Topic: Keeping the heat up

[mickyp]

We know that when we add base to the pan it should be hot to maintain the cooking process, what about tomato paste, if its like 6 tbl spoons full should it be hot rather than cold?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Yes, Syed mentions that somewhere.
** Phil.

[Secret Santa]

I'm going to say no because every BIR I've seen in action adds paste from a cold container and rarely more than a chef's spoon, so it would heat up quickly. Of course it does no harm to add it hot if that is convenient for you. Also what on earth are you doing adding "6 tbl", by which I assume you mean 6 tablespoons, of tomato paste to any dish? I shudder at the thought.

[chonk]

Don't want to hijack this thread but I'm curious: BIRs don't exclusively use tomato paste, do they? There are dishes like butterchicken or tikka masala, where you basically have to use something like passata or maybe even some tomato-onion-gravy? But I'm aware that this mostly concerns punjabi dishes.

I've seen places that keep a pot of their own passata on the stove, previously cooked up with some ginger and garlic, but I'm not convinced that adding it warm will make much difference.

[Peripatetic Phil]

To be honest, I doubt that BIRs exclusively use anything, but given the space efficiency of triple-concentrate pur

[chonk]

Yes, space efficiency is surely to be considered, but bit perplexed about the thought of substituting, in the sense of pure equivalency. In my experience, this works only to some extent. I mixed up sauces out of paste plus water but taste and texture are different.

Heard about the Heinz story. Sounds like a myth to me but somehow I want to believe it!

[Peripatetic Phil]

Agreed, one cannot substitute for the other, but in many recipes both will be drowned by the blended peeled plum tomatoes (plus canning juice) content, so it may not make a great deal of difference in terms of taste, or even of mouth texture.  Certainly for Syed's recipes he uses either undilute or dilute tomato pur

[livo]

I tried a CTM recipe with Heinz Tomato Soup a few years ago. Don't unless you like to eat Heinz Tomato Soup.

[mickyp]

Yes, space efficiency is surely to be considered, but bit perplexed about the thought of substituting, in the sense of pure equivalency. In my experience, this works only to some extent. I mixed up sauces out of paste plus water but taste and texture are different.

Heard about the Heinz story. Sounds like a myth to me but somehow I want to believe it!

I tried CTM using Heinz Tomato Soup and my other half liked it, not a CTM fan myself but it was quite enjoyable, sorry peeps.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I don't know what Livo's got against the idea, Micky.  For a man who stirs his mango lassi into his main course and then eats them out off the same bowl, I would have thought that a Heinz-based CTM would have been right up his street ...