Canned Tomatoes - Dutch Ones Too Liquid?

Asked by siemkicken. Answered on 22nd January 2011

Full question

We've got a problem with the receipes from Nigella's latest book. It's about all of the receipes where you have to use tomatoes. The book says we've to use 8 dl of water next to the canned tomatoes. But this makes the sauce very liquid. How can we figure out this problem? Is there a difference between English canned tomatoes and Dutch canned tomatoes? Thanks in advance.

Our answer

We are not aware of a major difference between canned tomatoes in the UK and the Netherlands. Nigella uses 400g cans chopped tomatoes in natural juice. If in doubt then we would suggest trying to buy an Italian brand of canned tomatoes, such as Napolina, to see if this makes a difference.

When adding water along with canned tomatoes, Nigella also tends to use the can itself to measure the water and "swills" or rinses out the cans with the water to collect any tomato juices that may be lingering in the can. The standard can is roughly 400mls so if adding one can of water this will be 400mls, half of a can will be 200mls etc.