Items You Prefer Canned

[BadRabbit]

Like most people I love summertime for all the fresh local vegetables but there are a few things I still prefer canned.

For instance, I much prefer green beans in the can to fresh or frozen(not including Haricot Verts). There's something about the taste of fresh beans that is absent in the can.

I also much prefer canned English Peas to frozen (though fresh are better if you can find them).

It's always embarassing for me to admit because I feel like I've just told someone I prefer Spam to Tasso.

Does anyone else have weird preferences for canned?

Edited July 6, 2010 by BadRabbit (log)

[ChickenStu]

Tomatoes...however I dont think that it is considered weird.

For sauces and cooking that is....

Edited July 6, 2010 by ChickenStu (log)

[CKatCook]

French cut green beans. I just love them out of a can and I don't know why

[Porthos]

Canned green beans for me also.

[Lupinus]

Canned corn

I can sit there with a room temperature can of corn and eat it with a spoon just as is.

[nakji]

My canned tomatoes pretty much always outperform fresh tomatoes.

I also have a soft spot for canned corn, although I do prefer fresh when I can get it.

[FrogPrincesse]

I only use a couple of canned vegetables:

tomatoes for sauces and stews

chickpeas for hummus

I prefer frozen for peas, green beans and corn mostly because of the texture. Canned veggies tend to have less crunch.

[poppalarge]

Frozen peas are generally better than fresh, unless they super fresh of course.

I'm going to have to try canned french beans seeing as they have proved to be popular

[barcelonabites]

Wow, I always thought I was the only person over 15 years old who liked canned green beans more than fresh. Nice to know I´m not alone out there!

[Kim Shook]

This is so funny. The very first thing that I thought of when I saw the topic was green beans. I do love fresh green beans, but have a problem with strings. I try to string them before cooking and get nothing, then after cooking THERE they are. Like a mouthful of dental floss. And frozen green beans have a horrible texture - tough and bouncy - no matter how long you cook them, they never seem to get tender.

I also prefer canned sauerkraut to the 'better quality' bagged kind. We like REALLY sharp sauerkraut and find that the canned (unrinsed) more to our taste.

Tomatoes for cooking, too. Even when good fresh are available.

[Peter the eater]

Asparagus, artichoke hearts, escargot, smoked oysters and mussels, lots of seafood for that matter. I can't quite say I prefer any of these things canned, they're just different.

Vive la différence!

[FrogPrincesse]

This is so funny. The very first thing that I thought of when I saw the topic was green beans. I do love fresh green beans, but have a problem with strings. I try to string them before cooking and get nothing, then after cooking THERE they are. Like a mouthful of dental floss. And frozen green beans have a horrible texture - tough and bouncy - no matter how long you cook them, they never seem to get tender.

I guess I must be lucky with green beans. I have access to extra fine, flash frozen green beans from France and I would have a hard time distinguishing them from fresh. No strings at all, slightly crunchy but not tough at all.

I've tried other brands and it's true that some of them can be pretty tough, especially when they are not of the "extra fine" variety.

[Kent Wang]

Instead of canned green beans, why not just use fresh haricots verts? They're not entirely the same, but better in every way!

I think canned green beans taste awful. They're too soft, and have that wretched canned taste. Too bad every Southern cuisine restaurant prefers to use them.

[Doodad]

Beans mostly. Sure I can cook beans and make them taste good, but the ones in the can have just the right unsplit texture for salsas and such. I just can't duplicate that texture.

[BadRabbit]

Instead of canned green beans, why not just use fresh haricots verts? They're not entirely the same, but better in every way!

I think canned green beans taste awful. They're too soft, and have that wretched canned taste. Too bad every Southern cuisine restaurant prefers to use them.

I acually excluded haricot vert in my original post because I agree they taste great fresh. Unfortunately, I live in Alabama so HV are not always readily available.

[IowaDee]

Cranberry sauce, both whole berry and jellied. Never could make it

as good as the canned stuff

[Kim Shook]

Instead of canned green beans, why not just use fresh haricots verts? They're not entirely the same, but better in every way!

I think canned green beans taste awful. They're too soft, and have that wretched canned taste. Too bad every Southern cuisine restaurant prefers to use them.

Kent, you are in the wrong thread. This is for folks who LIKE canned foods ! Besides - I am a Southern cook. And I don't know if haricots verts would put up with ham hocks and long cooking.

[Beebs]

Canned beans & chickpeas - only because I can't be bothered to do beans from scratch

Canned corn - for most applications involving corn off the cob

Canned tomatoes - only for soups, stews, sauces, etc.

Canned smoked oysters & mussels, anchovies, sardines - for the same reasons as Peter Eater above, I don't like them better, just differently! The other day I snarfed down an entire tin of smoked mussels by myself.

There's been a lot of mention on canned green beans. Not ever having eaten these, what's the difference between "green beans" and "haricot verts"? I thought they were the same. I eat the fresh version regularly, and have always referred to them as "green beans".

[robirdstx]

Green Beans! I grew my own green beans years ago, and after I canned them, they tasted just like the commercially canned ones to me. So, why go to all the bother? My DH and I love them with potatoes, onions and bacon.

[Darienne]

I prefer canned coconut milk and cream essentially for reasons of laziness on my part.

[nakji]

I prefer canned coconut milk and cream essentially for reasons of laziness on my part.

Testify.

Also: I think I may prefer canned evaporated milk to fresh milk. I don't drink fresh milk, but every once in a while I need some for cooking or a houseguest's coffee. I invariably forget to have some in the fridge, so a can in the cupboard is a lifesaver. The only time I buy fresh milk is to make yogurt, and I use the whole carton up straightaway for that.

[qrn]

Hatch green chiles for green chili...The fresh ones after roasting may be so hot as to be not useable,,,The canned ones are very predicable..

Bud

[BadRabbit]

There's been a lot of mention on canned green beans. Not ever having eaten these, what's the difference between "green beans" and "haricot verts"? I thought they were the same. I eat the fresh version regularly, and have always referred to them as "green beans".

In America, "haricot vert" typically refers to a specific variety of french green bean. It is generally more flavorful as well as narrower and more cylindrical than the fresh beans available in most of the US.

[qrn]

There's been a lot of mention on canned green beans. Not ever having eaten these, what's the difference between "green beans" and "haricot verts"? I thought they were the same. I eat the fresh version regularly, and have always referred to them as "green beans".

In America, "haricot vert" typically refers to a specific variety of french green bean. It is generally more flavorful as well as narrower and more cylindrical than the fresh beans available in most of the US.

I planted some this spring , and hopefully they will do well,,,

They are the best!

Bud

[Just loafing]

I prefer cooking with canned tomatoes, sauce and paste ... so much more convenient and often way more flavor unless good tomatoes are available. Can't say I prefer any other veg canned, especially not peas or beans. Canned corn is marginal, especially now that low sodium is available, but since I learned how easy it is to make creamed corn, I don't buy canned. My ex preferred canned peas to frozen and when I railed that canned peas bore so little resemblence to the real thing that they might as well be a different species, his reply was simply he knew that and he preferred the canned one.