Posted on 03/04/2021 6:08:55 AM PST by mylife
There is little to look forward to in the sweatiest days of summer—the days when it feels like you can’t cool down even if you peeled your skin off—except for the pleasure of a peak summer tomato and putting that perfect tomato in a sandwich.
People have many thoughts on how to construct a tomato sandwich, my preference: squishy white bread, lightly toasted; mayo (Hellmann’s is fine with me, though I know fans of Duke’s mayo have strong feelings here); salt and pepper; and thick slices of the plumpest, juiciest tomatoes I can find—the ones you feel tempted to cradle home for fear that they’ll burst en route. This sandwich, it should go without saying, is best eaten over the sink or with an ample supply of paper towels, because if you do it right, it’s messy as hell. I look forward to the scarce few weeks per year when I can eat this sandwich; in my opinion, a November or March tomato is just not good enough to carry something so simple. Luckily, the pro-tomato sandwich coalition has logged onto to defend our maligned icon. As some Twitter users have pointed out, the anti-tomato sandwich sentiments seem like rude digs at the South and to the idea of struggle meals. If the tomato sandwich grosses you out, perhaps the problem isn’t the sandwich itself or even the messy video, but your tomatoes.
Southern Living suggests this treat any time of year, but to really understand the tomato sandwich, I’d suggest setting a reminder for July or August; buying the best, ugliest heirloom tomato you can find; cutting that sucker into slices; then enjoying the experience, drippy mayo and all. If that doesn’t convert you, well, at least you tried it and didn’t just give in to petty Twitter outrage.
(Excerpt) Read more at vice.com ...
IN FLORIDA WE HAVE THIS — DELISH:
Tomato Saltine Salad
This is a 1940’s-50’s Florida recipe. It’s best in the summer, when you have good ripe tomatoes, but it will work at other times of the year, too.
4 nice ripe tomatoes
1 sleeve of Saltines
1 tsp sugar
mayonnaise
salt
black pepper
grated onion or garlic powder to taste
chopped parsley
The basic recipe:
Cut tomatoes in large chunks.
Crush saltines coarsely and dump them into the tomatoes along with the tsp of sugar.
Mix in Duke mayonnaise (about a cup or so) and add a little grated onion.
Add salt and crushed black pepper to taste.
Mix together and let set in the fridge for a few hours so that the saltines can soften and absorb the liquid.
Cover with chopped parsley and serve.
Don’t forget the oregano.
Don’t forget the oregano.
Apples and oranges! You can’t compare a tomato sandwich with a BLT. While they’re completely different, they’re both fabulous in their own right. In fact, while you gain the great taste of bacon, it almost smothers the glorious tomato. IMHO.
Yum!
I’ve eaten lettuce sandwiches since I was a little girl, with mayo or miracle whip, I’m not fussy.
Trust me. You don’t want the hassle! :)
The problem with California tomatoes is that the only good ones are the ones they keep to sell and eat in California; the ones they ship to the rest of the country are shipped green, and gassed to look red. There ARE occasional exceptions -— Wal-Mart sells some tomatoes, 2 or 3 to a plastic pack, that I have had out of season, that taste like real tomatoes. And those little grape tomatoes are often good; not summer good, but pretty good.
Have you ever tried shipping tomatoes? If they are shipped ripe they will be too ripe or rotten upon arrival even in iced box cars. My family owned a packing house that packed and shipped tomatoes in central California along with oranges, plums, peaches, grapes, and many other fruits and vegetables.
You mentioned gassing. Do you know what it’s for? Ethylene gas is produced naturally by most fruits, such as tomatoes, bananas, peaches, and avocados, and it promotes ripening. Most tomatoes today are picked green and transported unripe to protect them from bruising and spoilage as are many other fruits and vegetables. Time doesn’t stop when you ice a product. It still changes even in the cars. Gassing upon arrival is the only way to distance ship products like this and control its ripening so it is ready for consumption upon arrival.
I can guarantee you if you ripen a tomato on the vine, it will turn red just like those that are gassed so they will be ready at arrival. If you wait for the vine to ripen, it won’t last a day without damage in shipment.
As for the tomatoes consumed in the area, they don’t need gassing as they are rapidly into the markets and don’t have a lot of spoilage. Most plant products are shipped this way now.
Walmart purchases a lot of products from California like pineapples, watermelon, romaine lettuce, and surprisingly, Hawaiian punch. But their tomatoes come from Chili and are listed as GMO’s (genetically engineered) To be sold they clear the barriers set up by OSHA, the AMA, the FDA, the CDC, and each state checklist. Enjoy. But it’s not like the tomatoes grown in either Tennessee or California. Frankentomato.
wy69
“...Gay tomatoes...”
