Comments on FoodTalk with Barbara Kafka: Tomato Typing

Funny, Paul, that you should bring that up. I help...

2007-09-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Funny, Paul, that you should bring that up. I helped open an American restaurant in Bogota some years ago. We used tomtoes in lots of things--_BLTs, salads, and so on. I tried to get the concept of ripe tomatoes v. green tomatoes through to the cooks, but it just wouldn't stick. The local preferences was for (what we would call) underripe tomatoes. A BLT made with a greenish tomato was, like Paul's Italian salad, a revelation. Not to mention they were easier to slice and held up better on the line than juicy/ripe tomatoes. Once home, though, I shunned anything less than red red red. Your comment reminded me I should play around some. thanks. And thank you, Barbara, for the blog.
Chris

Thank you. He's a very good friend and a fine gard...

2007-08-14T08:11:00.001-07:00

Thank you. He's a very good friend and a fine gardener and cook. See web page Bkafka.com and go to friends to find him or find him on myface.

Of course, he is correct about tomato varieties. See today's post for more.

Thank you. He's a very good friend and a fine gard...

2007-08-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Once in Puglia, staying with Patience Gray, I was ...

2007-08-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

Once in Puglia, staying with Patience Gray, I was astonished that she chose slightly underripe tomatoes, showing a little green, for her salads. I queried why she didn't use ripe ones, and she told me that in Southern Italy cooks always choose slightly green tomatoes for salads, preferring both their crunchy texture, and their higher (than fully ripe tomatoes) acidity. I then tasted her tomato salad, and it was a revelation - much, much more refreshing and interesting than the soft, ripe tomatoes I was used to. Since then, I've discoverd some Italian varieties that, while still green and crisp on the outside, are red when you cut into them. Alas, though I recently bought some imported ones (at huge expense) at La Fromagerie in London, I can't remember the name of the variety. I'd love to know it, as we'd plant them here in Oxford. Where, incidentally, we appear to be losing the entire tomato crop this summer, owing to the terrible rainfall.