Today we learned, the Chef demo'd, how to make Tomato sauce. All a pretty simple procedure. First of all he used a Braising pot to sauté the onions, carrots, and tomato paste. Continued stirring it till you got some color and flavor into the mix. Adding the celery and leeks in later so the juices from the 2 don't ruin the browning process. Well, why don't i just download the video for you lol.
What i'd really like to discuss with you is, what kind of tomatoes to use when making tomato sauce. Roma was the big winner because of the meat to seeds ratio. But now here's the important question. It's really not tomato season and the tomatoes you have don't really have much flavor, is it okay to use the canned tomatoes? You say No? Why not? But i want to use Fresh ingredients!!! you whine... Well heres the deal... Those tomatoes in the can were harvested at Peak tomato season then packed in that can with all their wonderful Peak season juices and flavors. So, do you want to use the tasteless tomato that you just bought at the market that's out of season or do you want to use the canned tomatoes that were packed during tomato season? I'm gonna use the canned ones because, personally, I like flavor in my food. Just because it's in a can doesn't mean you're not making it from scratch. Hello, there are only tomatoes in there, just pretend someone else prep'd it for you and put it in a can.
The video i'm gonna put up really isn't complete because he had us doing cuts while he finished up the sauce so i wasn't able to catch the rest of the process for you. But let me explain why he used a braising pot... after sautéing the veggies and adding the tomatoes he cleaned off the side of the pot and covered it then put it in the oven for 30 minutes to cook instead of leaving it on the stove top. Why? Because it's more of an even cooking process. Instead of having just the heat on the bottom of the pot you have the heat encompassing the pot.
So, he took to pot out of the oven then he took the Bouquet Garni out and used and emulsifying blender on the tomatoes then ran it thru a food mill then poured it through a Chinois to strain. And Voilà there you have your Tomato mother sauce to use as a base for your marinara, puttanesca... Oh, oh, oh!!! And so we're having this discussion about derivatives and someone yells out puttanesca sauce, and the teacher goes into...
"well know puttanesca comes from" and he starts to squirm, "well the word Putta-nesca comes from" someone else says "OMG oh" teacher says "yes, you've got it, uh huh, yes" pointing at another. Leslie the mother of quadruplets says "what? I don't get it." most of the class is giggling by now and the teacher looks at her and says "wEEeeell, it means Sauce of the Whores. Yes, I know it's not right and it sounds horrible but thats what it was called back then and it's what it's still called." GASP!!! Eh, i'm not a prude, I got it right off the bat because well, sailors hear lots and learn lots on the boats lol. But PLEASE, don't go to the restaurant and ask for Spaghetti alla Sauce of the Whores and say it's because i told you so.
I've gotta say one thing... Politically correct is so out the window when it comes to some cooking terminologies. You know that strainer that's cone shaped that you like to strain your spaghetti noodles in? It's called a China cap and the smaller cone shaped one thats more of a wire mesh strainer, that's called a Chinois which is French for Chinese...Take that strainer and put it over your head like you're gonna where it like a hat... Uh Huh... See why it's called a China cap? Puttanesca, Chinois... I wonder what else are they gonna teach us.
Do you put oil in your boiling water for spaghetti noodles? If you said yes then Chef asked Why? The oil floats on the top of the water in the pot then you go and pour out the water and the first thing out of the pot is the oil because it's on the top so... Does that oil ever touch the pasta? No. Do you rinse the pasta after you drain it? No says Chef. You can rinse it if you want to remove more of the starch but eh, it doesn't remove that much. If you want to add your olive oil, do it After you've drained the pasta.
If you want your pasta to be Al Dente then you don't go and fling it on the wall to see if it will stick lol because it won't stick if it's Al Dente. Take the pasta and bite into it.
Oh, The sweetness from the carrots offset the acidity in the tomatoes. A little bit of sugar was added to the tomato sauce to help out the carrots. Some people don't want to add sugar in their food but let me tell you, it makes a world of difference. You don't add it till it's sweet, no. You shouldn't taste the sugar at all. What I used to do on the boat with the sauce they'd shove at us is, I added honey. People looked at me funny but hey, just a little bit of sweetness goes a Loooong way.
Well that was a lot to discuss and i'm sorry that my blogs are a little long but hey, there's a lot on my mind lately lol...
So, that's my blog for my BFFs today.
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