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Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

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Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#101

Post by willyt »

pnut wrote: post #55
em500 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't comment on the tomatoes, but as far as eggs are concerned, I'm skeptical that any claims about people being able to taste any diffence would hold up in a proper blind taste test. Conclusion from Serious Eats when they attempted to do that: It was pretty clear evidence that as far as eggs go, the mindset of the taster has far more bearing on the flavor of the egg than the egg itself. https://www.seriouseats.co…

I boil six eggs every Sunday and eat one every morning. Same pan, same cooking element, same timing, ice bath with the same volume of water and cube quantity, everything identical from one week to the next. Have been doing it for at least seven years straight. I want my yolks to be crystalline in texture, at the transition point between runny and chalky. Not precious about yolk colouring. Must be easy to peel. There…

I find that the cheapest kind of eggs poach much better because they have a much higher turnover in the supermarket so they are much fresher. The fancy omega eggs and other specialty ones are quite old in comparison.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#102

Post by j7ake »

downut wrote: post #95
j7ake wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best beef isn’t fresh actually, it is aged for several weeks. Similar with a lot of fish like tuna. Sometimes it’s not about as fresh as possible, but how it is grown and processed.

Without meaning to be critical, but just to expand the conversation a bit, what does the word "beef" mean in your comment? Let's broaden the scope, and consider lean and fatty versions of say "grass fed beef" vs. "industrial beef". The word "fatty" here is just a placeholder for "less than 85% lean" ("lean" is problematical, as is "fatty", too). (How those map to "tough" and "tender" is related but of course the skil…

Thanks for details.

I would also mention in Chinese cuisine, fresh lean beef (flank) is preferred for stirfry, fatty beef is preferred for boiling (hot pot).

American culture: aged is key to the complex flavours.

For fish, Japanese sushi often uses aged fish, while steamed fish should be as fresh as possible.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#103

Post by eddd-ddde »

specproc wrote: post #40

For those in the audience that have only ever eaten supermarket tomatoes, I'm sorry to say you've probably never really eaten a tomato. I live in a small, agricultural country and the article resonated. Over the last 10 years supermarkets and imported vegetables have become a much more important part of our national diet. It's such an important staple food. Historically very cheap (because widely grown) wildly divers…

Monotony really is humanity's biggest sin.

The day we rid ourselves of diversity in pursuit of perfection and efficiency we'll only have ourselves to blame.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#104

Post by willyt »

senko wrote: post #42
urbandw311er wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just had a week on various Croatian islands. It’s true that we were shocked by the cost of the food (€18 for a pizza in a restaurant) although put it down to the cost of importing the various ingredients. I wouldn’t say any of the food was “horrible” though. We had a tremendous “meat plate” of grilled marinated chicken, pork and steak with potatoes.

(Croat lounging on the Croatian coast right now) No, prices are high because they've been jacked up as high as the market will bear. As an example, an cup of coffee at a beach bar in a random coastal village (€2.5) is about the same as in the (touristy) center of London (£2). The effects will probably be seen the next year. As other commenters noted, Croatia has historically been mass budget tourism location, largely…

£3.50 more likely for central London, Edinburgh or any fashionable tourist place.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#105

Post by hooverd »

downut wrote: post #95
j7ake wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best beef isn’t fresh actually, it is aged for several weeks. Similar with a lot of fish like tuna. Sometimes it’s not about as fresh as possible, but how it is grown and processed.

Without meaning to be critical, but just to expand the conversation a bit, what does the word "beef" mean in your comment? Let's broaden the scope, and consider lean and fatty versions of say "grass fed beef" vs. "industrial beef". The word "fatty" here is just a placeholder for "less than 85% lean" ("lean" is problematical, as is "fatty", too). (How those map to "tough" and "tender" is related but of course the skil…

Basically any inland fish you buy is going to be flash frozen- you might as well defrost it yourself.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#106

Post by [deleted] »

specproc wrote: post #40

For those in the audience that have only ever eaten supermarket tomatoes, I'm sorry to say you've probably never really eaten a tomato. I live in a small, agricultural country and the article resonated. Over the last 10 years supermarkets and imported vegetables have become a much more important part of our national diet. It's such an important staple food. Historically very cheap (because widely grown) wildly divers…

[deleted]

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#107

Post by LtWorf »

apavlinovic wrote: post #30

I am Croatian, and I know exactly what the article is referring to. So much that we decided to grow our own tomatoes this year. The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally, and the reality is that we want the good stuff for ourselves, not the tourists. We were very lucky to have a great harvest of cherry, monte carlo, and plum tomatoes this year, all of which serve a differ…

Italian here. I agree that anything coming from NL is complete garbage.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#108

Post by shusaku »

317070 wrote: post #4
rini17 wrote: post #2

Oh my. Everyone who cares about tomatoes grows their own, supermarkets are for the rest. They are not demanding and will grow anywhere there's sun, including in pot on balcony.

Why is capitalism failing us here? Why do we need to grow our own?

One thing to look for are local farms that have subscription services. Some give you a box of seasonal veggies each month, which will be very fresh.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#110

Post by lr4444lr »

morsch wrote: post #79
specproc wrote: post #40

For those in the audience that have only ever eaten supermarket tomatoes, I'm sorry to say you've probably never really eaten a tomato. I live in a small, agricultural country and the article resonated. Over the last 10 years supermarkets and imported vegetables have become a much more important part of our national diet. It's such an important staple food. Historically very cheap (because widely grown) wildly divers…

People keep writing this, but the tomatoes I grew myself and those grown by friends as well as local very small scale growers haven't lived up to the hype. Presumably this just isn't a good place to grow tomatoes. But I guess Provence should be, and they weren't exactly impressive either. Maybe I'm just not that into fresh tomatoes.

Correct - a lot of the blander varieties have pushed their way into local seed markets. You should check out heirloom seed vendors for old style tomatoes. There are also some modern boutique hybrids that are absolutely fabulous. My favorites are Sun Sugar if you like cherry tomatoes, and "Pineapple Tomato" if you like that rich "tomato" flavor in a full-sized. (Both are also pulp-heavy, which in my opinion are a feature common to better tasting tomatoes.)
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