American Tomato paste the same?

Lornen

I have an American recipe for lasagna and it calls for a can of tomato paste.
I know you can get the really intense variety here in a tube but I wasn't sure if this was the same. Does anyone know if they are?

FTGFOP

I'd just use a can of tomato purée, maybe a touch more to taste. I found the tomato paste in the US thicker but blander than the tomato purée here.

Lornen wrote:

know you can get the really intense variety here

What's this? Sun-dried tomato paste or something?

seamus

Roma do this stuff in tiny little cans where "intense" is probably the best way to describe it. It's almost like pureéd dried tomatos. Delicious but insanely strong flavoured.

For lasagna, you wouldn't just use tomato paste, you'd water it down with something. Otherwise you're probably looking for something a little more like passata, which is what I use in lasagna.

Lornen

seamus wrote: »

Roma do this stuff in tiny little cans where "intense" is probably the best way to describe it. It's almost like pureéd dried tomatos. Delicious but insanely strong flavoured.

For lasagna, you wouldn't just use tomato paste, you'd water it down with something. Otherwise you're probably looking for something a little more like passata, which is what I use in lasagna.

The recipe calls for crushed tomatoe's, a can of paste and a can of tomato "sauce"...

As I was a bit unsure I was going to go ahead and get the passata for the "sauce" element and the tube of puree for the "paste"


Just so bloody confusing

rubadub

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_paste

Tomato paste is a thick paste that is made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce moisture, straining them to remove the seeds and skin, and cooking them again to reduce them to a thick, rich concentrate. In contrast, tomato purée which consists of tomatoes that have been boiled briefly and strained, is a liquid with a consistency between crushed tomatoes and tomato paste.

It was traditionally made in parts of Sicily, Southern Italy and Malta by spreading out a much reduced tomato sauce on wooden boards. The boards are set outdoors under the hot August sun to dry the paste until it is thick enough, when scraped up, to hold together in a richly colored dark ball. Today this artisan product is harder to find than the industrial (much thinner) version.

In the UK, paste is referred to as purée or concentrate.

In the USA, tomato paste is concentrated tomato solids (no seeds or skin) and usually no added sugars or seasonings, with a standard of identity (see 21 CFR 155.191).[1] Tomato purée has a lower solids requirement.

Lornen

rubadub wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_paste

I've wikipedia'd it myself and still it doesn't really clarify. Between our "Passata" and their "Sauce", our "Paste" and their "Purée...

I'm going to guess that those are the same thing though..
Wing it

olaola

For any tomato sauce - I'd usually use canned tomatoes and tomato puree - the stuff from the tubes. I don't generally use the can unless I'm making a large batch.

huskerdu

Lornen wrote: »

I've wikipedia'd it myself and still it doesn't really clarify. Between our "Passata" and their "Sauce", our "Paste" and their "Purée...

I'm going to guess that those are the same thing though..
Wing it

Definitely wing it. Lots of different recipes call for fresh tomatoes / canned tomatoes / passata / tomato puree

It doesn't matter what it is called. It'll all the be the same once its been simmered with lots of flavourings for a few hours.