Kent wrote:
>
> I'm thinking of using Campbell's tomato soup as the base for an urgent "red
> clam chowder". Whadya think of that?

Even back in the old days when there were some
good Campbell's soups, tomato wasn't one of them.

I just had tomato soup this morning that was
pretty good. Just a can of Trader Joe's tomato
paste, a packet of their concentrated chicken
stock, several large shots of their jalapeno
sauce, and water to make about a quart. It
had plenty of tomato, a bit of heat, and not
much salt. (I watch my salt very carefully.)

With slices of fresh sourdough bread to dip
in it, it was a fast and satisfying breakfast.
(By the way, why is a seeded baguette of
sourdough bread much cheaper than an unseeded
loaf of the same size at Trader Joe's? $1.69
vs. $2.29 if I recall correctly. You pay
60 cents for the absence of seeds. Of course,
I won't pull an Andy over something like this.
I don't mind seeds.)

Getting back to your question, I think a can
of tomato paste has so many uses and can be
fixed up in so many ways it's a much better
raw material to keep on hand than a canned soup.
A canned soup has salt, sugar, thickeners,
flavor enhancers, etc. designed to work together
within a narrower range, hence it is less
flexible than tomato paste.