How to Make Tomato Concassé (Explained by a Chef With Photos!)
Concasser as defined by the Larousse Gastronomique (The Chef’s Bible) defines it as: “the French term for chopping or pounding a substance, either coarsely or finely. When skinned de-seeded tomato pulp is finely chopped it is known as tomato concassé.”
Why Make Tomato Concasse?
- Tomato seeds can taste bitter, which can ruin your delicious tomato sauce. This can be especially troublesome if you are using a blender for your tomato sauce, which can crack seeds open.
- Tomato skins and seeds may be though and hard to digest for some people.
- Floating tomato skins are a big no-no in many sauce recipes (e.g. you can’t allow any tomato skins in a tomato pizza sauce).
- Presentation and texture are also important reasons for making tomato concasse. Removing the skins and seeds will give you a nice, clean texture.
Tomato concasse is most commonly used in many traditional Italian sauces, but it can also be used in pasta, salsas, bruschettas and soups.
Tomato Concasse
Tomato concasse is most commonly used in many traditional sauces, but it can also be used in pasta, garnishing, salsas, bruschettas and soups.
Instructions
- Cut an X into the bottom of your tomatoes.
- Plunge the tomatoes into boiling water for just a few seconds.
- Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and plunge them into ice-cold water.
- Allow them to site in the icy water for half a minute.
- Remove them from the ice water and simply peel by pulling the skin from the X down.
- Cut each peeled and de-seeded tomato quarter flesh into 3 or 4 lengths.
- Bunch these together and cut them into small dice.
Notes
Tomato Concassé Recipes
- Tomato concassé is one of the main ingredients for a delicious tomato and buffalo mozzarella bruschetta.
- Make an incredible tomato pizza sauce. Tip: combine it with our famous New York style pizza dough recipe for an amazing culinary experience.
- It is used in many pasta recipes.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
