For the kitchen, the first step in planning the menu for Tomato Dinners is knowing what they have to work with. Yesterday, Chef Canales and his sous chefs sat down for three hours and tasted fifty-five different tomatoes from seven different farms. Each tomato was assessed using the following criteria: color, acid, sugar, gel, other flavors, texture, structure, and then given an overall rating.
A primary task was picking the 6 – 12 tomatoes to comprise the best-of-season tasting plate. While each tomato on the tasting plate has to be a knockout in its own right, the dish overall requires diversity, balanced color, and variety of exceptional characteristics.
Our favorite roving produce expert, Bill Fujimoto, visited the Temescal Farmers’ Market last Sunday to check out what the height of summer has to offer. With all the peaches on display, it was a perfect opportunity to get the skinny on how to pick the perfect peach, which has everything to do with background color and branch marks.
He also talks sweet corn, pluots, tomatoes, fills us in on what he’s been doing since leaving Monterey Market, and meets Gabby.
Riverdog Farm's pasture-raised hens grub up some heirlooms
We’ve been tomato watching now for five months and finally, tomato season is here! Dry-farmed Early Girls are tasting excellent right now, and the heirlooms have just reached their height, giving the kitchen ample time to work with them before Tomato Dinners begin on August 26th. It has been a great year for tomatoes weather-wise and also timing-wise; many farmers took the risk of planting early and the risk paid off. Continue reading ‘Tomato Watch Week 20 – Shippers, Breakers, Pickers, Packers’