Marcella's tomato measurement

[Blether]

Marcella Hazan often uses the following formula to specify a quantity of tomatoes:

"

2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, prepared as described below, OR 2 cups canned imported Italian

plum tomatoes

, cut up, with their juice

"

Is there a concensus on eG as to how to read this, or a definitive definition, even ?

As I understand it a standard 14oz can of tomatoes is 400ml volume, of which 240ml - a cup - is tomatoes. So do I use the complete contents of two tins here ? Or lift out the tomatoes, cut them up and use them together with the juice that cutting them releases ?

[Maureen B. Fant]

Marcella Hazan often uses the following formula to specify a quantity of tomatoes:

"

2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, prepared as described below, OR 2 cups canned imported Italian

plum tomatoes

, cut up, with their juice

"

Is there a concensus on eG as to how to read this, or a definitive definition, even ?

As I understand it a standard 14oz can of tomatoes is 400ml volume, of which 240ml - a cup - is tomatoes. So do I use the complete contents of two tins here ? Or lift out the tomatoes, cut them up and use them together with the juice that cutting them releases ?

I feel your pain! I'm in the process of finalizing measurements for a slew of recipes whose origin, in the metric system, took no account of standard sizes and are all over the place. On top of that, a knowledgeable American friend urged me to think in cupfuls for the people who buy gigantic cans at Costco. My advice to you would be to measure the cups with the liquid in the can -- which is increasingly a sort of tomato sauce. You may not want that extra sauce, but it is too substantial to throw away. Count the can as the full 14 oz (and let us urge American cooks to use the scale more and the measuring cup less) and, when measuring cups, measure everything. Plopping whole pelati in a measuring cup may give a slightly different reading than if you cut them up, but I wouldn't worry. No tomato sauce needs that much precision.