NYTimes Magazine today: Food and Drink

[rotuts]

its here:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html?hp

parts quite good!

[Genkinaonna]

The part about families eating together was interesting to me. I'm always nosey about what other families feed their children and what their mealtime routines are.

[ensete]

i was shocked by the recipe in "What Should I Stop Buying and Make Instead?" for homemade ketchup. i doubt anyone who had any experience cooking would make the recipe as listed.

i am unsure of the posting rules, so i will just describe the recipe.

to make one cup of ketchup,

you put 3 small tomatoes, water, a heap of sugar, some vinegar and spices and 1T of cornstarch in a blender, and puree.

no cooking mentioned.

first, i cant think of any recipe with uncooked cornstarch in it, aside from the 3% in confectioners sugar that is an anti-caking agent. raw cornstarch doesnt thicken, and it doesnt taste good.

second, there was so little tomato, [raw? cooked? peeled? canned? no info] i doubt it would seem like ketchup at all, just sweet and sour sauce, probably with a settled sludge of uncooked settled out cornstarch paste at the bottom.

i was even more shocked that the author has credentials as a food writer.

anyone try this recipe? would anyone be willing to try it?

i googled and couldnt find any reference to it aside from the food section recipe itself.

and i disagree with her basic premise that the best food to make homemade is condiments.

i think commercial ketchup and mayonnaise are among the better prepared products, and absolutely have a far longer shelf life than homemade. you can get actual heinz ketchup made of real sugar not HFCS if you buy the organic one. and hellmanns is phasing in cage-free eggs.

i would recommend making homemade dry spice mixtures: garam masala, roasting and grinding coriander seed yourself, or pure chile powders mixed without stale garlic powder or gritty silicon dioxide.

and the spice mixes really do have an excellent shelf life, at least as good as store bought.

[Shalmanese]

Yeah, condiments are one of the few things I don't make at home.