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| Skinning and Deseeding Tomatoes |
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| When making tomato sauce, or any other food using fresh tomatoes, make sure that you use the appropriate tomatoes and that you remove their skins and seeds. What happens if you don't? Well, the skins will come off the tomato pieces and will curl up, during cooking, which will be very apparent in the sauce, let alone hard to retrieve and remove at that point. These skins will be hard to chew and can also cause choking. The seeds, on the other hand, can make the sauce bitter. |
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| Which Tomatoes to Use |
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| The best type of tomato, when making sauce, is the Italian tomato, known as: "Pommo Doree". They are meatier and heartier; they don't break down and disintegrate as much, during cooking, as other types of tomatoes. When the sauce is served, you can see the actual chunks of tomato; they haven't disappeared into the sauce. If they aren't in season, you can use any type of tomato you can find; however results will vary. If that isn't an option, you can always use whole canned tomatoes instead. Canned tomatoes come already skinned, though they need to be deseeded. |
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| Left: typical tomato. Right: Pommo Doree. |
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| Skinning, Deseeding and Quartering |
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Getting Ready: Bring a pot of cold water to a boil, enough to cover a single layer of tomatoes; don't add any salt. Fill a large mixing bowl with cold tap water. The water must be cold to stop the tomatoes from cooking. Add in a tray of ice cubes, if needed, to keep the water cold. Get out your paring knife, slotted ladle and cutting surface. Removing the Skins: For each tomato: cut out the top core and then slice off the bottom tip (if any), using a paring knife. Run the knife around the tomato, cutting only through the skin; going around from the top to the bottom and then around and across; prepare a few tomatoes at a time. Using a slotted ladle, lower a few tomatoes into the boiling water and blanch them for about 30 - 90 seconds. Older and larger tomatoes take longer to blanch than younger and smaller ones. Transfer blanched tomatoes to the cold water and cool for 20 - 30 seconds, to make handling easier. Take each tomato and gently push (pull) off its skins; discard skins. Removing the Seeds: Cut each tomato into 4 wedges and then push out the seeds using your thumb. Depending on the tomato, you can use a paring knife to cut and remove the flesh that holds the seeds to the tomato. |
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| Removing the core. |
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| Scoring the tomato. |
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| Removing the skin from the blanched tomato. |
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| Pulling off the seeds. |
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| Making Ground Tomato Sauce |
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| Using a Food Mill: Remove the cores from the tomatoes. Cut tomatoes into 4 wedges. Blanch them in boiling unsalted water, until water returns to a boil, or about 30 - 60 seconds. Drain wedges, in a colander, for a few 1 - 2 minutes; no need to plunge them into cold water. Pass wedges through a food mill, in small batches, and discard the accumulated skins and seeds in the food mill. Food Processor or Blender: Prepare the tomatoes up to the point of deseeding them and puree them in food processor or blender. By Hand: Prepare the tomatoes up to the point of deseeding them. Place a few wedges onto a cutting surface and chop them up using a sharp single bladed knife. Use a plastic cutting surface. A wooden one will absorb the liquid from the tomatoes, and any gouged areas may swell and release splinters of wood; not safe to eat. |
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| Skin and seeds separated from flesh. |
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