The complexities of a simple tomato salad
Posted by John Malloy on 08/09/2010
The complexities of a simple tomato salad
A summer tomato is a beautiful thing. Here's how you can make the most of every drop of flavor
BY GAVIN FRITTON
This entry for the Salon Kitchen Challenge — in which we asked readers to share their favorite tomato recipes — comes to us courtesy of Gavin Fritton. We haven't had a chance to try this recipe out yet, but we'd love to hear about it if you do!
Tomatoes this time of year are the best thing ever. This is a universally known fact. Even people who don't necessarily care for tomatoes realize that summer tomatoes are the best tomatoes. But even the most perfect tomato needs at least one thing (and typically a couple more) if you want to maximize that deep, juicy summer goodness. That thing? Salt. Right now there are purists gasping for air, hypertensives who have been living on reduced sodium diets are angrily denying that any adulteration, let alone something so overused as mere salt, does anything other than bastardize the flavor of those tomatoes that have been sitting on the vine, getting a tongue bath from the sun, and waiting only to be picked and eaten as one of nature's perfect foods. But I know I'm right. And if they're being honest, they know I'm right, too.
By the way, did you know that the root word for “salad” is “salt”? Technically speaking (and I mean by the strictest of technicalities), if it doesn't have salt it's not a salad. Just something to keep in mind.
I don't say any of this to taunt people who have to avoid, for one reason or another, salt on their tomatoes. If you have learned to live without salt on your tomatoes, please don't relapse on my account. I am well aware that salt is overused in the American diet and, truth be told, I could probably stand to cut down on my own sodium intake. But some things need salt, dammit. A good piece of beef, hell, the best piece of beef will only get better if it is appropriately salted. Potatoes, those starchy roots that have actually fed entire nations, are just not so good without salt. Tomatoes are like that. When I was a kid my parents had a garden and they would let me go out and pick and eat anything I wanted. One of my favorite things was to pick a fresh, red tomato, still warm from the midday sun, and eat it like hand fruit right there in the garden. And as great as it was, it only got better when my dad suggested that I take the salt shaker out to the garden with me and salt the tomato as I took bites. It was in that garden, as a 10-year-old, that I really started learning about making salads. It was there that I learned that salt really makes tomatoes better. It was tomatoes and cucumbers from that garden that taught me my first lesson in honoring great ingredients by treating them simply but well and relying on the ingredients to make the impact on your tongue.
Like some of my other posts here, I can't really provide a good recipe so much as some suggestions on how to treat your ingredients and make something delicious. You will probably like your salad different than I like mine and I already see that others have posted their own tomato salad recipes. I post this less to compete with other very good recipes and more to give suggestions on how to maximize the bounty of whatever summer tomatoes you are able to get.
via The complexities of a simple tomato salad – Kitchen Challenge – Salon.com.
Posted by
John Malloy
on 08/09/2010. Filed under Uncategorized.
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