Have you ever grated a ripe tomato? No matter how many times I do it, I think it's thrilling. The best tomatoes for grating are so juicy and fat they treaten to burst in your hand even before they meet their grater.
Then all you do is halve your tomatoes and run the cut sides through the large holes of a box grater (over a bowl!) until the moist flesh is scraped away from the skin (discard skin or use it for another purpose though what that might be I can't imagine). Then use the pulp for sauces. No bits of tomato skin in the pan and grating is much easier than chopping wet, squishy ripe tomatoes, cubes of which inevitably fall off the cutting board and onto the floor with a splat.
This is a 'grate' idea! Would have been even more so before I boiled and peeled those skins last night but now I know.
Posted by: Barbara | Creative Culinary | 09/01/2011 at 11:01 AM
This is a super brilliant tip. I learned this when I was a culinary school student (I wrote about it here, if you're interested: "Culinary School: Three Semesters of Life, Learning, and Loss of Blood," on Amazon Kindle - http://amzn.to/oqXw1R) and am so grateful every time I make a tomato sauce!
Posted by: Culinary School: Three Semesters of Life, Learning, and Loss of Blood | 09/01/2011 at 07:51 PM
Great tips, would have never thought of that. Thabk you for the info.
Posted by: johnnyb | 09/06/2011 at 02:17 AM