There are few pleasures more satisfying for lovers of good tomato than biting into a specimen freshly picked from their tomato plant, like a ripe strawberry or a fresh fig in season. The usual thing, however, is to take it home like more civilized people, where we will wash it and we will prepare in a way or another depending on the recipe.
It is no small feat to consider what is the appropriate technique to cut a tomato, although we tend to ignore the most important point before going through the meat of the vegetable: the knife. If your tool is not good and not well sharpened, forget about achieving a perfect and clean cut.
Many professionals, in fact, use the tomato as a cutting test to check that the edge is ready. The ordinary table knives that we all have at home, the typical set with black or brown or dark handles, slightly serrated, are not exactly the best ally for preparing tomatoes, even if we only want to make a mixed salad.
What knife to choose
It doesn’t matter if it’s smooth or serrated edgethe key is that it has an appropriate size, correct blade, good grip and, above all, that it is well sharpened. Because a good tomato, at its optimal moment of consumption, will still be firm but will yield to pressure, a sign of having reached its optimal ripening point, with a slightly crunchy skin and a fleshy and very juicy interior.
This means that, by cutting it with a bad knife, we can end up with tomato compote on the board or causing a quartering tomato plant that will ruin the presentation of our dish.
The best knives for cutting and slicing tomatoes will, therefore, be the so-called chef type, special vegetable knives or a santoku, with a smooth blade, or a serrated vegetable knife. And it must be very, very sharp, so it doesn’t hurt to invest in a sharpener to have at home and practice good maintenance.
ARCOS Stainless Steel Kitchen Knife and 200 mm Blade. Chef knife for cutting meat. fish. birds. fruits and vegetables. Ergonomic polyoxymethylene handle. Universal Series. Black color
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
WÜSTHOF Classic Santoku 17 cm, black
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
How to prepare tomatoes for cutting
We may be interested peel nightshade, a step that we do not recommend at all if we are going to serve it raw, unless the skin is very damaged. In that case, we refer to our guide on how to easily peel and seed tomatoes, remembering that the best technique is the one already practiced by chefs like José Andrés, the scalding.
But for this method to be worthwhile we are interested in peeling many tomatoes at once; for example, to make tomato sauce or canned tomatoes. Otherwise, the same system can be done by applying heat to each piece, after making the ‘X’ cut in the upper peduncle, using the stove flame kitchen, always with large tongs and great care. Or peeling it as is knife.
And if we are going to leave them with their shiny and healthy skin, all we have to do is wash them and dry them gently, as we are not interested in damaging them.
Cutting types
Now with our tomatoes ready, a sharp knife and a good clean cutting board, firm and broad, we can proceed. Putting on an apron is not a bad idea either.
Cut into wedges or wedges
A very cut essential and perfect for salads, mixed dishes, garnishes or to serve the tomato as it is in the wedge or half moon.
Start by cutting the tomato longitudinal halfend to end, and remove the top of the heart, the peduncle, with the help of the knife blade, making a triangular cut. Some varieties have thick, capillary-shaped filaments here, unpleasant when eating. Remove them carefully.
Next, place each half with the cut side down on the board, and cut the segments accordingly. parallellongitudinally, from end to end.
Large chunks or pieces
A more indefinite type of cut that we usually refer to when we talk about ‘pieces’ are pieces. bigger than cubes or dice, but smaller than wedges, or at least without maintaining that crescent or wedge shape.
It is a suitable format for more rustic salads or to mix the tomato without so much care in a salad bowl or platter, and more versatile than the segment if they are larger specimens. They are usually more convenient to present and eat, although they do not look as elegant on the plate; The idea is that they pile up.
The technique is simple: we start by cutting into large wedges and then we go through each one through the transverse half. It is also a good format for making rustic sauces with stews, stews or roasts where we want the tomato to almost fall apart.
Cut into slices or sheets
A typical restaurant cut to show off the most beautiful and tasty tomatoes, widely used when presenting typical dishes. carpaccio or a tomato and burrata salad, or large caliber specimens, like pink or mountain tomatoes. Here the pulse and sharpness of the knife are crucial, as well as the size of the blade.
You can take slices both cross as longitudinally, although it is easier to do it the first way, from the equator from the tomato, not from pole to pole. Our guru J.Kenji López recommends first slightly cutting the lower part, where there will be remains of the flower’s stigma, and then removing slices by placing the tomato lying down, parallel to the equator.
We can remove the upper peduncle before or do it with the first cut slices, removing it more precisely using the tip of the knife.
To obtain those very thin sheets of carpaccio You will have to practice and be very meticulous, because the thinner the slices are, the more difficult it will be to get them perfect. Another option is to have a good mandolin semi-professional, or a charcuterie cutter.
Cubes or dice
Start by cutting the tomato into slices of the thickness you want those cubes; then practice cuts in Parallel lines to draw like sticks, without separating them. Turn the tomato 90 degreesor the board, and repeat the movement, more carefully, perpendicular to the first cuts, drawing like a grid.
Stung in brunoise
A finer minced meat, type brunoiselike the one we apply to other vegetables such as onion to make a stir-fry or base for sauces and stews, requires dealing with the seeds, as Kenji López also points out. The expert suggests using more tomatoes fleshywith more pulp, like the pear typeperfect for making sauces, and removing those seeds.
To do this, the easiest thing is to cut the tomato into four longitudinal quarters, extract the seeds of each one, cutting the core with the knife, and proceed to chop very finely. Be careful, because if the tomato is very ripe or has a lot of juice, we will end up with a pool of tomato juice.
Photos | iStock – Freepik – azerbaijan_stockers – YuliiiaKa – jcomp – katemangostar
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