>> Canned, fresh, whatever, just keep in mind that fresh ones may need longer cooking times. > > Unless you know you've got _excellent_ fresh tomatoes, canned o

>> Canned, fresh, whatever, just keep in mind that fresh ones may need longer cooking times. > > Unless you know you've got _excellent_ fresh tomatoes, canned ones will win. I would agree on this one. I live in France, so not that far from Italy, and our fresh tomatoes suck compared to Italian fresh tomatoes. Italian cuisine use simple products with few transformations because their products are amazing. If I try to do something as basic as tomato-mozzarella at home, it'll never be as good as the same Italian recipe because our tomatoes don't grow in the same weather. Italian cuisine is very hard to make at home as well as they do it because of the quality of their raw products.