose sells, they actually tell you 400g, and drained 260g. But I'd suggest you don't over think it. No-one expects you to drain the contents of a tin of tomatoes, they are not in water like beans or pulses are. And as mentioned above, this isn't really that precise. It really would not affect the recipe massively if you threw a 5th tin of tomatoes in given that tomatoes are around 95% water anyway.

But just for for reference, that Telegraph newspaper recipe does not actually state what size tin to use. And 4 tins of tomatoes to only serve 4 people is odd to me. Each 400g tin would ordinarily serve 2 people.

I know when I lived in the UK, we routinely bought a 800g tin size of tomatoes. I can't see them in Waitrose or Sainsbury's online anymore, but we still purchase that size here in Australia.
Tinned tomatoes came in a variety of sizes, is what I'm saying. 810g, 800g, 790g, 400g, 390g, 350g, 260g, 229g to name a few off the top of my head. We can only hope that the article is refering to the most common size, you assumption of 400g.

And more to the point, tinned tomatoes are often not just tomatoes. they contain tomato juice and tomato puree (uk term)/paste (us term), so likely as not you'll need to add more tomato puree to make the exact same dish as the writer intended.

This is the ingredients list from an Australian can of "crushed" tomatoes.
Ingredients
Tomatoes (99%) [Crushed (69%), Juice, Paste], Thickener (1422), Food Acid (Citric).
Click to expand...
If you look at it & break it down, it is only 69% crushed tomatoes. The other 30% is tomato juice and tomato paste (uk term is puree). (my bold)

This is a Waitrose tin of Essential Chopped Tomatoes in Natural Juice (my bold)
Ingredients
Tomatoes (65%), tomato juice, acidity regulator citric acid
Click to expand...

So the question remains on what it is you are trying to make?
An identical dish or just something similar?
Can you switch an a 1:1 ratio? That depends on What it is you are trying to make.

if it was me, I'd not over think it and just pick up 1.6 kg of tinned tomatoes (2×800g in my case) and throw them in.
 
garlichead said:
Yes and yes.
Tomato puree? maybe they mean tomato paste. 2 tbsp of additional tomato puree, which is basically just more sauce and 2 tbsp with a recipe that doesn't actually give measurements for the ingredients is kind of strange really. If it is actual more tomato puree, then it won't make any difference to the recipe.
Click to expand...


It has to be tomato paste. 2 TBSP of tomato puree would not do anything. 2 TBSP of tomato paste would make a difference, since it is very concentrated.

CD
 
caseydog said:
It has to be tomato paste. 2 TBSP of tomato puree would not do anything. 2 TBSP of tomato paste would make a difference, since it is very concentrated.

CD
Click to expand...

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
tomato puree, concentrate & tomato paste all have different meanings across the world.
this is tomato puree in the UK (https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/napolina-tomato-puree-142g). It is what you know as tomato paste.
The likelihood is that in this recipe, it is looking to enhance the tomato flavour so it is refering to what I believe you know has tomato paste, especially as it is a UK newspaper recipe. If it says double or triple concentrate, that's the stuff.
(We, as moderators, have been having extensive discussions regarding it recently...)
Click to expand...
It's a UK recipe so UK definition.
Waitrose & Partners. Italian tomato puree double concentrated.
Click to expand...

77465
 
caseydog said:
DOH! Another thing to remember when Brits talk about cooking. :facepalm:

Tomatoes came to Europe from North America. We should have naming rights. :laugh:

CD
Click to expand...
just imagine the fun we've had over the years what with trying to cycle around the world (only 22 countries covered) and now living in Australia which is a total mish-mash of US & UK + some random stuff thrown in for good measure...

and it doesn't stop with food... I'm not even safe in a hardware store! want to get "00 (double 0) wire wool"? try again and don't ask the youth who thinks you're from another planet :o_o: ... (fine gauge steel wire before you ask) double 0 is the gauge, wire wool ought to be self explanatory but apparently not, and you don't get time to browse in any Australian shop, they land on you demanding to help you the moment you step inside the shop... so looking through the shop to find whatyou want and learning what its called isn't an option. Best to find the oldest shop assistant possible and they usually know all variations of names and actually understand that you don't wish to pay $$$ for a dedicated woodburner stove door glass scrubber when $ wire wool will do the trick just nicely.

sorry rant over...
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
just imagine the fun we've had over the years what with trying to cycle around the world (only 22 countries covered) and now living in Australia which is a total mish-mash of US & UK + some random stuff thrown in for good measure...

and it doesn't stop with food... I'm not even safe in a hardware store! want to get "00 (double 0) wire wool"? try again and don't ask the youth who thinks you're from another planet :o_o: ... (fine gauge steel wire before you ask) double 0 is the gauge, wire wool ought to be self explanatory but apparently not, and you don't get time to browse in any Australian shop, they land on you demanding to help you the moment you step inside the shop... so looking through the shop to find whatyou want and learning what its called isn't an option. Best to find the oldest shop assistant possible and they usually know all variations of names and actually understand that you don't wish to pay $$$ for a dedicated woodburner stove door glass scrubber when $ wire wool will do the trick just nicely.

sorry rant over...
Click to expand...

I believe we use the same gauge numbers, but call it steel wool here. Fifty-percent the same. :laugh:

CD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom