For maximum flavor, stop seeding tomatoes

NPR’s The Salt recently interviewed Chris Kimball from Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen. CI has just published a new book, The Science of Good Cooking, where they instruct you how to “Master 50 Simple Concepts to Enjoy a Lifetime of Success in the Kitchen.” (Thanks to the Kitchn for pointing us to this interview.)

In the interview, Kimball reveals a few interesting discoveries. The one that really surprised us was that seeded tomatoes are considerably less tasty than non-seeded tomatoes. “‘It turns out the seed in [the tomato] jelly … has three times more flavor compounds called glutamates than the flesh, so when you seed the tomato… you’re actually throwing out most of the flavor,’ Kimball explains.”

And another discovery? You don’t need to warm eggs before adding them to a cake recipe (except for angel food cake). “It’s totally fine to bake with cold eggs straight from the fridge most of the time, despite the fact that many baking recipes call for room-temperature ingredients.”

Listen to the whole interview here.