You mean you never heard the term “takes one to know one?” If from North Beach or visit market street they qualify as experts.
wy69
I understand that. That is why tomatoes shipped from California or other far off places taste so lousy.
My Brandywine, Black Krim, and Cherokee Pirplea all have started to sprout in the greenhouse.....no true leaves yet, that is how early on it is, but it is exciting nonetheless.
And my 1st Beatrice Eggplant seed popped today!
Next up will be the pepper seeds.
Looks like a red crap sandwich, mushy innards.
A REAL tomato sandwich needs the following:
1. Good, solid tomatoes such as Early Girl, or other similarly solid-inner-meat tomato breeds. Heirlooms’ suck. Look like a witches butt and taste like them.
Even Big Boy and a few older species are more solid, have a better taste/consistency, and can be grown in your garden. On occasion, you’ll get a good, solid Beefstake tomato. Don’t buy the large ones. They become mushy overnight.
THESE are largely summer tomatoes when they get good sun and make a good internal sugar for flavor enhancement.
2. CUT THEM THINLY, not thickly. A thick tomato, esp. one that has little taste, is like biting into a slice of wood. Even mayo won’t save it. The thinner the tomato slice, the better the Mayos taste (Hellman’s, Hellman’s Light or Dukes) because it blends with the “sweet meat” of the slice. Thick slices don’t hold the mayo decently and have a woody taste and texture.
3. Rye bread is great as is a nicely toasted white bread (Maiers is good. Pepperidge Farms Italian is good. Dave’s has a nice mix of rye-light breads and there is a new brand, The Rustik Oven (as close to a moist rye bread as you can get without it being Rye proper, which you can’t get in a commercially baked brand).
Also a good Italian hoagie/sub roll, about 12 inches long, and fresh, soft (can be lightly toasted), makes a great sandwich too.
4. Lettuce - Iceberg, chilled, not frozen, best leafs from the inner, whiter thick parts. Eat either as a leaf or long shredded.
5. You can add ketchup to make a Russian dressing.
6. Add freshly cooked bacon for a superb BLT.
7. Some good American yellow/orange cheese, sliced thinly, or even a good Swiss (try imported Finland or if you have a Harris-Tetter around, their Simplicity Swiss, also imported, thinly sliced and very good taste).
8. EAT AND ENJOY.
Been eating BLT’s since the early 1950’s and grew many of those tomatoes myself.
WE love mushy tomato innards so much, that we make tomato soup to dunk our sangwiches in.
Preferably grilled cheese with mayo..
“...far off places taste so lousy.”
Then what good is there in saying a tomato in Tennessee, which would have to be shipped just like the ones in California, would be any better on the flip flop? They are no different. If you eat them in Tennessee, they are better. If you eat California tomatoes in California, they are better, too. If you eat Tennessee tomatoes in California, they are no better or worse that the California tomatoes in Tennessee. So how is one better than the other? The only difference is that California tomatoes constitute better than 85% of the tomato market in the US.
Maybe Tennessee tomato producers should increase their production or PR. And then they can increase their sales along with their production even though it will have no effect on quality as their product has to be shipped like the ones from the left coast because no one has a better or less expensive way to do it without spoilage.
So determining which product is better is totally based upon where you live and what is available. Thus I’m not sure anyone can say one is better than the other. I’ve never had a Tennessee tomato. And if you have only had your locals and the ones coming from Central America from Walmart, and like those, take a trip to California and give the locals there the same chance you give the Tennessee tomatoes you enjoy. You might be surprised at the difference from the shipped ones also.
wy69
You’re making my point.
“You’re making my point.”
Sorry, I guess I misunderstood. I thought your point was that the best tomatoes came out of a county in Tennessee. I’m saying they might, but they don’t constitute anywhere near the majority of the market. And I’ve never had them and you didn’t say you had California tomatoes, just Walmart Central American engineered ones and knew about how tomatoes were shipped and gassed.
wy69
I’ve never been fond of the taste of raw tomatoes. I know that’s sacrilege, but it’s the truth.
Cooked tomatoes are completely different.
That said, I love growing the kinds of big, beefy tomatoes that the raw-tomato lovers in the family enjoy.
You can enjoy what you like, I like a summer tomato right off the vine, still warm, with a sprinkle of salt... Oh My!
Yer California tomato’s are grown in Mexico now.
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