Tomato Concasse

Have you ever had a recipe that called for Tomato Concasse?  If so, you may have wondered what they were talking about.  Concasse  when applied to tomatoes simply means, a tomato that has been peeled, seeded (seeds and skins removed), and chopped to specified dimensions. Specified dimensions can be rough chop, small dice, medium dice, or large dice. 

Peeling a tomato by hand can be difficult and time consuming.  However, there’s a technique that quickly releases the skins from the meat of the tomato making this task effortless.  Here’s how:

With a pairing knife core out the stem end of the tomato.  Then on the opposite end, using your pairing knife, mark an “x” piercing through the top layer of the skin.

Place prepared tomatoes into a pot of boiling water for approximately 30 seconds.

With a slotted spoon remove tomatoes and plunge into an ice bath – this will release the skins from the meat of the tomato.

To create an ice bath: Place ice cubes into a bowl and fill with water.  Leave room at the top so when you add your tomatoes the water won’t spill over.

Pat tomatoes dry with a paper towel.  Starting at the “x” peel skin from the tomatoes.

Once skins are removed slice each tomato into wedges.  Remove the seeds by placing a pairing knife between the meat and seeds, slicing through from one end to the other, removing all the seeds.

Once all seeds are removed, dice tomato to specifications.

That’s all you need to do when a recipe calls for “Tomato Concasse.”

On Thursday I will share a delicious recipe using this method – don’t forget to stop back by.

Until then….Happy Cooking!