primitives discuss modifications to tomato sauce

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115732343

Oh my.

You know, one can get a burning headache watching the primitives wiggle-waggle their armpits at each other on this subject or that subject.  What the primitives know about anything and everything wouldn't go a quarter of an inch; what the primitives don't know about things would stretch clear to the end of the universe.  Their sheer ignorance is endless.

<<<just looked at a campfire lit by cousin nadin.

No, don't waste your time going over there to look at it; flatulence has more substance, more body, more solidity, than what the oblate spheroid knows about things.

God.  If there were a stupid-meter, the primitives would've busted it a long time ago.

Anyway, so a little diversion and amusement, from the cooking and baking primitives:

pinto (100,120 posts)    Sun Oct 6, 2013, 09:08 PM

Does anyone else use nutmeg or cinnamon in tomato sauce?

Made some today, i.e. doctored up some store bought sauce and remembered using some cinnamon in the past. Added nutmeg this time since I was including Italian sausages. Added some basil, oregano as usual, but the nutmeg really brought a neat taste to the sauce.

 

CaliforniaPeggy (106,135 posts)    Sun Oct 6, 2013, 09:10 PM

1. The recipe I use for my spaghetti sauce calls for a dash of cinnamon...

So I've always used it there. It adds something very tasty!

pinto (100,120 posts)    Sun Oct 6, 2013, 09:21 PM

2. Doesn't it? Sort of a nutty / savory taste. The nutmeg worked out really well.

Especially with the sausage in the sauce. pinto sopped up the bowl with a slice of garlic bread.

.....and now, Ms Piggy!!!

msanthrope (19,395 posts)   Sun Oct 6, 2013, 09:31 PM 

3. Nutmeg is the secret ingredient in my meatballs.

[I_B_Perky]

Nutmeg? Well I guess since they are all nuts over there, it fits Frank.   

[franksolich]

I'm curious if this is tongue-in-cheek, or serious.

I've never paid much attention to tomato sauce.

When I make beef stew, which I'm going to do tomorrow (Monday), I just dump a large can of tomato juice, a medium-sized can of tomato sauce (plain, without onions and mushrooms and peppers rendering it inedible), and a small can of tomato paste into the crockpot.

A long time ago, I forgot which one I was supposed to use, and so since then have used all three, knowing at least one of them's the right thing.

[franksolich]

Nutmeg? Well I guess since they are all nuts over there, it fits Frank.   

I was truly surprised no primitive mentioned adding peas, but the campfire's new yet.

I'm sure we'll see it suggested.

[I_B_Perky]

I was truly surprised no primitive mentioned adding peas, but the campfire's new yet.

I'm sure we'll see it suggested.

 

H5 Coach! You made me laugh!!!!

[Big Dog]

Nutmeg is a hallucinogen.

The DUmmies should add it by the cupful to their spaghetti sauces.



Warning: Do not feed nutmeg to your dog. Even small doses can be fatal to canines.

[freedumb2003b]

I'm curious if this is tongue-in-cheek, or serious.

I've never paid much attention to tomato sauce.

When I make beef stew, which I'm going to do tomorrow (Monday), I just dump a large can of tomato juice, a medium-sized can of tomato sauce (plain, without onions and mushrooms and peppers rendering it inedible), and a small can of tomato paste into the crockpot.

A long time ago, I forgot which one I was supposed to use, and so since then have used all three, knowing at least one of them's the right thing.

When I was in college and did more basic cooking (read: cheap) I would sometimes make spaghetti using Mom's recipe.

Then I would add cinnamon, which made me feel like a gourmet.

Then after a few years of that I realized I didn't like the taste and just made it the way Mom did.

Much better.

[Vagabond]

Blech, a little bit of nutmeg goes a long, long way.  I enjoy baking and cooking, while cinnamon combined with sugar can be great to make a glaze stick to the meat and give a unique flavor, less is better with regard to the cinnamon.  These both belong in baked goods.  Cinnamon Toast is a good meal in the morning.  Nutmeg makes it in whenever I do something with fruit like pies or turnovers, but too much and it overpowers everything else.  1/8 of a teaspoon to 4 pounds of apples and the nutmeg is still a recognizable flavor.

[franksolich]

Blech, a little bit of nutmeg goes a long, long way.  I enjoy baking and cooking, while cinnamon combined with sugar can be great to make a glaze stick to the meat and give a unique flavor, less is better with regard to the cinnamon.  These both belong in baked goods.  Cinnamon Toast is a good meal in the morning.  Nutmeg makes it in whenever I do something with fruit like pies or turnovers, but too much and it overpowers everything else.  1/8 of a teaspoon to 4 pounds of apples and the nutmeg is still a recognizable flavor.

