We may be somewhat picky when it comes to eating tomato and we may be wary of finding its skin when we bite into it, especially in salads or raw preparations. However, there are people to whom the tomato skin produces and rejection and for all those people we have an infallible trick from chef José Andrés to peel them effortlessly.
We are not going to deny that, without the trick, peel a tomato that is slightly ripe It can mean an invitation to make gazpacho or salmorejo without the need for a mortar or Thermomix because it will begin to ‘bleed’ in our hands.
In fact, the most usual when they start to be soft is to use them in tomato sauce and other preparations to be able to take advantage of them, since peeling a smooth tomato is relatively easy with a tomato peeler.
The bad thing is that, if we have several tomatoes, we can take a long time And it’s a bit of a thankless task. Reason why chef José Andrés’ trick, not by chance, is the best way to do it and in addition to slightly tempering each tomato.
Something that can be quite practical in summer, the quintessential tomato season, but where we run the risk of exposing them to the heat of the environment that ends up withering their properties. For this reason, although it is not recommended, it is advisable to refresh or at least keep the tomatoes in the fridge so that they do not spoil.
The disadvantage is that eat a salad with cold tomato (beware of the nuance: cold, not fresh) it is not usually pleasant and it also kills part of the flavor of a fruit that no longer tastes like the tomatoes of yesteryear.
For this reason, to finish off a salad at the last minute, we can bet on chef José Andrés’s trick of lightly scalding the tomatoes (which previously we will have made a cross-shaped cut at the base) in boiling water—five or ten seconds will suffice—and immediately remove them and place them in cold water with ice.
The best recipes of Direct to the palate (Cooking)
Once there, thanks to the contrast of heat and cold, the tomato skin yields and contracts, making it easy to peel by hand with a simple pull. The trick is not new, but effective is a while to know how to peel, seed and prepare the tomato easily to succeed with your recipes.
Images | iStock
In DAP | Does the perfect fried egg exist? The answer is yes and chef José Andrés knows how to do it
In DAP | Htipiti or spreadable cream of roasted peppers and feta cheese, José Andrés’ recipe for the addictive dip from Greece