No one likes an unruly tomato. The really bad ones escape to outer space. So here are rules to keep them on Earth.
1 pound = 2 big* tomatoes = 8 plum tomatoes = 3 Roma tomatoes = 25 cherry tomatoes
1 pound = 1¾ cups diced** tomatoes
1 cup canned tomatoes = 1¾ diced, cooked tomatoes
1 cup tomato sauce = ⅓ cup tomato paste plus ½ cup water
* = This is an approximation. Tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes even within the same type of tomato, such as Roma. It would be nicer for chefs around the world if tomatoes displayed a greater degree of uniformity. However, the tomato world is a fractious community. Perhaps you can convince them to be the same. Then you will be the long awaited Tomato Whisperer.
** = Again, an approximation. The number of cups you get from a pound of tomatoes depends on how finely you slice them. You can’t blame all your culinary uncertainty on the tomato.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves. . .”
– Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
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