Thanks.  I'm fixing to make beef stew later today, and I guess I won't try this cinnamon-or-nutmeg thing after all.

The secret to a good beef stew is, of course, the spices and herbs one dumps into it.

When I moved out here in the autumn of 2005, this place had been unoccupied since the summer of 1986, a little more than nineteen years.  Its previous occupant had been a woman who'd been born and raised here, but by 1986, she was 102 years old and blind and crippled, and so her descendants parked her in a nursing home, where she died three months later.

She'd been a big cook in her better days, and there were still tin canisters of spices and herbs here when I came; I'm sure many of these things were older than I am, because there were no zip codes on the address of the company (usually Schilling or McCormick), no UPCs (universal price code), and the prices had been stamped on with an old-fashioned ink-stamper.  The prices were like 19 cents, 29 cents, 25 cents, 15 cents, 10 cents, and so on; nothing more than 39 cents.

I discarded all the miniature square canisters that had been opened, but kept all the unopened ones for my own use.  Even after that culling, I still ended up with an impressive collection of spices and herbs, and have been using them since.

Obviously, I use a lot of paprika, but there was a lot of 50-year-old paprika here in the first place, and it doesn't seem to have deteriorated the least bit with age, nor the nutmeg or cinnamon.  The dried poppyseed are just as good as this year's crop.  Celery salt, onion salt, basil, thyme, black pepper, white pepper, the whole bit.  They're all good.

[lastparker]

peas

 

[lastparker]

msanthrope (19,400 posts)
3. Nutmeg is the secret ingredient in my meatballs. nt

Fennel seeds, freshly ground if possible.  Nutmeg in mashed potatoes - now THAT's a plan.

[JohnnyReb]

DUmmies demand that we go green and make tomato sauce from corn.

[Chris_]

DUmmies demand that we go green and make tomato sauce from corn.

[GOBUCKS]

I'm just surprised they're using the English name for tomato sauce.

[Karin]

I'm a purist.  Nutmeg belongs on eggnog at Christmas, and cinnamon belongs in apple pie.  My first MIL put cinnamon in everything, including rice, making it inedible. 

[Dori]

I'm a purist.  Nutmeg belongs on eggnog at Christmas, and cinnamon belongs in apple pie.  My first MIL put cinnamon in everything, including rice, making it inedible. 

I'm with you.  I watch a lot of cooking shows, and some of the spice concoctions I see used are like a muddled mess.

[franksolich]

I'm with you.  I watch a lot of cooking shows, and some of the spice concoctions I see used are like a muddled mess.

Here it is, Tuesday evening, and I haven't made the beef stew, the first of the season, yet.

I'll probably make it tomorrow, Wednesday.

But anyway, last night, I mentioned about adding cinnamon or nutmeg to the tomato sauce--although I was really reluctant about it--to a woman, circa 5'4", blonde, generally slender in build, aged circa late 30s. 

I've seen her, and talked with her, for years, but I don't know anything about her.

She was appalled at the idea.  Apparently she has a sister-in-law who did this once, and she says it makes the sauce sweet, which it's not supposed to be.  It's made of tomatoes, after all.

I mentioned it was a primitive, a Democrat, who'd suggested it.

She looked at me in dismay; her sister-in-law's a Democrat.

"Never," she reminded me, "take cooking advice from a Democrat; they want everything to taste like it's not supposed to taste."

True story.

[Chris_]

"Never," she reminded me, "take cooking advice from a Democrat; they want everything to taste like it's not supposed to taste."

Boy, if that advice doesn't apply to a whole mess of topics.

[franksolich]

Boy, if that advice doesn't apply to a whole mess of topics.

At 7:30 this morning, I started it, on the low setting.

One 46-ounce can of pure tomato juice, one 16-ounce can of tomato sauce, plain, one 16-ounce can of condensed tomato soup, one 8-ounce can of tomato paste, some water, one 16-ounce can of pure beef broth, and ample salt and pepper.

When looking at it, I figured it needed more, so I tore open sixteen of those little foil packets of tomato ketchup that come with my carry-out orders from the bar in town.

And then a few minutes later, I noticed I had a jar of Russian mustard in the refrigerator, and added a heaping teaspoon of that.

