Give A Cheap Can Of Tomatoes Deeper Flavor With This Simple Tip

Almost every practical home cook knows that canned tomatoes some one of those canned foods you should always keep stocked in your pantry. Not only are they an essential ingredient in comforting and budget-friendly recipes like chili and stovetop bolognese sauce, they can help stretch leftover casseroles, act as a decent base for homemade salsa, and bring lightly fruity, savory goodness to homemade Spanish rice. In fact, we recommend keeping them on hand in bulk because they're so incredibly useful — just be sure to choose whole canned tomatoes for the best quality.

The only downside to using canned tomatoes over fresh is that unpleasant metallic taste that develops as a chemical reaction between the acids in the tomatoes and the inside of the can. What's more, the process of cooking the tomatoes as they're processed for canning can break down their natural sugars, making the tomatoes taste quite a bit more acidic than their garden-fresh counterparts. To prevent this tinny tang from ruining your recipes, all you have to do is blend them with a secret ingredient: carrots.

The fiber and sugars in carrots absorb and neutralize some of the acidity in the tomatoes, while also helping to restore their natural sweetness and adding a smooth texture. Blending also causes friction, which heats and caramelizes the tomatoes slightly (you can also simmer them a bit for more caramelization). The result is a silky, rich, and well-balanced tomato sauce with a bright, fresh, slightly sweet flavor sans that dreaded metallic tang.

Just as there are lots of ways you can use canned tomatoes, there are lots of ways you can add carrots to them to elevate their flavor. The most common method is to use fresh chopped or grated carrots and buzz everything together for a uniform texture before using your tomatoes as you normally would. However, you don't necessarily have to buzz everything smooth if you're making something like a stew or chili that doesn't require a smooth sauce and where a handful of chopped carrots wouldn't be out of place.

If your food processor is on the fritz or you've already blended your smoky chicken tomato bisque and don't want to overwork it, you might also consider adding a splash of carrot juice to the mix. Juiced carrots contain the same natural sugars that whole carrots do, along with some of the fiber, so it should have the same effect without disrupting the smooth texture of your soup. You can also use this trick in things that can't be blended or contain little bits of carrot, such as pasta dishes, or your grandma's Great Depression era tomato soup cake, which could become gummy if you try to blitz the batter.

Another trick cooks sometimes use is to treat the carrot like a sponge. Instead of blending things, they simply add a peeled piece of carrot to whatever they're making and let it simmer as usual, removing it once everything is done.