Recently I came across a news report from yahoo.com about tomatoes. Accordingly, on July 4, 2008, a commission called Codex Alimentarius, released standards governing the their import and export. Tomatoes may now come in one of four varieties: round, ribbed, oblong or elongated, or cherry tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes. They must be whole, clean, free from foreign smell, free of pests and fresh in appearance.

The commission was formed in 1963 by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization to establish standards and guidelines governing food products. Their intent: establishment of an international body that creates standards to facilitate trade between importing and exporting countries.

The image that yahoo decided to attach to the story follows:

Eastern Market on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC
Pictured are "on the vine" supermarket tomatoes for commercial sale.

Great! So now there is an internationally accepted standard that details how tomatoes are shaped and coloured for sale across borders. Unfortunately, no where in the standard does it address texture or flavour.

The typical supermarket tomato demonstrates the same oversight. They taste of nothing, but stay pinkish red for a very long time. In fact, the only time I have ever come across sweet ruby red tomatoes, I either picked them from a vine growing in my parents' garden or I wandered past a well-stocked farmers' market.

Take for instance the following images a friend sent me from her trip to New York City.



Heirloom Tomatoes
These are pictures of heirloom tomatoes, strains of tomatoes that were lost in the process of selectively breeding the traits that produced the supermarket tomato. Because of their odd shapes and non-uniform colours, these heirloom tomatoes more than likely violate the newly established standards.

You don't believe that supermarket tomatoes were purposely bred to exhibit specific characteristics? Think about it. To mass market produce on a multi-national scale, it must be uniform. It must be quickly harvested. It must be easily transported. It must be able to happily sit on store shelves. Uniformity ensures that buyers can readily identify it and sellers can establish a single price. To harvest quickly, machines are used, so tomatoes must be firm enough to be unceremoniously handled. To transport tomatoes across large distances, they must be picked green and artificially ripened upon delivery. What does this mean? Supermarket tomatoes have been bred to grow to the same size. They stay firm for a very long period of time, and they never spend enough time on the vine to develop any real flavour or sweetness.

I feel so strongly about this that I try purchase only locally farmed tomatoes when they are in season and make large quantities of tomato paste and tomato sauce. I then freeze the paste and sauce so that I don't have to rely on supermarket tomatoes when tomatoes are out of season.

I even experiment with growing my own on my balcony:

Home Grown Tomatoes

Truly vine ripened tomatoes appeal more to me than the plastic pinkish red orbs that end up in the produce section of the supermarket. When they're in season, shop locally, so farmers have a reason not to move away from heirloom varieties and the supermarkets have no reason to import tomatoes from foreign factory farms.

For those of you who have attempted making bread, you know the singular enjoyment that comes from working out your frustrations on a nice batch of dough. Kneading a good stiff dough is a great stress releaser.

Mixing batter for a quick bread (like corn bread), cake, or even pancakes is another matter. You have to be careful; thorough, but conservative. Else, when you allow the batter to hydrate, you will have developed too much gluten. This, in turn, the baked good tough, post oven.

Someone posted a video on YouTube that provides an alternative to the wire whisk or mechanical egg beater: mixing a batter with bass and a powerful sub-woofer.



The batter was a simple corn flour and water mixture, called oobleck. The results were fantastic!

Here's another video of "oobleck" from a Japanese TV show:

When time permits, I like to peruse the online lifestyle sections of the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and the National Post. Given my hectic schedule, the reason has more to do with me trying to keep a finger on the ever changing pulse of food in the region. I simply can't do food full-time. Besides, these newspapers have some very gifted food writers on staff. Most are foodies. Some are gourmets. Some have chef papers. Others do not. They are all very knowledgeable and are paid to share their enlightened views.

In May, I came across an illuminating piece by Helen Ong from "The Star." It profiled a small bistro in Malaysia's capital, Penang. After reading the piece, I was amazed by how wide-reaching the Toronto Star must be to have a news bureau in Malaysia. Based on its markings, the story did not come from the International Foreign Press or the Associated Press. As I would later discover, I clicked on an errant link that took me to a Malaysian news site, called "The Star."

Nevertheless, the article introduced me to new food-related French lexicon: un troquet (pronounced "un trokay"). Accordingly, a troquet is a French expression that has no equivalent in English. It refers to a small bar or bistro that serves home-cooked food. Typically, the restaurant is smaller and less formal than a bistro.

Two months before, in late March, I visited a troquet, called the Metropolitain Brasserie Restaurant. The Metropolitain (as it will be referred to forthwith), is located beneath the downtown Milestone's at 700 Sussex Drive. They are both situated at the base of a luxury condo building and neighbor the Chateau Laurier. While, several restaurant websites refer to the Metropolitain as "fine dining", I prefer to see it as a bistro. Because the dishes it serves are more rustic fare - steamed mussels in sauce, cod cakes, stuffed peppers, fresh oysters, fresh cut bistro-style fries, and sandwich platters - it fits the definition of a troquet.

Given that my colleagues and I decided to head to Ottawa for lunch on whim one Friday, we chose the Metropolitain because it came highly recommended and it easily accommodated our group without requiring a reservation. Reservations, however may be more necessary than not as the restaurant is frequented by many public servants at lunch and after work. I can only imagine the crowd during pay week. The Metropolitain even has a "Hill hour", weekdays from 4:00-7:00.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and quick witted. Our waiter joked with us about entrées and accompaniments. While my colleagues ordered specials of the day, a pasta dish, I ordered the Croque-monsieur.

A Croque-monsieur is a hot ham and cheese sandwich that is coated in an egg-based batter and either grilled or pan fried. The cheese is typically gruyère. According to wikipedia, the croque-monsieur originated as a fast food snack that was served in bars and cafés in France. More elaborate versions of the croque-monsieur employ béchemel or compound béchemel such as a sauce mornay. If the sandwich is topped with an egg, it is called a croque-madame.

The croque-monsieur that I was served was spectacular. The melted cheese was soft and savory. The ham was salty. The bread was soft. The sandwich itself was pan fried to perfection, heated completely through. The coating provided both caramel notes and a nice crisp texture. Given my fascination with monte cristo sandwiches, I have always wanted to try a proper croque-monsieur at a bistro. Metropolitain did not let me down.


Place Setting

My First Croque Monsieur

Hammy Cheesy Goodness

Paired with a generous pile of freshly cut fries and a dish of tomato aioli, I was stuffed for the afternoon and took a light supper the following evening.

At $20, including tip, my lunch was a little pricey.

However, I will definitely visit again. Besides, this is about as close as you're gonna get to a traditional French bistro on the Ottawa side of the river.

BTW, the owners of Metrapolitain know their bistros. They happen to also own the hugely successful Empire Grill.

Particulars:
Metropolitain Brasserie Restaurant
700 Sussex Drive
(613)562-1160