I don't dump everything into a crockpot all at once, I add the appropriate ingredients during the course of the day, so that all's done by mid-evening.

I'm going to let this stuff warm up until circa noon, and then add the beef.  And then as the day wends on, add the other stuff.

No cinnamon or nutmeg, though.

[Aristotelian]

At 7:30 this morning, I started it, on the low setting.

One 46-ounce can of pure tomato juice, one 16-ounce can of tomato sauce, plain, one 16-ounce can of condensed tomato soup, one 8-ounce can of tomato paste, some water, one 16-ounce can of pure beef broth, and ample salt and pepper.

When looking at it, I figured it needed more, so I tore open sixteen of those little foil packets of tomato ketchup that come with my carry-out orders from the bar in town.

And then a few minutes later, I noticed I had a jar of Russian mustard in the refrigerator, and added a heaping teaspoon of that.

I don't dump everything into a crockpot all at once, I add the appropriate ingredients during the course of the day, so that all's done by mid-evening.

I'm going to let this stuff warm up until circa noon, and then add the beef.  And then as the day wends on, add the other stuff.

No cinnamon or nutmeg, though.

You seem to have forgotten the peas and the kale.

[Ptarmigan]

Cooking advice at DU? 

[franksolich]

You seem to have forgotten the peas and the kale.

At 11:50 a.m. central time, with the crockpot still on its lowest setting, but the liquid gotten nicely hot, I chopped up 1.4 pounds of "eye of round" beef, specially selected at the grocery store because it has no fat on it.

There's lots of beef in the freezer here, but it's all wrapped up in white paper with hieroglypics handwritten on the outside, and as it was "only" $3.69 a pound, I went with this store-bought stuff instead.  (Quotation marks around the "only" because I'd thought it would be more.)

I also added paprika and onion salt.

About mid-afternoon, I'll add the larger vegetables.

[franksolich]

Okay, about twenty minutes ago, 2:30 p.m., I took two 16-ounce bags of frozen "stew vegetables" and added them.  It looks to be done a little earlier than I thought it'd be; about supper-time rather than mid-evening.

The "stew vegetables" being potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions, meaning I had to first dump everything into a bowl and pick out the onions, which are now peacefully decomposing outside, in the vegetable garden.

I have to buy bags of frozen "stew vegetables" simply because of the potatoes, and while I imagine such a thing exists, I've never seen bags of just plain frozen potatoes (other than of course hash browns and french fries, which wouldn't work here).

Ever since I first started making beef stew at the age of 18 years, I'd always had singularly bad luck with potatoes.  I took especial care to use only white potatoes, the best potatoes there are, but they always remained raw, even if cooked for days in a crockpot.  So I finally gave up, and started buying bags of frozen "stew vegetables" instead, which include cooked potatoes.

After stirring the concoction anew, I then tossed in half a handful of long-grain brown rice.

For years and years and years, I used to dine upon fiber-and-roughage-laden brown bread, but then beginning circa two years ago, I noticed I was acquiring a dislike for it.  It got to where the only bread I could stand was thin-sliced bread, and the thinner it was sliced, the better.

I'm not talking here about any gastrological disorders or any "allergy" (quotation marks intentional and sarcastic); over a long period of time, I just seemed to like it less and less.  Nowadays, the only bread I dine upon are the whole-wheat buns surrounding hamburgers, well done, pressed down hard on the grill so as to squeeze out every drop of grease, from the bar in town.

However, fiber and roughage is necessary for maintaining a pleasant temperament, and so I've the past two years always added long-grained brown rice to everything--from tomato soup to macaroni and cheese to cream of wheat to mashed potatoes to my favorite food of all, broccoli and cheese.

And, obviously, beef stew.

One more batch of stuff about 5:00 p.m., then I'm done.

[franksolich]

Okay, at 5:00 p.m., I taste-tested the liquid, as obviously the other parts aren't yet cooked all the way through.

It tasted too much of tomato--not that there's anything wrong with the way tomatoes taste, but it suppresses the flavors of all the other ingredients.

So I added about a quarter of a bag of frozen corn, and salt-and-peppered-and-paprikaed it more, to see if that helps.  And then I decided tomorrow I'll run to a grocery store and get one of those 16-ounce cans of pure beef broth to add to it.

I used to put in a quarter of a bag of frozen peas too, but lately I've been slowly becoming hostile about peas.

[JakeStyle]

Sounds like it is coming together nicely Frank, I bet that your house smells great right now.